External Support

The Psychology Graduate Group encourages all of its students to apply for external support. Winning external support is a good thing for all concerned. First, it is a sign that the student's ideas are well thought of by scholars in his or her field, scholars beyond the borders of the institution that will profit from the support. This a a powerful endorsement to be able to place on one's vita. Second, external support can provide the money needed to carry out research, money for equipment, subject costs, research assistants, etc. And, external support may provide a student a stipend beyond his or her 5th year. External support will also allow the Graduate Group to support an additional student with the money the external support replaces. So we encourage every student to apply.

The two most prominent sources of external support are National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral fellowships (NSFs), and National Research Service Awards (NRSAs). The NSFs are highly competitive and prestigious. Students are eligible to apply for them: in their senior year of college and in the first and second years of Graduate School. We urge all eligible students to apply. Foreign nationals are not eligible. Information about the NSF Program can be found here.

National Research Service Awards from the National Institute of Health (NIH) provide stipend support for both basic and applied science. The NRSA also provides a small amount of money for research costs. Students can apply for them in any year, though 3rd year is probably, in the typical case, the most reasonable year to apply. Information about these programs can be found here. Please be aware that the NRSA covers roughly 60% of the full cost of tuition, stipend, health insurance, and fees. NIH does not require the School of Arts and Sciences to make up the difference in costs and SAS does not take on that responsibility. Depending on how students are funded, either advisors will be responsible for making up the difference in cost or the student will be expected to TA proportionate to the difference in funding. For a list of students who currently hold NRSAs or for more information about the funding rules in the Psychology Graduate Group, please contact the DGS.

In addition to these large, broad training programs, there are a number of narrower programs for which you might be eligible. The University has a web site which provides such information.

Below are some sites to which our students have applied in the past: