Financial Assistance

Departmental Graduate Assistantships

Admitted full-time graduate students are offered a financial support package, which ordinarily lasts for three years for M.S. students and five years for Ph.D. students. Most graduate students are supported by a teaching assistantship for nine months.

Presently, the 9-month stipend for M.S. students is $14,500. For Ph.D. students, the 9-month stipend ranges from $18,750 to $20,750* for teaching assistantships.

In addition, biology graduate students receive full waivers of tuition.

Summer stipends are contingent upon grant support from the student’s major professor. Most students receive summer support, ranging from $5,000 – $6,000 each summer.

*Unique to our department, Ph.D. students receive a salary bonus of $1,000 per year after successfully completing their preliminary exams and an additional bonus of $1,000 per year after successfully defending their proposal. These salary supplements are provided for the first five years in the graduate program.

Fellowships are also available through the University for particularly promising Ph.D. students, with some of these targeted for minorities and women.