PhD Funding Compared: Fellowships, Assistantships, and External Funding

Three funding sources, one goal

A funded PhD offer usually combines a university fellowship, a paid assistantship, or an external fellowship, sometimes all three across your years in the program. Each source pays differently and asks something different of your time.

University and department fellowships

Many programs give incoming PhD students one or more years without teaching or research duties attached to the paycheck, often the first year and sometimes the last, funded directly by the graduate school. A fellowship year lets you start coursework or early research without splitting your time on a teaching assignment. Ask whether the fellowship years sit at the start, the end, or spread across your guarantee, since a first-year fellowship gives you the easiest transition into a new country and a new academic system.

Teaching and research assistantships

Assistantships pay a stipend in exchange for a set number of hours a week teaching, grading, or working in a lab, typically for a half-time appointment. Minimum stipend rates vary by university and are usually set by the graduate school each year. For 2026-27, the University of Wisconsin-Madison set minimums of $30,614 a year for a half-time teaching assistantship and $37,417 for a half-time research assistantship. Georgia Tech set its 2026-27 minimum at $2,291 a month for assistantships of a third-time or more. Texas A&M sets a minimum of $1,826 a month at 50% FTE. Rates differ sharply by university, city cost of living, and field, so treat these as floor examples, not a national number, and check your specific program's current rate.

A research assistantship is often paid from a specific grant your advisor holds. That gives you research time toward your dissertation but ties your funding to that grant's budget and end date. A teaching assistantship draws on the department's core teaching budget, which is usually more stable year to year but adds a weekly teaching or grading load on top of your coursework and research.

External fellowships

External fellowships are awarded by an outside body, not your university, and travel with you if you switch schools before starting. The largest US example is the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program , which as of its 2025-26 solicitation pays a $37,000 annual stipend plus a $16,000 cost of education allowance to the university, for three years of support across a five-year eligibility window. The GRFP requires US citizenship, US national status, or permanent residency, so most international applicants do not qualify.

As an international applicant, look instead at your home country's government scholarship programs and university-specific international fellowships listed on the graduate school's funding page. Some field-specific foundations state directly that non-citizens are eligible. The Fulbright Foreign Student Program, run through your home country's Fulbright commission, funds some US graduate study for international students, though its awards often cover one or two years rather than a complete PhD, so check the exact award length before you count on it as your only source. Confirm citizenship and visa eligibility on each fellowship's own page before you rely on it, since eligibility rules differ program to program and change without notice.

How the three affect your time and flexibility

Taxes on your stipend

Stipends and fellowship payments count as taxable income in the US, including for international students, and universities do not always withhold tax automatically the way an employer does for a regular paycheck. Assistantship pay is treated as wages and usually has tax withheld directly. Ask your university's international student office and tax office how your specific type of funding is reported, since fellowship income and assistantship wages are handled differently on your annual tax filing.

Health insurance across the three sources

Most universities require every PhD student to carry a student health insurance plan regardless of funding source, and many funded offers include a full or partial subsidy toward that cost as part of the package. Check whether your specific offer's health insurance subsidy applies during fellowship years, assistantship years, and any unfunded semester, since coverage sometimes lapses exactly when you need it most.

If you switch advisors mid-PhD

A research assistantship tied to one advisor's grant does not transfer automatically if you change advisors. Your new advisor needs open grant funding or a TA line to take you on, and a gap between advisors sometimes means an unfunded semester if the timing does not line up. Ask your graduate coordinator what support exists for students switching labs or advisors before you need it.

Combining sources across your PhD

Most funded students move between these three sources over the years, not only one. A common pattern is a fellowship in year one to ease the transition, TA and RA years in the middle funded by teaching budgets and grants, and a push for an external dissertation-completion fellowship in the final year to reduce teaching duties while you write. Ask your prospective department how funding sources typically shift across a student's years there, not only what your first-year offer includes.

Questions to ask before you accept

• Which years of my funding package are fellowship years, and which are assistantship years?

• If I hold a research assistantship, which grant pays it and when does that grant end?

• What is the minimum stipend for my department this year, and does it rise each year?

• Am I eligible for any of the external fellowships the department nominates students for?