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Funding

Five years of funding is provided for all students in good academic standing. In addition, conference travel fellowships are available for graduate student travel to conferences and seminars. Following are details regarding funding allocation.

First Academic Year

First Summer

Academic Years Beyond the First

Summers Beyond the First

Conference Travel Fellowships

Fees

First Academic Year

Funding is provided for first year students with no obligation outside of coursework. Funding consists of a tuition waiver for all students, a $17,000 stipend for the majority of students (90% or more) and payment of most fees for all students (see the Fees section below and the Student Expenses page of the Graduate School website for further details).

First Summer

$2000 is provided at the end of the first year to students who maintained a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the six core courses, who received at least two grades of B+ or higher in the core courses, and who received a department stipend.

Academic Years Beyond the First

After the first year, funding is provided to students via (1) teaching assistantships (rates vary but are higher than those for graduate assistantships and grader positions), (2) research assistantships (rates vary), (3) graduate assistantships (a mix of TA and RA work - $7000 a semester) and (4) grader positions ($6450 a semester). The allocation of departmental graduate funding occurs in multiple stages, although students and faculty make individual arrangements for funding through outside grants and may choose to not participate. Following is the procedure for distributing departmental graduate funds.

  1. TA assignments are made to qualified students. The department initially seeks only interested students and does not penalize those who are offered a TA position and express a desire to work in some other capacity (e.g. as a research assistant). However, in the absence of interested and qualified students, the department reserves the right to withhold funding from students who decline offers to serve as TAs.
  2. Faculty bid for the right to hire graduate students (possibly multiple) using departmental funds.
  3. Any student who has not been hired in the first stage as a TA and who has not accepted an RA-ship that is outside-grant funded is then eligible to apply for these departmentally funded graduate assistant position, so long as the student has not declined a contract to serve as a TA in the first stage. Faculty who are informed that they have in fact successfully bid for the right to hire a student will advertise their positions or approach particular students they have in mind. These matches will be made in a decentralized way.
  4. At the end of the matching window, the students who are not matched will be assigned to other jobs in the department, such as grading or serving as a TA for a non-core course.
  5. Students who decline employment contracts will not receive funding.

Students who are funded by the department and are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are required to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form.  The form can be found at  http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/  The Graduate School directly downloads information from this application and determines if the student is eligible for work-study funding.  The Department of Education estimates that it takes less than an hour to complete this form, and students will need a copy of the past year's Federal Income Tax Return to do so.  Duke's school code is E00165.

Summers Beyond the First

During the summer following the second year, all students are eligible to work as departmental research assistants (receiving $4000). In the summers following the third and fourth years students are eligible to receive a $4000 departmental dissertation fellowship if they have passed their field and preliminary examinations and applied for (and did not receive) the Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship ($4000). Alternatively, students may teach undergraduate summer courses.

Conference Travel Fellowships

Conference travel fellowships are available through the Graduate School for students who have passed their preliminary examination. These fellowships will reimburse students for travel, lodging and food expenses, up to a maximum of $750 ($500 paid by the Graduate School and $250 by the department), for conferences in which a student is actively participating (i.e. presenting a paper or poster or leading a discussion). Download the fellowship application for more details. Have the DGS sign the application and then make four copies.  Keep one for your files and deliver the other three copies to the following staff members:  Ken Davis in the Graduate School Financial Aid Office (001E Allen), Rhonda Wioskowski (213 Soc Sci) and Cheryl Noga (138 Soc Sci).

Fees

Each academic year (as well as summers in which a student is either registered for a course or receiving a research fellowship) payment of the following fees must be made to the Graduate School:
  • Tuition
  • Continuation (Registration) Fee
  • Health Insurance
  • Recreation Fee
  • Student Activity (Government) Fee
  • Health Fee
The Economics Department pays for all but the student activity fee during all academic years, and pays only the health and continuation fees during summers in which students receive research grants or are required to enroll in a course (the summer after the first year). The recreation fee is optional during the summer and paid by the student. In addition, there is a one time $40 transcript fee which is not paid by the department. Hence the student is responsible for an annual $26 student activity fee, a one time $40 transcript fee and (optionally) summer recreation fees. For details, refer to the table below and visit the Student Expenses page of the Graduate School website for specific fee amounts.

The following abbreviations are used in the table below: TF = Transcript Fee, AF = Activity Fee, CF = Continuation Fee, HF = Health Fee, RF = Recreation Fee, T = Tuition, HI = Health Insurance, S = Student and D = Department.

†The Transcript Fee is paid only once.

‡The Recreation Fee is optional during the summer.

*If the student participates in departmental RA program.

**If the student receives the Departmental Summer Dissertation Fellowship or Graduate School Summer Research Fellowship.

Note: Tuition is not paid after the third year.

Term TF AF CF HF RF T HI
Summer 0       D      
Fall 1 S† S D D D D D
Spring 1   S D D D D D
Summer 1     D D S‡   D
Fall 2   S D D D D D
Spring 2   S D D D D D
Summer 2     D* D* S‡   D
Fall 3   S D D D D D
Spring 3   S D D D D D
Summer 3     D** D** S‡   D
Fall 4   S D D D   D
Spring 4   S D D D   D
Summer 4     D** D** S‡   D
Fall 5   S D D D   D
Spring 5   S D D D   D
Summer 5       S S‡   D
Fall 6   S D D D   D
Spring 6   S D D D   D