For Graduate Students

Funding Graduate Education

Assistantships: Research, Teaching, and More

One of the most common means of funding graduate education in the U.S. is the graduate assistantship. Graduate assistants perform services for a university to reduce the out-of-pocket expenses of their education. A typical assistantship includes a financial stipend, tuition remission (waiver or reduction in tuition) and health benefits. There are several types of assistantships which are available at most institutions.

  • Research Assistants are prevalent in the science and engineering fields and in some social science fields. Students work in laboratories or in the field, assisting faculty with research projects. This option provides relevant experience and the field specialization will be useful after attaining your degree. There is no set way to become a research assistant, with parameters varying by institution and department. The first step should be to identify a professor or project that you would be interested in working with. Once a project is identified, investigate how research assistants are chosen and take the necessary action to apply.
  • Teaching Assistants (TA’s) teach undergraduates and may lead discussion sessions, administer exams, grade papers and hold office hours. TA’s usually work at least 20 hours per week. Ph.D. students with experience may often teach an undergraduate level course. Teaching assistantships are arranged through a university and particular departments.
  • Graduate Assistants work in a university’s administration or support service areas. This work does not always relate to a student’s field and can cover a wide range of duties, from computer repair to academic advising to office assistant. Administrative graduate assistants are arranged through the university and its academic departments.

Fellowships, Scholarships and Traineeships

These are cash awards given by departments, universities or outside organizations to candidates who fulfill specific qualifications. The amount of money awarded depends on the particular fellowship. Fellowships are unique as they do not require any additional work other than the maintenance of a grade point average and progress towards a degree.

Find scholarships with Fast Web

Prestigious Scholarships

Prestigious scholarships or fellowships are highly competitive, either nationally or internationally. They provide financial support and other benefits to a limited number of highly qualified candidates. Typically, these scholarships support one to three years of study after the bachelor’s degree at universities in the United States or abroad. (Rhodes, Gates-Cambridge, Marshall, and Jack Kent Cooke are well-known programs of this type.)

UK-based scholarships include the Rhodes Scholarship, Gates-Cambridge Scholarship, and Marshall Scholarships.

Non-UK-based post-graduate scholarships include the U.S. Student Fulbright Program (UMBC’s Fulbright site), the Boren Fellowship, the Mitchell Scholarship for study in Ireland, the Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and the Pickering Fellowship for graduate study for future U.S. diplomats.

Fellowships List

Loans and Financial Aid

Student Loans are offered to individuals for the sole purpose of financing education. Most student loans can be arranged through a bank of choice. More information can be found at NASPAA Listing of Student Loans and Scholarships.

Federal and State Financial Aid
The government offers loan money to graduate students. Federal student loans are need-based. To determine if you qualify, contact UMBC’s Financial Aid Graduate resources.

Please note: To certify your eligibility for various types of financial aid and assistantships, you will be required, on an annual basis, to complete and submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as a part of your application (if you are a U.S. citizen). You may submit the FAFSA form by mail or apply online. Although graduate schools often use the FAFSA to determine your financial aid eligibility, parent income and assets are usually not relevant at the graduate level, so graduate students who are not dependent on their parents are often able to qualify for financial assistance.

Employer Tuition Benefits

As part of their fringe benefits package, many employers offer to pay or reimburse tuition costs if the degree or courses are related to your current position. Beware of the fine print, as some employers may require you to agree to work for them for a certain period of time based on the amount they have contributed to your education. Also, you may be required to maintain a certain GPA in order to receive tuition reimbursement. If you leave to work elsewhere, or don’t make the grade, you may have to repay the money. These are inquiries you would like to make before signing on the dotted line.

Additional Resources

Other on-campus as well as off-campus positions for graduate students can also be found in Handshake, the online system available to all UMBC students that allows you to search for various professional and part-time opportunities. Just log into Handshake and under Jobs use the all filters to search for “Graduate School” and “Fellowship” job types.

UMBC Areas Offering Graduate School Application Assistance