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Financial aid
Students in the Ecology program are normally guaranteed funding for 5 years if a PhD student and 2 years if a MS. Please discuss funding options with your potential faculty advisers or the program chair.
Tuition, stipend and research costs
Students may be funded through research or teaching assistantships, fellowships or grants.
- Research assistantships are coordinated through the student's faculty advisor and should be discussed directly with your (potential) adviser on the Ecology faculty.
- A limited number of research assistantships are available through funds from the Huck Institutes and the Graduate School
- Additional funding may be available if the student is in an under-represented minority
- Teaching assistantships are available through the advisor's home department, or in special cases in the Biology Department as arranged by the Ecology program.
- University Graduate Fellowships may be available to highly-qualified students.
Funding typically covers tuition (or provides a tuition waver), plus a stipend. Some funding sources may also cover certain research costs.
Supplementary funding: Travel Awards
Current Ecology students can apply for two awards available to a limited number of students in the program each year:
- The Professional meeting travel award offers $200 towards travel costs to a national or international scientific meeting
- Frank A. Andersen Ecology Travel Award for Graduate Students provides travel awards to students presenting at professional meetings
Supplementary funding: Ecology Award
One Ecology student each year will receive this award, based on peer and faculty nominations:
The J. Brian Horton Memorial Award
recognizes outstanding achievement and service to the graduate community
Supplementary funding: Other Awards and Fellowships
A number of financial awards are available from internal (eg, The Grad School at Penn State) and external (eg, NSF, DOE, private donors) sources.
The award spreadsheet summarizes these opportunities.