Funding Opportunities for Graduate School

Financing graduate study in economics is often done in conjunction with the student's PhD program. Most graduate school funding is not need-dependent, but instead tends to be merit-dependent.

Funding is generally awarded in the form of fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships. Different programs award funding for different durations. According to the study, "Attrition in Economics Ph.D. Programs," (Stock, Finegan, and Siegfried, 2006), about 80 percent of the incoming class of economics PhD students at a representative sample of PhD programs were awarded financial aid during their first year of graduate study. The largest proportion of these was in the form of fellowships (which generally have no work requirement). The second most common financial aid was in the form of teaching and/or research assistantships (which generally include a work requirement).

Securing some form of aid and receiving a fellowship are more common among students enrolled at top-tier programs.

Links to Funding Resources

• The PREDOC.org consortium provides information on pre-doctoral research assistantships.
• ProFellow has a list of fully funded PhD programs in Economics.
• Siju’s Chronicles has a YouTube video that lists fully funded PhD programs in Economics.
• The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education Western Regional Graduate Program offers resident tuition to students at certain schools.
• Anne Byrne maintains a list of small grants for graduate students in economics and related fields.
• The National Science Foundation awards funding through its Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
• Cornell offers information about various fellowships available to graduate students.
• The University of California-Riverside provides an extensive list of links to websites that offer financial support for graduate students, which are categorized by subject area.
• The American Institute of Economic Research provides a description of their fellowship program.
• The University of Washington offers links and information about graduate school funding.
• The World Bank has scholarships for students from developing countries.
• The Ford Foundation has a fellowship program for minorities pursuing PhDs.
• The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board offers an Economic Research Fellowship Program
• Some students may want to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for potential financial aid opportunities