Funding & Fellowships

PhD students who matriculate in Summer 2020 and after will be guaranteed to have funding support from the University of Chicago, external sources, or a combination of the two for the duration of their program to include the following:

• Full tuition coverage
• Annual stipend
• Fully paid individual annual premiums for UChicago's student health insurance (U-SHIP, the University Student Health Insurance Plan)

The goal of the University’s commitment to ensuring that students are supported is to allow students to prioritize their studies and prepare for rewarding careers. We expect students to remain in good academic standing and to be making progress toward completing degree requirements.

Students in the Division of the Humanities who entered their PhD program in Summer 2016 or later, and who are still enrolled in 2022-2023 will be fully incorporated into this new funding model, and will receive at least the guaranteed stipend level (subject to applicable taxes), full tuition coverage, and fully paid health insurance premiums for the duration of their program. Students are expected to remain in good academic standing.

Students who matriculated before Summer 2016 will receive at least the funding they were offered at the time of admission and may be eligible for additional funding, such as dissertation completion fellowships. Over the past several years, the Division of the Humanities has increased investments in funding to support students in degree completion.

Additional fellowships and awards are available to support language study, conference travel, and research travel. The Division of the Humanities and the University also offer Dissertation Completion Fellowships to support students as they finish their thesis in a final year of dissertation writing.

As an incentive for timely completion, students who finish the PhD in 7 or fewer years are eligible to apply to become a Teaching Fellow in the Humanities. Dissertation Completion Fellowships continue to be available on a competitive basis, and students who complete the degree within 6 years and receive a Dissertation Completion Fellowship in the final year are guaranteed an appointment as a Teaching Fellow in the Humanities. 

Pedagogical training is a vital part of the educational experience at the University, and all fellowships include a required teaching component. Generally, students focus on their course requirements during the first and second year and fulfill the teaching requirement during the third through fifth years of their program. Appointments as Lecturers and Course Assistants are distributed through an internal application process and are approved by Department faculty. More information can be found in the Teaching section of the Dean of Students Office's website.

Through awards from its Felding, Rhind, and Kaschins endowments and Departmental gifts, the Music Department also funds library and archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, composers' attendance at summer festivals, and specialized language study. Students typically apply for these funds in early March, and decisions on funding are made in the spring quarter.

Fellowships from public or private agencies can supplement a student’s overall financial support, and applicants are encouraged to explore all funding opportunities available to them. The Division of the Humanities has additional information on the types of financial support available to doctoral students.

A number of prestigious internal and external fellowships to support graduate education are available to enrolled students in the Department. Some, such as the Liebmann Fellowship and the Dissertation Completion Fellowships, require nomination from the faculty of the Department. Others may be applied for directly by the student. Students pursuing fieldwork or source studies abroad are encouraged to apply for Fulbright Fellowships through UChicagoGRAD; many countries also offer their own research fellowships to international students (such as the DAAD Fellowships from Germany). Students are encouraged to explore all fellowship opportunities through the Fellowship Kiosk maintained by UChicagoGRAD.