Graduate School

Internal Funding & Appointments

Doctoral student support may take the form of a teaching assistantship, research assistantship, fellowship, or proctorship. All such assignments form part of the student’s professional training, and are viewed as integral to the student’s academic development.

Doctoral Students

The Graduate School at Brown offers incoming doctoral students five years of guaranteed financial support, including a stipend, tuition remission, a health-services fee, and health- and dental-insurance subsidies. All forms of student support, except loans, are administered through the Graduate School in cooperation with department and programs. 

This support may take the form of a teaching assistantship, research assistantship, fellowship, or proctorship. All such assignments form part of the student’s professional training, and are viewed as integral to the student’s academic development. See individual program requirements for graduate training.

All graduate students are required to pay student activity and recreation fees.

Eligibility and Awards

All recommendations for graduate student funding are made at the program level. Eligibility and awards are determined annually and are always conditional on students making satisfactory progress toward their degrees. Students with questions or concerns regarding Brown funding — including eligibility, awards, or renewals — should discuss them with the program’s director of graduate study.

Students should be mindful of the fact that teaching, research, and proctorship appointments are part of their professional training. Such appointments establish a responsibility to the faculty and students within the academic unit.

Graduate Travel Funds

All applications and associated documentation must be submitted online through UFunds.

Performance

Performance in these appointments is also a component of a student’s academic review. Students who fail to perform in their funded Graduate School appointments (as RAs, TAs, fellows or proctors) can be terminated and their funding suspended.

For specifics, please refer to the Graduate School Handbook.

Failure to perform on an assigned appointment can result in the termination of funding regardless of other indices of academic standing.

Termination

Grounds for termination must be presented in writing to the Graduate School in the form of an academic disciplinary procedure. The case will be heard by the academic disciplinary board. (See the Academic Code.) As with all such cases, the student has the right to appeal such a decision.

Master's Students

Financial aid for master’s students is not centrally managed and varies among programs. If you are interested in a master’s program and have questions about financial aid, please contact the program’s director of graduate study.

Learn about Master's Funding

Required Documents

All students entering the Graduate School with any form of financial support are required to complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9).

FAFSA

All students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and will receive any form of Brown funding are required to submit a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

  • The FAFSA should be submitted on-line at fafsa.ed.gov.
  • The Brown Graduate School's code for the FAFSA is E00058. (Be sure to not use the undergraduate code).

Internal Funding & Appointments Links

Fellowships are awarded by the Graduate School through a departmental nomination process; see details for exceptions.
Teaching is an integral part of the graduate experience at Brown, and most students are expected to teach as part of their professional training and scholarly apprenticeship.
Research assistants (RAs) work with faculty on academic and research projects, both at the University and in the field.
Proctorships offer vital experiential learning for interested graduate students. These opportunities embed students in departments, centers, institutes, and various campus offices, in order to enable project-based learning.