Financial Assistance

Performing the duties of a teaching or research assistant is part of your graduate training. Such service, or its equivalent, is required of all candidates for graduate degrees, whether or not they receive stipends.

Nearly all graduate students in the Ph.D. programs receive financial support in the form of an assistantship or fellowship. Teaching assistantships typically involve four hours in class and, altogether (including classroom time, preparation and grading), about 15 hours a week. Such teaching experience is considered a valuable part of your graduate training. The hours required are such that you may pursue a full graduate program. Teaching assistants receive a stipend and a tuition scholarship.

To maintain support from the department, all students whose native language is not English must either pass the International Teaching Assistant test administered by the Intercultural Communications Center or must be satisfactorily participating in the English training program prescribed for them.

During their thesis research, candidates for the Ph.D. degree are, in most cases, supported as research assistants by the research group with which they become associated in the second or third year of residence. Sometimes, a first- or second-year graduate student will be offered a research assistantship. The principal duty of a research assistantship is to aid in the program of one of the department's research groups. The stipend and the time required are essentially the same as for a teaching assistant.

Additional financial support is usually available for students wishing to participate in research projects or teaching during the summer months.

Students accepting appointments with the Department of Physics may not accept an appointment elsewhere or engage in any occupation other than their program at the university, unless they receive written permission to do so from the head of the Department of Physics.

Back to Application Procedures