Graduate Funding Overview

Overview

Funding a graduate degree can be complex. Without a family or employer subsidy and to minimize federal student loans, the student often turns to both campus and non-campus resources. Each resource or agency has its own eligibility criteria and funding levels.

Hence, Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships provides this page as an overview of graduate funding. Regardless of where you attend, most of the information here will be useful to you as a prospective or current graduate student anywhere.Domestic students often start at the Financial Aid Office, where there is an abundance of information pertaining to the cost of education, steps in securing financial aid, and the different types of aid available.International students should check in with the Office of Global Education after being admitted to a graduate program.

 

Rule #1: Get to know your program’s director of graduate studies

Most graduate programs have a faculty member designated as the Program Director. The title may be different depending on the institution (e.g., Faculty Graduate Coordinator or Graduate Program Director). The Program Director is charged with assisting prospective and current graduate students in that program, including with funding. Find out who that person is in your program. Then, go through the information here on internal funding so that you know what questions to ask the Program Director or their staff.

 

Rule #2: Funding may be internal or external. Familiarize yourself with both types.

Internal funding is that which is offered by your university, in the form of assistantships, fellowships, scholarships, tuition waivers, and other awards.

External funding is that which is offered by agencies outside the university, such as nonprofit organizations, governmental agencies, corporations, and professional associations.

Assistantships

The lion’s share of internal funding

The most common form of graduate funding is the Graduate Assistantship. Graduate Assistantships provides you with a stipend and, often, with a tuition and partial fee waiver. Mines offers Teaching Assistantships (“TA”), Research Assistantships (“RA”), Graduate Teaching Fellow Assistantships (GTFs), Graduate Hourly Appointments, and Graduate Fellowships. All graduate appointments are overseen by the Office of Graduate Studies. For information on available assistantships in your academic program, you should contact your specific Program Director and/or the Office of Graduate Studies.

 

Internal Funding: Beyond Assistantships

Some departments offer their own scholarships. Ask your Program Director.

Mines Graduate Student Government offers a number of awards, including travel grants and family assistance grants.

The Office of Graduate Studies provides “Completion Fellowships,” which cover 1 credit of tuition, fees, and insurance for thesis-based students in the final semester of their MS or PhD program, whose prior continuous funding (e.g. via RA, TA, fellowship contract, or external sponsorship) is no longer available due to unforeseen circumstances. Additionally, the Dean’s Fellowship is awarded to domestic, first-year PhD students who come from educational, cultural, familial, geographical or socioeconomic backgrounds that are often underrepresented in STEM disciplines or who are committed to promoting the inclusion of a diverse population of students in higher education.

Review the whole “Funding” section of the Office of Graduate Studies website carefully.

 

For international students

If you are not a US citizen, you are still eligible for most Office of Graduate Study funding and part-time on-campus employment. Be sure to consult Mines’ Office of Global Education if you have questions about funding/work and your visa.

 

For domestic students

If you are a U.S. citizen, you should also contact the Financial Aid Office to inquire about different types of aid, including special scholarships and student loans, particularly if you are a military veteran or a family member of a veteran.

External Funding

Graduate funding can come from nonprofit or governmental agencies, corporations, professional associations, and many other places. It can also be based on many things including field of study, gender, ethnicity, financial need, career goal, or even single parenthood. So how do you find it?

 

Online funding search engines

The Office of Nationally Competitive Scholarships maintains a Scholarship Database, as well as a list of other reputable academic search engines you can use to find funding.

For international students

The Fulbright Foreign Student Program enables graduate students, young professionals and artists from abroad to study and conduct research in the United States. The Fulbright Foreign Student Program operates in more than 160 countries worldwide. Approximately 4,000 foreign students receive Fulbright scholarships each year. Program eligibility and selection procedures vary widely by country. Reach out to the Office of Global Education with questions. 

Things to Watch Out For

Looking for funding online? Anybody can Google “microbiology scholarship,” for example, and we encourage you to do so; However, you MUST be aware of scams. Anytime you Google “scholarship,” some of the links will be to agencies that promise you, for instance, “a database of two million dollars in scholarship funds! That you can use for the low! low! price of…..” and then they ask for your credit card number. Do not use these. They are scams. There are enough free search engines (and reputable subscription options that Mines pays for student use) that you do not need to pay for options.

 

Mines award winners

Two questions you may have: “Do Miness graduate students really win awards? Which ones?”

Yes, Mines graduate students win awards. In fact, they win quite prestigious ones such as National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, Fulbright fellowships, and research awards from Boren, DAAD, DoE, DoD, NASA, NIH, and so-on. You can learn more about recent recipients here.

Adapted from University of Illinois Chicago’s Graduate College “Graduate Funding Overview”