All students admitted to the Ph.D. program receive five years of support and all master’s students receive two years. This support may be a combination of graduate teaching assistantships, research assistantships, curatorial assistantships, and fellowships. Support is contingent upon state funding, satisfactory progress toward degree, satisfactory performance in an assigned teaching capacity at KU, and, in the case of students whose native language is not English, passing a spoken English test. Any employment with the university, including appointment to graduate assistantships, is contingent upon satisfactory completion of a background check. Most assistantship salaries are $17,800 or more for a nine-month, half-time appointment (20 hours a week). Most positions qualify for complete tuition waivers; all positions at least qualify for lower, in-state tuition rates. Prospective students should speak with their potential faculty mentor for more information regarding financial support.
University fellowships include the Madison A. and Lila Self Graduate Fellowships, the Honors/First Year Fellowship, and the Melik Graduate Fellowship for entering graduate students. Current graduate students may be nominated for Summer Fellowships and Dissertation Fellowships. The department’s graduate committees nominate candidates for these fellowships.
The Department offers Teaching Assistantships, most of which involve teaching in undergraduate laboratories. The Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center offers Curatorial Assistantships for work directly related to curation of specimens in research collections. Research Assistantships are offered by individual professors in connection with sponsored research programs.
Most fellowships are for the academic year, whereas assistantships are assigned on a semester-to-semester basis. Applicants seeking financial aid from KU must complete admission files by December 15 to be considered for support. Financial support varies during the summers, but opportunities for teaching, research, and curatorial assistantships and Graduate School Summer Fellowships usually are available.
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