Financial Aid and Funding

Applicants to our Ph.D. program are automatically considered for funding. No additional application is necessary. Funded students receive an assistantship of $23,690 per year for five years (which may increase in subsequent years), plus a tuition scholarship that covers all tuition expenses, and discounted health insurance. Ph.D. students have no TA, RA, or teaching duties during their first year in the program but are expected serve as TAs for professors teaching lower-level courses or as research assistants.

We do not offer funding to M.A. students and only rarely admit students into the Ph.D. program without funding.

• The UB Presidential Fellowship Program is aimed at enhancing UB’s competitiveness in recruiting outstanding Ph.D. students with a top-up amount of $10,000. To be eligible, a nominee must be a new applicant to a Ph.D. must be appointed as a teaching assistant, and must have a cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.40 or higher. The top-up is renewable up to three additional years as long as the student is full-time, in good standing, and holds an assistantship.
• Graduate School Fellowships support the recruitment of outstanding Ph.D. students with a top-up amount of $10,000. To be eligible, a nominee must be a new applicant to a Ph.D. must be appointed as a teaching assistant, and must have a cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.40 or higher. The top-up is renewable up to three additional years as long as the student is full-time, in good standing, and holds an assistantship.
• Arthur A. Schomburg Fellowships provide a top-up amount of $12,500 to new Ph.D. students who will contribute to the diversity of the student body in the graduate program in which they will be enrolled. The top-up is renewable up to three additional years as long as the student is full-time, in good standing, and holds an assistantship. Schomburg Fellowships (also known as the SUNY Graduate Diversity Fellowship Program) are designed to direct aid to graduate students who have demonstrated academic achievement and overcome a disadvantage or other impediment to success in higher education. Candidates must be U.S. citizens or have permanent resident status, must demonstrate how they have overcome a disadvantage or other impediment to success in higher education, and must demonstrate a commitment to contributing to the diversity of the student body by facilitating and enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in their academic programs and campus activities. Even though financial need is not a requirement for program eligibility, applicants may utilize economic disadvantage as a basis for eligibility. Preference will be given to candidates who are: from a low-income background (i.e., PELL-eligible as undergraduates); were first-generation college students (i.e., students whose parents have no earned bachelor's degrees); have overcome adversity; are AmeriCorps alumni; or are veterans.
• Nomination Procedures: Students may not apply directly to the College for support under Fellowship programs. Instead, eligible students must be formally nominated by their academic program or unit.