PhD Student Funding Overview
At Yale, you can earn your doctorate at our expense.
Our funding packages for Yale PhD students are among the most generous in the world. Every PhD student receives a fellowship for the full cost of tuition, a stipend for living expenses, and paid health coverage, though the details of your funding package will differ depending on your academic program. On average, doctoral students receive more than $500,000 in tuition fellowships, stipends, and health premium benefits over the course of their enrollment. Full PhD funding normally extends for a minimum of five years, unless your doctoral program is of shorter duration, e.g., Investigative Medicine, Law, Nursing, and Public Health.
The main categories of funding available to PhD students are detailed below. Our Programs & Policies handbook contains additional information about funding and fellowship opportunities available at the Graduate School, along with applicable policies.
If you have questions about your funding, you can ask your program registrar or DGS, Graduate Financial Aid, or Associate Dean Robert Harper-Mangels.
Types of Funding for PhD Students
University Fellowships (UFs) are provided through the Graduate School and do not require teaching in Yale's Teaching Fellow Program. UFs are often used during the initial year(s) of your doctoral program to cover your stipend and tuition, when you are engaged in coursework and identifying an adviser.
For official policies governing University Fellowships, including information on deferring a UF, please see our Programs & Policies Bulletin .
In subsequent years and in most programs, your stipend will be funded by a teaching fellowship or a research assistantship.
Teaching Fellowships (TFs) are contingent on teaching Yale's Teaching Fellow Program (TFP). While you are on a TF, a portion of your stipend is compensation for teaching. The rest of your stipend will come from other sources, depending on your department or program. See the Teaching Fellow Funding page for more information.
The teaching portion of your stipend is subject to federal tax withholding, so you will notice a difference in your paycheck in teaching versus non-teaching semesters.
In lieu of teaching in the Teaching Fellow Program, PhD students in the humanities and social sciences may choose to undertake one of the available Professional Development Opportunities . These positions allow you to gain professional experience at a library, museum, or other office on campus relevant to your studies.
If you are in the natural sciences, your funding will likely come from training grants and faculty research grants at some point during your enrollment. In most programs, you may only join a research group that has active grant funding. Please consult with your DGS, if you have questions about this aspect of your funding package.
We strongly encourage you to compete for external fellowships. Winning an external award in a national competition, whether sponsored by a public or private agency, is a significant honor. External fellowships may be subject to our Combined Award policy. Please be sure to review our External Fellowships & Awards page to understand how external awards interact with university funding.
An external fellowship may also offer you added flexibility in your program.
- If you are a student in the natural sciences, an external fellowship may allow you to pursue a project or idea that is otherwise not eligible for financial support through your adviser’s research funding.
- If you are a student in the humanities or social sciences, an external fellowship might allow you to defer a University Fellowship (UF) to a subsequent term or year.
You can search for external fellowships through the Yale Student Grants Database , other university search engines (e.g., UCLA ), and commercial sites .
You must notify the Graduate School of any external awards you receive.
- Send a copy of your award letter to the Financial Aid Office at [email protected] .
- If your award is subject to the Combined Award policy, then you will receive a combined award letter via email when your award has been processed, outlining your updated funding package.
For any questions and concerns regarding your combined award letter, please contact the Graduate School Financial Aid Office via email at [email protected]. Associate Dean Robert Harper-Mangels can also advise regarding our Combined Award policy.
Additional GSAS Financial Support
Phd stipends.
An overview of information relevant to the PhD stipend.
Health Award
The Graduate School provides Yale Health Basic Coverage at no cost to all students (Master's and PhD) who are enrolled at least half-time in degree-seeking programs. In addition, all PhD students registered at least half-time receive a Health Fellowship Award that covers the cost of Yale Health Hospitalization/Specialty Care Coverage.
Featured Resource
Family Support Subsidy for Parenting PhD Students
PhD students who are registered full-time in any year of study are eligible for the family support subsidy to assist with child-related expenses.
Dean's Emergency Fund
The Dean’s Emergency Fund enables terminal master’s and PhD students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to continue making academic progress despite unanticipated, extreme financial hardships that cannot be resolved through fellowships, loans, or personal resources. The maximum award for eligible requests is $2,000.
Conference Travel Fellowship (CTF)
https://gsa.yale.edu/ctf
By partnering with the MacMillan Center and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, graduate students with representatives in the Graduate Student Assembly are eligible for annual conference travel funding of up to $800.
PhD Student Travel Health Fellowship
If you are a PhD student traveling for dissertation research, the Graduate School provides a Travel Health Fellowship to cover the cost of required immunizations and prescription drugs at Yale Health.
Graduate Financial Aid Office
Office Address
- [email protected]
- 203-432-2739
- 246 Church Street, 2nd Floor
Funding & Scholarship: Graduate Programs
Financial support for ph.d. students, all students admitted into our ph.d. program receive full financial support., this support includes tuition, fees, $1,004 in transportation and dental subsidies (as of ay24-25), and a cost-of-living stipend ($3655 per month in ay23-24 and $4083 per month before taxes in ay24-25)..
Support is independent of need provided a student remains in good academic standing and is making satisfactory progress towards his/her Ph.D. degree. Students are expected to complete their Ph.D. requirements in four to six years. Financial support takes several forms: fellowships, teaching fellowships, and research assistantships. Ordinarily, first-year Ph.D. students are supported with full fellowships so that they can devote their time to coursework.
For the classes entering in Fall 2024 and beyond : SEAS PhD students are expected to complete two sections of teaching in SEAS in their second year or spread across their second and third years. Both sections may be completed concurrently in a single course. Their research assistantship will be adjusted accordingly during the semester(s) in which they are teaching fellow (TF). The academic requirement for the PhD degree is one section of teaching in SEAS. The student and their research advisor may arrange to replace the second section of teaching with a research assistantship. Beyond the first year, when students are in a better position to teach and assist in research, support is ordinarily provided through research assistantships, or a combination of a teaching fellowship and a research assistantship. For more detailed information, please visit the following pages: GSAS Tuition and Fees G SAS Financial Support for PhD Students
External financial support for Ph.D. students
Applicants and current students are encouraged and expected to apply for all non-Harvard scholarships for which they are eligible, especially those offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program and National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG) .
Each year, many SEAS students secure fellowships from external agencies. Should an incoming student be awarded and accept any fellowship external to Harvard, it is the expectation that the student will utilize these funds in the first year of study in place of Harvard funding. In advanced (G2+) years in the graduate program, students with external fellowships are advised to have a discussion with their financial aid officers from Harvard Griffin GSAS and SEAS about how to best utilize the remaining years of funding based on their activities and academic requirements.
To ensure equitable treatment of all students, the coordination of external award benefits with a student’s existing funding package is determined by the Harvard Griffin GSAS financial aid officer in consultation with SEAS.
Currently, PhD students with external support are eligible for a SEAS-sponsored academic incentive. PhD students who bring in open, competitive external fellowships that are equal to 50% or more of total their support (tuition/fees + stipend) will receive a supplemental award of $3,000 in the first year of the external fellowship. PhD students who bring in open external competitive external fellowships that are not 50% or more of their total support and are at least $10,000 (tuition/fees + stipend or salary) will receive a supplemental award of $1,000. The full $3,000 bonus may also be awarded in certain cases of multi-year fellowships depending on the total amount of support provided.This policy is subject to review and change.
Financial support for terminal masters students (M.E. & S.M.)
While financial aid is not available for master’s students in our M.E. and S.M. programs, there are a variety of funding opportunities available. Prospective students are encouraged to apply for independent grants and fellowships to fund their studies. Information about tuition and fees can be found here . Students in our Computational Science & Engineering or Data Science programs-should visit this page and also may contact the GSAS Financial Aid Office to learn more.
Students in the MS/MBA:Engineering Sciences program are eligible to apply for need-based HBS Fellowships and student loans in both years of the program.
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