Funding

The University of Michigan has significant financial resources available to support Sociology graduate students throughout their program.

All students admitted to the Sociology Ph.D. Program are provided with a five-year funding package. Most packages includes two years of fellowship and three years of guaranteed teaching positions as a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI). The specific details of the funding packages differ by year and will be outlined in each applicant’s offer of admission, but all packages cover tuition, pay a monthly living stipend, and provide health insurance for you, your spouse or other qualified adult, and your dependents. Beyond the fifth year, many students apply for and are funded by internal/external fellowships. Our students also can also apply for GSI positions in our department past their fifth year, and we give priority to our own graduate students when making GSI assignments. Depending on availability of resources, students also have access to Graduate Student Research Assistanceships (GSRA).

In addition to the tuition, stipend, and health insurance, our basic sociology department package also includes the following:

▪ $1,000 relocation stipend
▪ $1,500 technology grant to purchase a new laptop (research software included)
▪ $1,500 pre-candidate research grant to be used in the first 3 years of the program
▪ $3,500 candidacy research grant
▪ Five summer stipends in the amount of $4,000 each
▪ One-time summer stipend to be used in the spring/summer term that you choose to take the Sociology Preliminary Exam. The amount of this additional award will be calculated by subtracting the amount of summer support previously awarded to you in your funding package from the minimum half-time equivalent stipend rate for four (4) calendar months for GSIs on the Ann Arbor Campus.

The Rackham Graduate School also has programs that provide financial assistance to students to allow them to travel to present at professional conferences and workshops, to perform research at the pre-candidate, candidate, and dissertation levels, and to help them with living expenses. The most common Rackham awards that our students receive are:

▪ Rackham Conference Travel Grant: $900-$1,400/year
▪ Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant: $1,500/ $3,000
▪ Rackham Graduate Student Emergency Funds: $2,500 (2)
▪ Rackham Professional Development Grant: $400
▪Rackham Student Professional Travel with Children Grant: $750/year

Many of our students have also been successful in securing multi-year fellowships such as the National Science Foundation Fellowships and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships to reduce the number of teaching semesters or to extend their funding beyond five years. Information about all Rackham administered fellowships and grants, including the Rackham Merit Fellowship, can be found at the Rackham Fellowships Office.