Fellowships

All admitted students are supported for the PhD program. Typically, students are supported by a Faculty Teaching Fellowship in the first two years followed by a Research Assistantship in subsequent years as students work for a research group.

The fellowship support amount increases on average 5% per year. Some students supplement their Fellowship by tutoring, teaching recitation sections, or by grading homework.

The fellowship support amounts for the current academic year (2018-2019) are provided below.

Faculty Fellowship Support for Academic Year 2018-2019

Salary Payment

$9,784.00 as Teaching Fellow salary payment, disbursed semi-monthly, September 2018 through May 2019.  Semi-monthly amount will be $543.51, processed through Payroll with withholding.

Fellowship Stipend

$19,568.00 as Fellowship stipend, disbursed in two (2) installments of $9,784.00 each at the start of September and January, processed through Student Services with no withholding for U.S. citizens.

9 Month total of salary and fellowship: $29,349.75

* Teaching Fellow (TF) Support includes Tuition and Basic Medical Insurance.

For Comprehensive Medical Insurance coverage please visit Columbia Health Services. 

Summer 2018 Support (6/1/18 through 8/31/18)

Disbursed as Graduate Research Assistant salary payment, and processed through Payroll with withholding:  $3,143.33.00 per month for June, and $3,261.08 for July, and August 2018 (Salary level for July and August may be increased).

3 Month summer total: $9,665.49

Total for the full year: $39,133

Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) salary is paid semi-monthly from faculty-sponsored research grants, through payroll with withholding. GRAs may also be supported by continued teaching engagements.

  • $3,261.08 per month
  • $9,783.05 over 3 months
  • $29,349.75 over 9 months
  • $39,133 over 12 months
  • Year 1: Faculty Fellowship + Research Assistantship during the summer
  • Year 2: Faculty Fellowship + Research Assistantship during the summer
  • Subsequent Years: Research Assistantship (12 months each year)

Some students enter graduate school with outside fellowships or awards. In this case, support will be supplemented with details dependent on the amount of the outside fellowship.

Students can supplement their income by:

  • Tutoring undergraduates privately (the Physics office keeps a list of those interested in tutoring). Rates are negotiated privately with the students seeking tutors.
  • Teaching recitation sections (a number of undergraduate courses have weekly recitation sections).
  • Grading homework (all undergraduate courses have weekly homework assignments that require grading).

Interested graduate students should contact the undergraduate secretary if they are interested in any of these possibilities for supplemental income.