Academics / Graduate program
Funding and Fellowships
A schedule of fees, including tuition, can be found in the application packet. Applicants are encouraged to seek funding by applying for individual fellowships to cover all or part of the cost of their education. Financial support for non-US citizens is limited; applicants are strongly urged to apply for assistance in their native countries. General information on scholarships and grants may be obtained from the United States Information Service (USIS) offices attached to American consulates.
Financial support made available by the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences includes predoctoral traineeships sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Eye Institute, and the National Institute of Mental Health, as well as various fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships. Such appointments typically provide full tuition plus a 12-month stipend. The MIT application for admission is also an application for financial aid.
Individual Fellowships
Department of Homeland Security Fellowships
Graduate Fellowships -- Fellowship appointments are for up to three years with satisfactory progress.
NSF Fellowships
http://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=DGE
The Graduate Research Fellowship provides three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based master's or doctoral degrees and is intended for students who are in the early stages of their graduate study. The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) invests in graduate education for a cadre of diverse individuals who demonstrate their potential to successfully complete graduate degree programs in disciplines relevant to the mission of the National Science Foundation.
DoD Fellowships
An important mechanism for DoD support of graduate students is through portable fellowships awarded to U.S. citizens or nationals following a competition each year. These fellowships allow the recipients to pursue their graduate studies at whichever U.S. institution they choose to attend. One of these is the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship, which is highly competitive and confers high honors upon its recipients.
**NDSEG Fellows do not incur any military or other service obligation.**
GEM Fellowships
http://www.gemfellowship.org/
Ph.D. Science Fellowship Program
The goal of this program is to increase the number of minority students who pursue doctoral degrees in the natural science disciplines -- chemistry, physics, earth sciences, mathematics, biological sciences, and computer science. Applicants to this program are accepted as early as their junior undergraduate year, as well as candidates currently enrolled in a Master's of Engineering program and working professionals. Fellowships offered through this program are portable and may be used at any participating GEM Member University where the GEM Fellow is admitted.
Hertz Foundation Fellowships
The Hertz Foundation supports graduate students working towards the Ph.D. degree in the applied physical and engineering sciences, as well as those aspects of modern biology which apply the physical sciences intensively. Here, "applied" is broadly construed to mean fields of endeavor in which one applies, invents, and/or develops results from the basic physical sciences to generate solutions to problems of comparatively near-term, widespread human interest. The Foundation's efforts complement the applied physical sciences portion of the NSF's graduate fellowship program (and the Foundation coordinates with the NSF periodically). The Foundation does not support study in pursuit of the M.D. Degree or work in descriptive biology, although it may support the Ph.D. portion of a joint M.D./Ph.D. study program.
The Five-Year Hertz Fellowship award (Option 1) is renewable annually (upon a showing of satisfactory progress toward receipt of the Ph.D. degree) for a total Fellowship tenure of no more than five years.
Jacob K. Javits Fellowships Program
http://www.ed.gov/programs/jacobjavits/index.html
This program provides fellowships to students of superior academic ability - selected on the basis of demonstrated achievement, financial need, and exceptional promise - to undertake study at the doctoral and Master of Fine Arts level in selected fields of arts, humanities, and social sciences. Subject to the availability of funds, a fellow receives the Javits fellowship annually for up to the lesser of 48 months or the completion of her degree.
