PhD program funding

Financial support for doctoral students

Graduate school is an expensive undertaking, requiring a significant investment of time and financial resources. The University of Michigan, through a combination of college, departmental, and graduate school resources, is happy to share in that investment, significantly reducing the financial burden on our doctoral students.

At present, new doctoral students enter our program with a funding package sufficient to cover tuition, insurance, and living expenses for the first five years of study. This section describes additional resources, beyond the Ford School's funding package, that are available to every student.

A Typical Path

Years one through five: Students have funding commitments from the Ford School for their first five years of study. Support combines fellowships (ordinarily during the first and fifth year) and teaching or research assistant positions as laid out in the student's offer of admission. Students often pursue other sources of funding to reduce teaching loads or gain stipend support over and above the Ford School fellowship.

Year six and beyond: It is not uncommon for students to take more than five years to complete their degree. However, funding beyond the fifth year is not guaranteed. As long as a student remains in good standing within the program, the college can offer a tuition fellowships for tuition expenses in the fall and winter semesters. The tuition fellowship cannot be used in the semester when a student files the dissertation, and students remain responsible for registration fees, insurance, and living expenses. Many students obtain external sources of support, as listed below.

Other Sources of Support

Fellowships from external sources often offer very generous multi-year packages of support. Applicants who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents may especially wish to investigate the following options:

• The University of Michigan Doctoral Training Program in Casual Inference in Education Policy Research
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships
• Jacob Javits Graduate Fellowship

Several additional fellowships are open to U.S. minority applicants:

• Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships for Minorities
• American Political Science Association Minority Fellowships
• American Sociological Association Minority Fellowships Program