Funding your graduate program

Aero-Astro graduate students generally identify funding through one of the following, but they may also put together a combination of sources (such as a partial fellowship with an RA supplement) to fund their graduate program :

Research assistantship

• Pays full tuition, health insurance, and monthly stipend. Most Aero-Astro grad students are funded with a research assistantship. An RA works in a lab assisting a faculty member with research. Ideally, but not always, the research is the basis for the student's thesis. Generally, a research assistantship will fund a student through the duration of the academic degree program.
  

Teaching assistantship

• Pays full tuition, health insurance, and a monthly stipend. Teaching asistants support a faculty member in a classroom situation. These positions are usually offered on a course by course basis and last one semester. There are generally 20 of these positions in our department each year.
  

MIT-sponsored fellowship

• Pays full tuition, health insurance, and monthly stipend. Internal fellowships (i.e., those offered by MIT) are generally for one academic year and do not require a student to also work as an RA or TA. Internal fellowships generally recognize prior superior academic achievement. Because they typically last only one year, it's important that students who are awarded a fellowship secure funding for the following year. For more information please visit the Grad Student Office Internal Fellowships website.
  

External fellowship

• External fellowships are funding opportunities students must apply for and receive either before being admitted to, or after enrolling in, graduate school. They vary in coverage. Some cover all costs of the graduate program, others cover less. If a fellowship does not cover all expenses, the student may supplement the fellowship with an RA. For more information please visit the Grad Student Office External Fellowships website.

Identifying Funding

Graduate students are expected to be proactive in the search for funding; don't wait for funding to be offered to you. You should research and apply for external (non-MIT) funding opportunities. Some U.S. fellowships have application deadlines as early as October for the following academic year.

Once you've been accepted into the Aero-Astro graduate program, you should contact faculty with matching research interests about possible RA opportunities in their labs. Faculty contact information is located on the faculty listings page and clicking in the "view profile" link beneath professor's names will help you determine their research interests. Faculty begin making RA offers in March and continue right through August. RA positions may become available when students graduate, when new projects are funded, or when continuing projects receive additional funding.

Check with Aero-Astro Student Services aa-studentservices@mit.edu about courses that have historically used teaching assistants. If you have any background in a course, you should approach faculty members to let them know of your interest. Students may also seek out opportunities as a TA or RA in another academic department in which they have a background.

Finally, keep your file in the Student Services Office updated as to your status. When faculty want to identify students for additional funding, they ask Student Services for the latest information on which students are interested. And, when you've confirmed funding, please inform Student Services by contacting Graduate Program Administrator Beth Marois.

2011-2012 funding resources

Sampling of outside fellowships commonly awarded to engineering graduate students, with application deadlines:

• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, November, 2011
• National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship, January, 2012
• Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship Awards, October, 2011
• NASA Harriett Jenkins Fellowship Program, February, 2012
• Ford Foundation, November, 2011
• GEM Fellowship, November, 2011
• Amelia Earhart Fellowship, November, 2011
• Department of Energy Fellowship in Computational Science, TBA

Sampling of other fellowships, not necessarily geared toward engineering

• Winston Churchill Fellowship
• Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
• Marshall Scholarship
• Merage Foundation for the American Dream
• Rhodes Scholarship
• Truman Scholarship

A Web search will reveal many sites devoted to graduate student funding opportunities. Be aware that some financial aid search companies/organizations may charge you a fee for their services.

Questions? Email aa-studentservices@mit.edu.