Tuition & Financial Aid
Nearly all of our graduate students are fully supported: full tuition, a generous stipend, and full health insurance.
Support may be provided in one of several possible ways. In any given year, the majority of available positions come
in the form of Teaching Assistantships. However, depending on availability, students may receive financial support
from multiple sources during the course of their studies.
The Department typically seeks to provide a maximum of 6 years of support for students
that enter the MS/PhD program (4 years for those directly admitted to the PhD program). The actual amount of time a
student is supported will never be less than the guaranteed period of support, assuming satisfactory progress towards
the PhD degree.
Teaching Assistantship
This usually entails running a "recitation" section for an introductory lecture course, with associated homework and
exam grading and office hours/help sessions. Some TA's only grade papers and hold office hours. Nominally a TA works
an average of 15 hours/week for the entire semester.
Research Assistantship
Students may be able to obtain support on external research grants awarded to Cornell University faculty. This support
is made available at the discretion of the faculty member.
The duties of an RA vary according to need; these
duties might include statistical research, computer programming, online database searching, library work, and data
management. Nominally an RA works 15 hours/week.
Fellowship
Fellowships constitute full financial support without a specific work commitment. Information on external fellowships
may be found at this site.
Other Sources
A variety of other funding sources exist, both within Cornell (e.g., assistantships in other departments), and
external to Cornell (e.g., corporate grants, intern/externships, etc...).
