Financial Support

Support for doctoral students

All students admitted into a doctoral program in the department are guaranteed financial support during the entire term of their study. The support comes in the form of a Graduate Assistantship, either a Graduate Teaching Assistantship (TA) or a Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA). TAs are required to teach in our undergraduate courses, mostly in undergraduate laboratory courses. RAs are not required to teach.

These awards include a twelve month stipend starting at $16,500 per year, and increasing to $17,500 with advancement to candidacy (advancement to candidacy happens when the student has completed all didactic coursework, passed the preliminary examination, and taught for at least 2 semesters as a TA). GRAs are available on a competitive basis that provide a greater level of support, up to $20,000 per year.

In addition to the stipend students receive tuition remission for 10 credits per semester (which is the maximum number of credits normally taken by graduate students), and a health benefits package.

Continuation of the guaranteed support for doctoral students is contingent upon maintaining a GPA of 3.0 and making adequate research progress toward the Ph.D. degree.

Applying for Financial Support

Support for Masters Level Study

Students pursuing study toward a Masters degree in the BIOL, MEES or NACS programs are not guaranteed financial support. Occasionally, Graduate Teaching Assistantships are offered to M.S. students on a per semester basis. In addition, all graduate students enrolled half-time or more may be eligible to apply for graduate student loans.

The lack of support reflects the Department's commitment to doctoral level instruction, but also reflects the fact that many M.S. students pursue studies part time while being employed off campus.

Since the Applied Molecular Biology program (APMB) is an intensive 9-month M.S. degree program, the opportunity for employment to support studies is much reduced. For this reason and because the Graduate School makes available funds to support M.S. students in APMB, we can provide partial support for the students in this program. Support comes in the form of tuition remission and/or half-time Graduate Teaching Assistantships.

Competitive Graduate Research Assistantships at up to $20,000 per year

Recently the Department has been able to award Special Graduate Research Assistantships to highly qualified students at above the normal level of support. These funds have been made available by the Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences or the President. Special GRAs are available for each of the four doctoral programs (Biological Sciences, BIOL; Marine, Estuarine and Envirnomental Sciences, MEES; Molecular and Cell Biology, MOCB; and Neurosciences and Cognitive Sciences, NACS). These GRAs currently provide a stipend of $19,797 for the first year of graduate study. A truly outstanding applicant each year is awarded a Presidential Graduate Fellowship, currently providing support at $20,000 per year; this support is guaranteed for the entire term of study.

Chemistry-Biology Interface Program Special Graduate Research Assistantships

The Departments of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Biological Sciences have joined forces to create a program called Opportunities at the Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI). This is not a graduate program in the sense of the others provided by each department, but a collaborative effort between the two departments to train students who will bridge the traditional gap between the two disciplines. Students accepted into this program are guaranteed an extra level of support, currently at $20,000 per year, during their entire graduate training.

Competitive Graduate Research Assistantships from the Meyerhoff Graduate Program