Financial Matters

The Faculty are committed to providing financial support to students who are making satisfactory progress toward the Ph.D. The resources made available for stipends and tuition waivers are limited, however, and may vary to some extent from year to year. Most graduate students in Psychology have received at least four years of financial support from the program during their tenure at Rice. Only full-time students may receive stipends from Rice funds or from research grants and contracts awarded to Rice.

Funding Details

Most students receive a tuition waiver.

As of the 2008-2009 school year, most students in their first four years receive a $15,000 fellowship stipend for the 9 month academic year.

Students in their first two years receive an additional $3,500 during the summer. Some more advanced students also receive funding from the department although students beyond their second year are typically supported during the summer with grants and/or internships.

Only students who are in residence for at least two months during the summer and who are involved in supervised research will be given summer support in the form of stipends.

Alternative Funding

To allow the department to support as many students as possible, students who qualify are encouraged to seek support from sources outside the department.

During their first year in the program, graduate students who qualify are expected to apply for Fellowships from the NSF, NIH, DOD, Ford Foundation, and other funding agencies. The Faculty advisor and the graduate student affairs committee will advise students on the appropriate funding agency. Students at later stages of the program are expected to apply for other support (e.g., APA dissertation awards) where appropriate.

Other support opportunities can usually be arranged, particularly for advanced students. For example, many students have been placed in relevant part-time positions or internships in local industrial, consulting, medical, and government organizations. In fact, internship experiences are a specific part of the industrial-organizational and human-computer interaction specialties.