PhD
PhD Tuition and Financial Aid
The School of Nursing is committed to assisting all full-time PhD students for four years of tuition, fees, stipend, and health insurance. Students may be funded internally or externally, depending on funding options available. The PhD program leadership will determine which funding is most appropriate for all incoming students. Students who choose part-time enrollment are responsible for paying for their own tuition, fees, and health insurance.
Internal Funding
In exchange for a nine-month stipend (September - May), students may be funded as a Teaching Assistant to support School of Nursing courses at up to 16 hours a week. The stipend for 2020-2021 is $28,107.
External Funding
Funding from the federal government such as NIH training grants (T32s), professional organizations or foundations, or other external agencies may be available for students if their research goals and objectives are a good fit for the source of funding. The PhD program leadership will carefully determine possible sources of external funding for accepted students. Additionally, our current students are successful at obtaining prestigious pre-doctoral NRSA awards from the National Institute of Nursing Research that can fund PhD study.
Supplemental Employment
As funding may not be able to cover all expenses, supplemental employment may be helpful. Students funded as Teaching Assistants or through external funding and who are in good academic standing may work a maximum of 10 hours per week in a supplemental job.
International Students
Non-US citizens or non-US permanent residents, however, are not eligible for federal grants. Therefore, these students must secure their own funding for any part of the PhD program that exists outside the first four years. This includes not only work after the fourth year, but it may include English Language training that the school could require be completed at Penn prior to the start of the first academic semester.