Graduate Students
Financial Information
All applicants will be considered for any financial aid for which they are qualified for after the application process has been completed. Admission, and admission with financial aid, are awarded on a competitive basis to those presenting the strongest credentials.
Self Supported International Applicants
Proof of finances in the form of bank statements need to be sent in order to complete your application if you have funding available to you for educational purposes.
You will be considered for financial support from the department even when you send financial information indicating that you can support yourself.
International applicants can locate information concerning financial requirements and other useful information at: http://www.international.psu.edu/international_students/grad_overview.htm
Graduate Assistantships
There are two main types of graduate assistantships at Penn State, Teaching Assistantships (TA) and Research Assistantships (RA). Typical appointments are “half-time” and require a minimum of twenty hours of service per week. The financial support for RAs is usually provided by external grants made to individual faculty members, while that for TAs is provided by Penn State.
TA responsibilities typically include grading, running lab sections, holding office hours and problem sessions, and occasional lecturing. TA positions do not usually include summer support. In addition, because students usually complete the bulk of their coursework in three semesters, a TA usually provides for slightly reduced tuition support in the fourth semester.
RA activities typically include literature review, problem definition, analysis, experiments, report writing, and presentations. A report of this research work and its results will likely constitute the bulk of a student’s thesis. RA positions usually include summer support, at a rate comparable to that of the academic year stipend. T inquire about the possibility of an RA, you should contact individual faculty members whoare doing research of interest to you. Should external support be in place at the time you enter, you will likely have the opportunity to convert your assistantship to an RA. Should a Research Assistantship not become available, it is the policy of the Department to guarantee a second year of financial support, provided you a re making satisfactory progress in your academic work.
Research Assistantship (RA) offers guarantee financial support for one or more years. Continuing RA support is predicated on making satisfactory progress towards a degree, and may be affected by the availability of external research funds. In the event that your progress is satisfactory but research funds are not available, the Department will make every effort to continue your support in the form of a Teaching Assistantship.
Fellowship Information
- Hertz Foundation Fellowship
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
- NASA Graduate Student Research Program (GSRP) Fellowship
- DoD (NDSEG) Fellowship
- U.S. Air Force Space Scholars Program
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security Graduate Fellowship
- Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship (Female Ph.D._)
- Josephine DeKarman Fellowship (final year Ph.D., senior undergraduate)
- NASA Harriett G. Jenkins Pre-doctoral Fellowship Program (underrepresented graduate students)
- AHS Vertical Flight Foundation (VFF) Scholarship
- AIAA Foundation Graduate Scholarship and Award
- Pennsylvania Space Grant consortium Fellowship
- Penn State Materials Research Institute Fellowship
- Soros Fellowships for New Americans
- Los Alamos National Lab Graduate Student Program