Costs and Funding
Scholarships
The department provides a large number of scholarships (approximately $12,000) on a competitive basis to M.S. students, in their first year only, who are admitted to the program and taking 96 units of coursework to complete their M.S. degree.
Fellowships
The department is able to offer Dean's Fellowships (complete tuition coverage for one year and $1500 of support for use on the students behalf) to qualified, first-year doctoral students admitted to the program. Students elected to receive this fellowship will be notified of this award in their offer letter.
The department also encourages all admitted students to apply for all fellowships for which they are eligible prior to joining the university. Several of the fellowships that students commonly apply for before coming to Carnegie Mellon are:
For a complete list of available fellowships for which you might apply, please visit:
If you would like to contact your advisor concerning a letter of support or assistance in developing your statement of purpose further for this application, please feel free to do so.
You might ask, "Why if I have been admitted with support should I be seeking one of these fellowships?" This is a good question, but with a simple answer. It allows you greater flexibility in choosing your dissertation topic and it provides a significant amount of stability in your research funding. The fellowships are usually for multiple years and can be used to provide a long-term base of support for your students that can be augmented by the research support from your faculty advisor.
Please consider applying for those fellowships for which you are eligible.
Research Assistantships
Many of the graduate students conducting research in the department (these are typically doctoral students and in a few cases M.S. students) receive financial aid in the form of research assistantships that cover tuition, fees, and living expenses for the entire year. Funds for research assistantships generally come from external research contracts or grants, or from funds provided by fellowships from the US and other countries. All M.S. program applicants who have been invited by a faculty member to work on a research project, and offered a research assistantship as a result, are expected to pursue that research project as part of their M.S. degree program (see M.S. Requirements)
Students awarded with a research assistantship are required to devote approximately 20 hours per week in teaching and research activities, on top of the time they must devote for their course activity, which we consider to be an integral part of their graduate education.
Full-time Ph.D. students, and the few M.S. students working on research projects, engage in research under faculty guidance. Currently, the department has 17 faculty who all advise students doing research (see Faculty).
The process by which graduate students are selected to receive offers of a research assistantship is based on the following factors:
- The qualifications and past performance of the student (based on transcripts, exams, and recommendations)
- The interests of the student as stated in their “Statement of Purpose”
- The availability of externally funded research contracts in their stated areas of interest
- Their competitive position within the larger pool of highly qualified applicants
Faculty members with research projects related to your area of interests may contact you and begin discussions about your interests and competencies to determine whether you might be a candidate for working on their research project. Please know that these interactions are very important for this RA decision process and that you should take them very seriously and respond in a timely and responsible manner.
