Good news for grad students

Stipends for President’s and Jefferson fellows and for graduate teaching assistants are going up next fall.

The stipend for President’s Fellowships, the most prestigious offered by Arts & Sciences, will increase from $16,000 to $18,000 a year, and the length of fellowships is being increased from three to four years. The target award for teaching assistantships goes up to $17,000.

The increases were made possible by restricted funds that were appropriated by the state of Virginia during 2006 but that will be part of a permanent increase in U.Va.’s allocation, said Aaron Mills, associate dean of Arts & Sciences for graduate programs.

“We are very encouraged, because this demonstrates that our legislature recognizes the critical role of graduate-level education in economic, cultural and educational development, both in the commonwealth and in the nation,” Mills added. “The level of support we can provide graduate students as they make major contributions to both the scholarly and educational missions of Arts & Sciences is one of our most critical needs.”

The Jefferson Scholars Foundation announced that winners of the Jefferson Fellowship will receive $30,000 annually for up to five years. Stipend levels had been $18,000 in the humanities and $25,000 in the sciences. Jefferson Fellows also will be able to apply for up to $7,500 in additional research funds, an increase from $3,000, from the foundation during their course of study.

Funding constraints had limited the competition to certain departments. With additional endowment raised, the competition will now be open to every terminal degree-granting department in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.