News & information from UB, New York's flagship university
Updated September 3, 2024
At UB, our doctoral students are central to our mission as a leading public research university. Their talent, drive and scholarly contributions elevate UB’s reputation and impact both locally and globally. We are committed to attracting the most promising doctoral students and providing them with transformative academic experiences that prepare them for meaningful careers and lifelong success.
UB launched the PhD Excellence Initiative in 2019 to strengthen its PhD programs and address important and timely national issues related to student recruitment, diversity, improving retention and time to degree, and providing exceptional pedagogical and research training that ensure strong program outcomes.
As part of UB’s PhD Excellence Initiative, the university supports the cost of broad-based fees for PhD students who are full time and fully funded. The funding covers UB’s Comprehensive Fee, which supports several university services; the Academic Excellence and Success Fee, which funds academics and research; the Student Activity Fee; and the International Student Fee, if applicable.
In 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025-26 UB received one-time funding from SUNY to pay mandatory broad-based fees and the Student Activity Fee for graduate students with Assistantships (GA, TA, RA appointments) including masters, professional, and part-time graduate students, whose mandatory broad-based fees aren’t already funded by the university.
In 2019 the university established minimum stipends campuswide for full-time, fully funded PhD students on appointments as teaching, research or graduate assistants, placing UB’s annual PhD stipends among the top five of AAU public universities. The university conducts a regular review of the campus stipend minimums and makes adjustments to ensure that PhD stipends remain competitive and UB programs can recruit the very best PhD students to the university.
Current minimum stipend rates are $23,690 and $30,797 for full-time, fully funded PhD students on 10-month and 12-month appointments, respectively.
Through the PhD Excellence Initiative, UB:
Across the university, graduate students who serve as teaching assistants at UB receive a total funding package averaging about $38,000 per year, which includes a tuition scholarship paid by the university, a stipend, and health and retirement benefits. The university believes this represents a significant investment in our graduate students.
In addition to minimum stipend rates, the university demonstrates its strong commitment to graduate education through three premier Fellowship programs: Presidential, Schomburg and Graduate School Fellowships. Both the Presidential and Schomburg Fellowships provide four years of top-up funding in addition to the standard assistantship stipend, substantially enhancing the funding package for accepted doctoral students. In 2023, the university launched the Graduate School Fellowship, which offers recipients a $10,000 top-up stipend per year for five years, further increasing the total funding for new doctoral students.
The university invested a total of $42.1 million in PhD stipends and tuition scholarships at UB in 2021-22. The university remits to the State University of New York system the cost of tuition scholarships provided to graduate assistants.
Yes, UB’s investment in stipends and tuition scholarships for graduate students has grown by over $11.1 million since 2012-13.
Under the terms of the current PhD Excellence initiative, a UB PhD student working up to 20 hours per week, with an academic year assistantship (10-month) earns at least $23,690. This translates to a minimum hourly rate of about $29.61 for up to 800 hours of work.
Stipends are awarded for the nine-month academic year for teaching one course and providing up to 20 hours of service per week to an academic department.
UB’s deans unanimously decided to establish a floor of $20,000 for academic-year stipends for all full-time, funded PhD students on 10-month academic TA/RA/GA appointments, starting in fall 2019. UB has since raised 10-month assistantship minimum stipends twice: in 2022 the minimum was increased to $23,000; in 2024 the minimum was further increased to $23,690. These increases will ensure that PhD stipends remain competitive and UB programs are able to recruit the very best PhD students to the university.
The MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates that someone working full-time (52 weeks per year, 40 hours per week) at their Living Wage rate would earn an annual income of $45,219.20. The calculation is based on a single adult, living in Erie County making an hourly wage of $21.74, which is MIT’s minimum standard given the local cost of living. This calculation assumes that this single adult works full-time, year-round or 2,080 hours per year.
A UB PhD student working up to 20 hours per week, with an academic year assistantship (40 weeks) earns at least $23,690 under UB’s current PhD Excellence Initiative. This translates to a minimum hourly rate of about $29.61 for up to 800 hours of work. This $23,690 floor for stipends exceeds the MIT calculator’s living wage.
The MIT Living Wage is $21.74 per hour. The current Graduate Student Employees Union (GSEU) contract minimum is $14.72 per hour although the State’s minimum wage is set to rise to $16 in January 2026.
UB’s average PhD stipend exceeds the minimum stipend per the terms of current contract negotiated by GSEU. According to the GSEU’s contract, the minimum stipend for the 2022-23 academic year for students on full assistantships at all SUNY institutions is $10,779 annually. Effective July 1, 2026, the minimum stipend for employees on full assistantships who are currently employed at University Center and Health Science Center campuses shall be $18,000 annually.
The UB Foundation provides an estimated $5 million annually in support of UB graduate students in the form of scholarships, fellowships and graduate student stipends.
Unrestricted funds from UBF are limited in their use and they are used for specific purposes, in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, the accounting standard adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These funds are limited for use in the following three categories.