Programs consider academic merit when making awards, as well as other practical and academic factors. Once a program has made a nomination, Financial Aid notifies the student of the award and collects the required documentation needed to pay the award. U.S. citizens and permanent residents as well as international students are eligible for institutional aid. Some awards, such as named fellowships, require additional supporting materials, which are noted in the description of the individual awards. Dissertation-year award applications are reviewed by the Provost's Office. All institutional aid recipients must be matriculated and in full-time attendance at the Graduate Center and have a U.S. Social Security Number or Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN).
CUNY Science Scholarships are five-year awards given to natural science doctoral students in the disciplines of Biochemistry, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. Almost all students accepted to these programs receive Science Scholarships. Approximately ninety scholarships are given each year. The scholarships include: 1) an annual $25,000 stipend, 2) a tuition award, up to fifteen credits per semester of tuition waiver at level I, and a full tuition waiver for levels II and III, and 3) health insurance coverage. There is a small service obligation in the first year related to professional development and research laboratory rotations. In Years 2 through 5 of the award, there are usually some teaching assignments. Renewal of the scholarship each year is contingent upon satisfactory academic progress.
Recipients of full Science Fellowships receive five years of in-state tuition support plus funding at $24,000 for the first two years of their study at the Graduate Center. In Years 1 and 2, the $24,000 is paid from two sources: a research assistantship in the form of a Graduate Assistantship B (GAB) appointment which is paid on a bi-weekly basis over twelve months (September through the following August) and a Financial Aid stipend paid once each semester. The GAB appointment carries eligibility for the NYSHIP health insurance plan for CUNY doctoral Students.
The Presidential MAGNET Fellowship is a five-year recruitment fellowship for incoming students from underrepresented groups who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. It provides an annual stipend of $24,000 and tuition and fees. This financial aid package has two parts.
The first part is an annual stipend of $24,000 per year for Years 1 to 5. The Fellow will also receive a $1,000 start up stipend in Year 1 to help with the costs of beginning his/her doctoral studies. Additionally, during Year 3, the Fellow will receive a $1,500 research/travel stipend to help lay the groundwork for the dissertation project.
The second part is a scholarship to cover tuition and fees. For in-state students, full tuition and student fees are covered for Years 1 through 5. For out-of-state students: Tuition is covered up to 12 credits per semester for students in Year 1 until in-state residency is established by Year 2; in Years 2 through 5, the scholarship covers in-state tuition; student fees are covered in Years 1 through 5.
Student health insurance: The Fellow will be eligible for low cost student health insurance (NYSHIP) for five years. Please see here for information.
Service Requirement: The graduate assistantship includes a service requirement as a research assistant, classroom teacher and mentor to CUNY undergraduates. In Year 1, the Fellow receives a Research Assistantship, to work 7.5 hours a week in the Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs (OEOPD). Duties will be assigned by the Executive Officer of OEODP. In Year 2, the Fellow receives a Graduate Teaching Fellowship (GTF) and provides instruction and mentoring to undergraduates participating in the CUNY Pipeline Program at the Graduate Center. The CUNY Pipeline Program brings select CUNY undergraduate students to the Graduate Center to prepare them for graduate studies. In Years 3 and 4, the Fellow also receives a Graduate Teaching Fellowship (GTF) and has two assignments each semester. He/she will be assigned to teach ONE course at a CUNY undergraduate college. The second assignment will be to provide instruction and mentoring to the CUNY Pipeline Program undergraduates at the Graduate Center. In Year 5, the Fellow receives a Graduate Assistantship and has a non-teaching assignment which requires 15 hours a week service on projects related to CUNY undergraduate education.
Please note: the Presidential MAGNET Fellows are not permitted to hold any other Graduate Center multi-year fellowship concurrently. Multi-year fellowships include the Enhanced Chancellor’s Fellowship, the CUNY Science Scholarship, and the Science Fellowship (both full and half Science Fellowships).
An Enhanced Chancellor’s Fellowship (ECF) is a five-year recruitment fellowship. It provides guaranteed funding of $18,000 in each of the first five consecutive years of the recipient's study at the Graduate Center (counted from the first semester that the ECF is registered). The fellowship provides a tuition award for five years. ECFs who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and are New York State residents receive an in-state tuition award for five years. ECFs who are international students receive an out-of-state tuition award for five years that covers the cost of nine credits per semester. ECFs who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents but are not New York State residents during the first year of study will receive an out-of-state tuition award for Year 1 that covers the cost of nine credits per semester. In Years 2 through 5, they receive an in-state tuition award. It is important to note that the ECF requires service in all five years, including Year 1 and 5.
The $18,000 is paid as follows:
In Year 1 the ECF will receive the $18,000 from two sources: a research assistantship in the form of a Graduate Assistant B (GAB) appointment, which will be paid on a bi-weekly basis over twelve months (September through the following August), plus a small stipend, which will be paid once a semester by Financial Aid. The GAB appointment will require the ECF to work 7.5 hours a week during each semester for a total of 225 hours for the academic year.
In Years 2, 3, and 4, the ECF will be appointed to another Graduate Assistant position, a Graduate Assistant C (GAC) and serve as a Graduate Teaching Fellow (GTF) to teach at one of the CUNY undergraduate colleges. Like the GAB in Year 1, The GTF/GAC salary is paid on a bi-weekly basis over twelve months. In the first year of the GTF/GAC, the ECF will receive a small Financial Aid stipend each semester, as necessary, to bring the total annual funding up to $18,000. In subsequent years, the GAC/GTF salary exceeds $18,000 so the ECF will not receive any additional stipend from Financial Aid as part of the ECF award. GTFs/GACs are required to teach a total of 180 contact hours during the academic year which is met either by teaching two 3-credit courses each semester or by three 4-credit courses—two courses being taught in the Fall semester and only one course in the Spring.
In Year 5, the ECF will be appointed to a service related fellowship. The compensation is approximately $20,000. This appointment requires ECFs to provide service at one of the CUNY colleges. The workload for this assignment is 15 hours a week over the course of each semester for a total of 450 hours during the academic year.
Please note that the graduate assistant appointments mentioned above all carry eligibility for the NYSHIP health insurance plan for CUNY doctoral students. ECFs will be given information regarding the NYSHIP enrollment process when they are processed to the Graduate Center payroll for the GAB appointment in Year 1. The current cost to the student for the NYSHIP health insurance coverage for individual coverage is $7.49 bi-weekly. For further information, please see the GC’s NYSHIP web page.
Questions about the ECF awards may be directed to Ms. Anne Ellis in the Provost's Office at 212-817-7200 or to provost@gc.cuny.edu.
University Fellowships: Doctoral programs receive financial aid allocations which they disburse to their students on the basis of need and academic merit. These allocations are known as University Fellowships. They can cover tuition or stipends. In cases where students are not receiving tuition coverage from other sources, their tuition is directly taken from any University Fellowship award before any stipend is disbursed. University Fellowship awards that entail stipends may involve service requirements (at the discretion of the Executive Officer) at a rate of 4.5 hours per month for every $1,000 in stipend funding. The service generally entails research done under the direction of program faculty members.
Tuition Awards: In-state tuition awards are also available to Ph.D. students who are adjuncts teaching a minimum of 3 credits per semester or holding a Graduate Assistantship A or B at an undergraduate CUNY campus and who are within their first ten semesters of study at the Graduate Center.
The Student Employment Program funds a limited number of jobs each year in the administrative offices of the Graduate Center, the Mina Rees Library, and Information Technology. Student Employment Program awards vary in amount depending on the availability of funds.
Graduate Assistantship B awards are granted to students upon the nomination of their academic program, and the awardees are paid as regular City University personnel. The Graduate Assistantship B starts at $10,841 and is paid over the 12-month calendar year. If the student is reappointed to a Graduate Assistantship B for subsequent years, she/he is entitled to salary increases pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement between the City University of New York and the CUNY Professional Staff Congress. Students receiving the Graduate Assistantship B must provide either 225 hours of research or 120 hours of teaching over the academic year. The assignment will be made by the student's Executive Officer. Students receiving Graduate Assistantships B may accept additional teaching or research positions within the City University of New York; however, the student's total workload, including the Graduate Assistantship B, may not exceed 240 hours of teaching or 450 hours of nonteaching activity per year.
Description and Application and Awarding Process: The Graduate Center offers a number of special awards to students with exceptional academic promise or specialized skills. Special committees composed of faculty, students, and administrators make most of these awards on behalf of the Graduate Center as a whole. Funding for awards varies from year to year, and awards are offered in selected years. The awards vary in amount from $1,500 to $16,000, and many of the awards carry an in-state tuition stipend as well as the actual award amount. The amounts listed below are the standard amounts for each award, contingent upon funding. No service is required for these awards unless otherwise noted below. The following is a listing of awards that may be offered in any given year:
Kenneth B. and Mamie Phipps Clark Fellowship for a Level II or Level III doctoral student in the social sciences committed to research in social issues that will result in programs for social action. A letter of application is sent to the Provost's Office by March 1 for this award. Award Amount: to be determined, plus an in-state University Tuition Stipend. At Level III, only the base tuition is covered. Any additional courses taken for credit are at the student's expense.
John H.E. Fried Memorial Fellowship in International Law and Human Rights for a full-time doctoral student in Political Science whose area of interest focuses on international law and human rights. A letter of application is sent to the Political Science Program by March 1 for this award. Award Amount: $4,000.
Pamela Galiber Memorial Award for a Level II or Level III African American doctoral student whose research focuses on social, cultural, or economic issues. Award Amount: $1,500.
Leonard S. Kogan Fellowship for an entering or continuing doctoral student in Developmental, Environmental, or Social-Personality Psychology or Educational Psychology with an interest in expanding his or her methodological and quantitative skills, and with mathematical training at least through the level of introductory integral calculus. A letter of application is sent to Student Affairs by February 1 for this award. Award Amount: $3,000 to $9,000.
James Bruce Llewellyn Fellowship for Minority Students for an entering African American student in science or for a continuing student who has passed the First Examination, completed no more than 50 degree credits, and is within the first three years of candidacy. An application for this award is available in the Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity Programs and is due by March 1. Award Amount: $10,000.
Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Graduate Center Fellowship for an entering full-time doctoral student in the humanities. Award Amount: to be determined, plus an in-state University Tuition Stipend. At Level III, only the base tuition is covered. Any additional courses taken for credit are at the student's expense.
Mina Rees Graduate Center Fellowship in Doctoral Studies for an entering full-time doctoral student in the sciences. Award Amount: $12,000 plus an in-state University Tuition Stipend. At Level III, only the base tuition is covered. Any additional courses taken for credit are at the student's expense.
Limited funds are available for students presenting at professional conferences. These funds are available to full-time matriculated doctoral students who are registered during the semester for which the funds are requested. Further information and application guidelines will be available online in Fall 2011. Please contact the Student Affairs office, Room 7301, (212) 817-7400, for more information.
The Graduate Center offers financial aid, ranging from tuition awards and fellowships for incoming students to dissertation-year fellowships for students completing their doctoral studies.
Graduate Center Dissertation Fellowships are available to level III students who are in the final stages of completing their dissertations. Students must complete a general Dissertation Fellowship Application, available from the Provost’s Office in late fall. The deadline for applications is February 7. All of the awards are contingent on renewal of funding and not all awards are available every year. Unless otherwise noted, no service is required for the awards. Awards do not carry eligibility for NYSHIP health insurance.
Award amounts vary from $2,000 to $22,000.
See the Doctoral Dissertation page for more information. If you have questions, please contact Ms. Rachel Sponzo at rsponzo@gc.cuny.edu or 212-817-7282.