AES Ph.D. Financial Support
Several graduate student assistantships within the IAS are made available each year to qualified students in the Atmospheric Sciences and related topic areas. These assistantships are funded through grants and/or contracts held by IAS investigators. The annual student stipends for these assistantships are currently (for the academic year beginning in Fall 2006) set at approximately $20,000 for M.S. students and $22,398 for Ph.D. students. Assistantship stipends are projected to increase by about five percent per year. These research assistantships also include partial payment toward tuition. All tuition and fees in excess of those provided in the assistantship are the responsibility of the student.
Most graduate assistantships are based on half-time commitment (20 hours/week) during the school year, and full time commitment for three months (40 hours/week) during the summer. Activities to be carried out by a research assistant are assigned and monitored by the principal investigator. In order to qualify for the partial tuition payment, students must carry 9 credit hours during the school year and 6 credit hours during the summer. This requirement is reduced after a student has fulfilled all coursework requirements.
The Atmospheric Sciences Master of Science Program is included in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP). Students who are residents from any of the cooperating states (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) may enroll in the SDSM&T Atmospheric Sciences program at in-state rates ($120.45 per credit hour).
