Funding Information for Doctoral Students
I want to take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome from the EPSY family at Texas A&M University. We are excited that you are considering applying to our department and we know that many applicants are anxious to learn about financial aid and ways that you can finance their education. The following information will cover fellowships, scholarships, loans, and graduate assistantships.
Fellowships: In our department we primarily have 2 fellowships - Graduate Merit (GM) and the Graduate Diversity (GD), Fellowships. The GM and GD fellowships are University fellowships and they are only open to U.S. citizens. These are highly prestigious and coveted awards. But the department has to be able to contribute resources to both of these fellowships so we are limited in the number of students that we can nominate for these awards. As such, our programs only select a few individuals to be nominated every year. These packages currently look like this:
| GRAD MERIT | $25,000 | - Fellowship Stipend - 1st year |
| $36,000 | - Payment toward Resident Tuition and fees ($9,000.00/ year for 4 years) | |
| $2,112 | - One year Insurance reimbursement | |
| $63,112 | - Total Package |
| GRAD Diversity |
$54,000 |
- Fellowship Stipend ($18,000/ year for 3 years) |
| $27,000 | - Payment toward Resident Tuition and fees ($9,000.00/ year for 3 years) |
|
| $2,112 | - Graduate Assistantship ($7,569/ year for 3 years) |
|
| $103,707 | - Total Package |
Scholarships: In our department we have 2 scholarships this year. As new students you may be eligible for 1 of them. You will not be eligible for the Carol Wagner Scholarship because students must be in their 2nd year or beyond, but this gives you something to look forward to in future years. The scholarship you will be most interested in are the Heather Bradley Scholarship. The Heather Bradley Scholarship is for first year students in Special Education and School Psychology. This award is a minimum of $1000.00. I will alert admitted students as to when this award is accepting applications.
We also have a new differential tuition scholarship that is awarded at the College Level. This award is for instate residents only and is determined solely by financial need. To qualify for this scholarship you need to complete a FAFSA and the University Wide Scholarship Application here: https://sfaid.tamu.edu/UWideApp. Once these two items are complete a list is generated of those students with the highest need. These students are awarded scholarships for the differential tuition pool. The amount may vary depending on the funds available in the pool.
*** A word about scholarships and fellowships. If you are an out of state student, any competitively awarded Texas A&M scholarship or fellowship of $1000.00 or more will allow you to pay in state tuition rates for the academic year. If you take classes in the Fall, Spring, and Summer this could be a savings of $7000.00-$10000.00!!! So the award may not provide much in the way of cash, but it can be a significant financial advantage!!
In addition, the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid has this website:
https://scholarships.tamu.edu/add_scholarships/current_sch_opp.aspx
Which provides a list of outside scholarships. In addition, please contact Student Financial Aid (SFA) about any aid that you may qualify for. Their number is 979-845-3236.
Loans: This is not how most people want to fund the majority of their education, but most people do have to take loans to fund at least some portion of their education. In order to access student loans you will need to complete a FAFSA. You will be asked a lot of information based on your 2011 Tax return (or your parents’ tax return) so please make sure you have filed your taxes prior to completing the FAFSA. For more information about student loans, please contact SFA at 979-845-3236.
Graduate Assistantships (GAs): The majority of students want to use GAs to fund their education because the packages can be quite lucrative. GA positions of 20 hours a week ( or 2 10 hour per week positions) provide out of state students the ability to pay tuition at the instate rate, a monthly or biweekly stipend (amount varies by position), and receive a credit for 9 credit hours of tuition. The majority of the students in our department do have GA positions either in our department, with a grant or research project or with an outside department. Please note that as new students you will likely not be placed in a departmental position. This is due to the nature of the positions that we have to offer. Many of them are course support and we feel strongly that new students aren’t ready for such a position. That being said many new students find positions with other departments and with grant and research projects. Unfortunate, students who accept GA positions in nonacademic departments will not receive the tuition payment. These students are still eligible to pay instate tuition rates. Many students want to know how to apply for these positions. One way is that once students pre-register for Fall you will have access to jobsforaggies.com, which will list some positions and provide directions for you to apply. Another way is that the Advising Office will email students when any position becomes available. Most job descriptions will contain directions for applying for positions. Please note that it is not uncommon for TAMU departments not to hire Fall positions until late Summer. This means that it is very possible that you may not have a position when you arrive on campus in the Fall, but many student do find positions within the first few weeks of classes.
