Discover Your Ph.D. Financial Options and Opportunities

Applicants are automatically considered for financial aid from a variety of University, McCombs and departmental sources. All programs offer competitive financial aid packages to successful applicants. Contingent on satisfactory progress, resident Ph.D. students generally continue to receive financial support throughout the program for up to five years. Before accepting an offer of admission, each prospective student receives a detailed description of the financial aid package for the first year of the program and in subsequent years.

Basic funding for Ph.D. students at McCombs consists of:

• Up to five years of funding through teaching, research assistantships, and fellowships

• 9-month stipend in the form of teaching and research assistantships and/or fellowships
• 3-month summer support available annually to all those making satisfactory academic progress
• The University offers several generous and competitive fellowships for doctoral students

• Eligibility for in-state tuition and generous bonus stipends (see “20-hour work appointments,” below, for details). Helpful tip: There is no state income tax in Texas.
• Paid health insurance and reduced rate dental and vision insurance for students who are on a teaching assistantship (TA) or are an assistant instructor (AI); such students also qualify for reduced rate health, vision and dental insurance for spouse and dependents
• In addition, departments may provide modest funds to cover travel to academic conferences, computing support and other program-related expenditures. The School and its research centers also provide some proposal-based funding opportunities to cover out-of-pocket research costs.

Types of Financial Assistance

Generally there are two major types of direct financial assistance to resident Ph.D. students: 20-hour work appointments (with tuition assistance) and supplemental cash fellowships. Many students receive some combination of the two types of funding.

• 20-hour work appointments. Most students experience some combination of work appointments, which automatically confer a tuition bonus stipend covering most or all of the student's annual tuition-making the Ph.D. program essentially tuition-free. The student pays resident tuition as registration takes place, and then receives an offsetting tuition bonus as part of the remuneration for the appointment. (All students are responsible for the cost of books, student service fees and technology fees.) Available work appointments include:

• Research Assistants who assist with faculty research projects, learning the research process.
• Teaching Assistants who assist with grading, holding office hours for student consultations and conduct recitation lectures learning important teaching skills
• Assistant Instructors who teach an introductory undergraduate course for at least one term, bringing academic insights into the classroom.

• Supplemental cash fellowships. A variety of University, McCombs School of Business, departmental and private sources fund merit-based supplemental cash fellowships to Ph.D. students in good standing.

Ph.D. students who are U.S. citizens are also eligible for various subsidized student loans and other sources of financial aid that are available to all resident graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin. For details, mare sure to visit Funding Resources within the Graduate School's Web site.