Fellowships

Fellowships include full tuition, a nine-month stipend ($21,400 for 2009-10), and Cornell student health insurance. The minimum stipend for a 12-month assistantship appointment will be $28,533. A summer stipend for fellowship recipients may also be provided. Support for the duration of the program may be guaranteed through assistantships or fellowships. 

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships FLAS fellowships support advanced training in foreign languages (excluding some Western European languages and areas). Only U.S. citizens and permanent residents are eligible.

Awards provide a nine-month stipend of $15,000 and a tuition allowance.  All FLAS fellows receive the balance of tuition from the Graduate School. Ph.D. students who receive FLAS awards also receive a stipend supplement to bring the award to the nine-month assistantship minimum, and individual Cornell Student Health Insurance (SHIP). Applications, usually due in late January, are available from the individual graduate field offices.  

Diversity fellowships Special fellowships designed to increase the diversity of Cornell's graduate student population may be available on a competitive basis to U.S. citizens or permanent residents. To be considered for these awards, please submit a supplemental essay with your application that addresses how the following criteria apply to you: 1) a history of overcoming disadvantage; 2) first-generation college student; 3) raised in a single-parent household; 4) member of an underrepresented minority group (American Indian or Alaskan native, Black/African American, Mexican American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, Puerto Rican, Other Hispanic).

Assistantships

Teaching and research assistants receive a stipend, a full tuition fellowship, and Cornell student health insurance. Some fields may supplement the stipend and/or make summer appointments.

Teaching assistantships Assignment is usually in your major field or in a closely related one.

Teaching assistants work 15 to 20 hours a week teaching a course. International students: the International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP), which offers language, pedagogical, and cultural training, is required of all new graduate students who come from countries where English is not the native language and who will be teaching assistants at Cornell for the first time in the Fall semester.

Graduate research assistantships Duties involve thesis, dissertation, or other degree-related research. Because a student devotes considerable time to thesis or dissertation research, the time devoted to the graduate research assistantship is expected to be significant.

Research assistantships Duties involve research on a project, 15 to 20 hours a week, that is not directly thesis- or dissertation-related.