Graduate Funding

Sociology grad student

All students admitted to the graduate program are guaranteed five years of financial support through fellowships, research and teaching assistantships, or graduate instructorships. Continued financial support is contingent upon timely and satisfactory progress in the program.

Financial support includes:

  • An average stipend of $23,000 during the first two academic years.
  • Full tuition remission
  • Graduate Assistant Health and Dental Insurance (a waiver of up to 95% of health insurance premium cost)
  • Professional development funds for travel support to present at national and international conferences.
  • Five years of guaranteed funding in the form of a 20 hours per week teaching assistantship.
  • Opportunities to apply for university and department fellowships and research assistantships. Research assistantships may be in the department or with other faculty at the university, including in affiliated research centers.
Students are responsible for student service fees and other costs associated with graduate education. Fees for domestic students are approximately $1100 per semester, for international students, approximately $1,300 per semester.

Fellowships & Awards

The Department of Sociology, the College of Liberal Arts and the Graduate School offer fellowships for which the Sociology program may nominate graduate students.

These awards include a stipend of $25,000 for the one academic year (September-May), tuition for up to 14 graduate credits each semester (Fall & Spring), and subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan for Fall, Spring and Summer.

  • CLA Graduate Fellowship Program (CLAGF) is offered by the College of Liberal Arts to recruit outstanding graduate students for a first year fellowship.
  • The DOVE fellowship is a $25,000 stipend, academic year tuition at the general graduate rate for up to 14 credits per semester, subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan for up to one calendar year, option to attend the GSDO Summer Institute (includes $4,000 stipend and health insurance coverage), and a minimum of $1,000 for research/conference travel funding. Departments nomnate students for this Univeristy wide fellowships. 
  • Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change (ICGC) ICGC Scholar Fellowships support outstanding students who are clearly committed to the interdisciplinary study of the global south in the context of global change. ICGC encourages departmental nomination of exceptionally capable students, especially but not only from the global south and U.S. communities of color.
  • The Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship (IDF) provides a unique opportunity for outstanding Ph.D. students who are engaged in interdisciplinary research to study with faculty at one of the University’s interdisciplinary research centers or institutes during the fellowship year. Applicants designate the host center or institute they believe is the best match with their planned dissertation topic, contingent upon endorsement by the host center or institute. Applicants should check with mentors and directors early to ensure a good match.
  • The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) gives the University's most accomplished Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write a dissertation during the fellowship year.

Departmental Support

Research Assistantships

You are directly chosen by your principal investigator (faculty member) for a research project that will be conducted at the University of Minnesota. Research assistantships may be offered to incoming students with prior research experience, but they are generally filled by more advanced graduate students.

Teaching Assistantships

The department allocates teaching assistantships to all incoming graduate students who are not otherwise supported by fellowships. Graduate assistants work no more than 20 hours per week and earn an academic year stipend, full tuition remission and a health insurance package (a waiver of up to 95% of the health insurance premium.)

Professional Development Funds

Professional Development funds cover the expenses of presenting papers while you attend international, national, or regional sociology meetings. This has been a non-service award to help with transportation, lodging, and registration fees of approximately $500 per semester. Professional development funds have been awarded for meetings hosted by the American Sociological Association, Society for the Study of Social Problems, Law and Society Association, and American Society of Criminology.

Bright Research Award

The Bright Research Award is given annually to graduate students for whom the award will make a significant improvement in their achievement of research toward their PhD in Sociology at the University of Minnesota. If funds are available, up to three students per year may be allocated awards up to $5,000.

Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP)

Graduate Research Partnership Program (GRPP) is offered by the College of Liberal Arts to provide a summer research stipend to CLA graduate students to support their professional, scholarly, and creative development while collaborating with a CLA faculty project advisor on scholarly research and creative activity. Awards are for $4,000.

Aminzade International Graduate Student Emergency Fund

The Aminzade Sociology International Graduate Student Emergency Fund provides financial support for current F-1/J-1 international students who have experienced an emergency situation. Emergency funds are to be used for short-term situations to help students through the crisis and are not intended to cover long-term expenses. In most circumstances, these funds will only be given for a specific emergency situation.

Sociology Graduate Student Support Fund

The purpose of the Sociology Graduate Student Support fund (SGSS) is to provide non-international sociology graduate students with financial support as it relates to their academic pursuits. This funding can be used for fellowships/awards or emergency grants to assist with unique situations that might otherwise cause them to extend or suspend their studies or suspend completion of their degree. In most circumstances, these funds will only be given one time and for a specific situation.

Summer Research Excellence Fellowship on the Social Dimensions of Climate Change

This fellowship will support a graduate student in Sociology whose summer research project focuses on the Social Dimensions of Climate Change. This fellowship opportunity is available to all graduate students in the Department of Sociology, in any year of study.  Awards will be made each year based on application merit. A student may receive this award more than once. All empirical research methodologies are applicable, qualitative and quantitative. This Fellowship derives from an endowment contributed by Professors Jeffrey Broadbent and Jeylan Mortimer to the University of Minnesota Foundation on the occasion of their retirement in the Spring of 2021.

Additional Funding

Many current students also take advantage of other internal and external funding. Sociology students have secured the following funding.

University of Minnesota Funding

Mark and Judy Yudof Fellowship
William Stout and Thomas Wallace Fellowship
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship

Pre-dissertation External Funding

Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP)

Dissertation Completion Funding

American Sociological Association Minority Fellowship (ASA MFP)
Ford Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award ( NSF DDRI)
Social Sciences Research Council - International Dissertation Research Fellowship (SSRC)

The Graduate School also administers University-wide fellowships and grants.

Contact Becky Drasin for more information about funding your degree.