Financial Support

Doctoral students at the Missouri School of Journalism receive a maximum of six semesters of full financial support for their three years of study. This support includes assistantships, scholarships, fully subsidized health insurance and support for dissertation research and travel to conferences. The cost of your education is largely paid for so that you can concentrate on your doctoral program. Financial assistance during the summer term is limited. Information about the benefits and subsidy program is available through the MU Graduate School.

Assistantships

We guarantee two assistantships each semester. Assistantships may be in teaching and/or research. Research assistants support faculty members in their research or creative projects, and all doctoral students are eligible for them. Teaching assistants typically perform teaching-related activities such as guest lecturing, writing and grading exams and meeting with students. International students and permanent resident aliens are not eligible for teaching assistantships until they have been enrolled at the university for one semester and have passed a language screening exam.

Doctoral graduate assistants usually work for 20 hours a week. They are paid a monthly stipend for the nine-month academic year. Students must be enrolled for at least nine hours while working as an assistant. To continue as a graduate assistant, students must maintain a 3.5 GPA and receive positive evaluations of their performance.

Assistantships also provide a waiver of resident and non-resident educational fees, providing doctoral students with a substantial savings. Students are still required to pay the incidental fees such as the computing fee and the student activities fee. At this level of assistantship commitment (20 hours per week), the MU Graduate School provides a full subsidy of the cost of student health insurance; your cost will be completely subsidized.

Scholarships

In additional to assistantships, we provide scholarship support each semester to offset the costs of books, incidental fees and living expenses.

In addition there are several campus-wide fellowships and scholarships available. These are highly competitive and require a very high grade point average and exceptional letters of recommendation. The journalism graduate studies center will select qualified candidates and send their nominations to the MU Graduate School at the time of admission. In limited circumstances, there are additional funding opportunities provided by the Missouri School of Journalism.

Research and Travel Support

Doctoral students receive financial support for direct expenses incurred in conducting research for their dissertation.

When finances allow, we provide yearly travel support for two professional conferences (typically one is for the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication), should you have a paper accepted there. Students with approved conference travel receive reimbursements of expenses for each trip.

To receive the full package of financial support outlined above, the graduate studies center requires an updated copy of the FAFSA each year you are enrolled in the journalism doctoral program at MU. We provide a different form for our international students.

Federal Financial Aid

If you are interested in applying for a federal educational loan, please contact the MU Student Financial Aid Office. You must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to be eligible for federal financial aid.

International Students

International students should contact the MU International Center about funding opportunities.

In addition to the above information, the MU Graduate School has information about funding your graduate program.

Questions?

Contact Ginny Cowell.