Doctoral Program: Financial Assistance
OverviewHalf-time Work Appointments
Tuition Assistance
Supplemental Cash Fellowships
Ph.D. Computer Initiative
Expenses
Student Loans and Other Sources of Financial Aid
OVERVIEW
Applicants to the Ph.D. Program in Accounting at the University of Texas at Austin are automatically considered for financial aid from a variety of University, School of Business, and Departmental sources, as explained below. The program offers competitive financial aid packages to successful applicants, and contingent on satisfactory progress, all resident Ph.D. students in good standing generally continue to receive financial support throughout the program. Before accepting an offer of admission, a prospective Ph.D. student will receive a detailed description of the financial aid package we are able to provide to that student, both in the first year of the program and in subsequent years.
In general, there are three major types of direct financial assistance to resident Ph.D. students in accounting: (1) half-time work appointments, (2) tuition assistance, and (3) supplemental cash fellowships. Resident Ph.D. students in good standing generally receive all three. These three sources of financial aid are described below, followed by information on other forms of assistance.
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HALF-TIME WORK APPOINTMENTS
Contingent on satisfactory progress, we are generally able to offer compensated half-time work appointments to all resident Ph.D. students in accounting during the fall, spring, and summer. These appointments can take the form of teaching assistant (TA), research assistant (RA), or assistant instructor of introductory accounting (AI). TA appointments involve assisting a professor's class with various activities such as grading and holding office hours for questions involving homework and/or cases. RA appointments involve assisting faculty research projects, which also helps Ph.D. students to learn the research process. Most students generally experience both TA and RA appointments during the course of the program. In addition, most students generally serve one term as an AI to teach an introductory accounting class and satisfy the program's teaching requirement. For more information on graduate appointments at the University of Texas at Austin, see the University's web site on resources for appointed graduate students.
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TUITION ASSISTANCE
Ph.D. students with half-time appointments (above) automatically qualify for in-state resident tuition. Even better, a half-time work appointment automatically confers a tuition bonus stipend that covers most or all of the student's annual tuition bill. Therefore, the Ph.D. program in accounting is essentially tuition-free. The student simply pays resident tuition as registration takes place, and then receives an offsetting tuition bonus as part of the remuneration for the student's appointment.
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SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FELLOWSHIPS
A variety of University, McCombs School of Business, Departmental, and private sources enables the Ph.D. Program in Accounting to provide supplemental cash fellowships to substantially all resident accounting Ph.D. students in good standing, for up to five years of doctoral study. Successful Ph.D. applicants are generally promised a base fellowship amount per year, contingent on satisfactory progress, and also have the opportunity to secure even more lucrative fellowships depending on the student's success in various University and private fellowship competitions. Historically, accounting doctoral students at UT-Austin have fared very well in these competitions, both at the University level and in private fellowship programs.
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PH.D. COMPUTER INITIATIVE
The Ph.D. Program in Accounting provides each entering Ph.D. student with a desktop or laptop personal computer (student's choice) for use in the student's Ph.D. program. The computer belongs to the University, but is assigned to the student's exclusive use as long as the student remains in resident Ph.D. study at UT-Austin. We believe this initiative provides our accounting doctoral students with an important competitive advantage relative to other accounting doctoral programs that do not provide this benefit.
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EXPENSES
The program provides students with a modest expense account for program-related expenditures, and also provides proposal-based funding opportunities for out-of-pocket research costs.
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STUDENT LOANS AND OTHER SOURCES OF FINANCIAL AID
In addition to the program-specific sources of financial aid described above, Ph.D. students are also eligible for various subsidized student loans and other sources of financial aid that are available to all graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. For details, please see the section entitled Financing Your Graduate Education within the web site for the University of Texas at Austin Office of Graduate Studies.
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Frequently asked questions regarding financial aid for accounting Ph.D. students
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