Graduate Program
Financial Support
The Department of Sociology offers financial support in the form of fellowships, graduate assistantships, and tuition scholarships. Most incoming students receive either a fellowship or assistantship which provides full tuition plus a stipend for living expenses for at least four years, contingent upon making satisfactory progress in the program.
Students receiving graduate assistantships are assigned to either work on faculty research projects or to assist faculty with their teaching. Most stipends for the 2007-2008 academic year are $15,000. Given the low cost of living in South Bend, our stipends are very competitive with those of other universities.
The Department awards five competitive dissertation fellowships. These permit advanced students to work full time on their dissertations without other obligations.
Advanced students are also given opportunities to teach their own a courses. The department has a professional development fund for graduate students which, among other things, helps students defray the costs of attending academic conferences.
The department also encourages and assists students in applying to outside sources for grants and financial aid.