Quantum dots

Funding Your Graduate Education

There are many different ways to fund your Lehigh graduate education, including internal and external funding. Lehigh offers fully funded assistantships that come with tuition stipends, as well as partial funding that would provide a stipend or hourly wage. Students may also support their education through loan programs.

Assistantships

Most full-time doctoral students at Lehigh fund their education through multi-year Lehigh-based assistantships or external sources of tuition funding, such as a grant from a foreign government. Assistantship opportunities are available through and managed at the department and program levels. Though assigned responsibilities may vary, all assistantships at Lehigh share a common purpose of developing graduate students as scholars and teachers.

LehighUniversity_GraduateFundingSupport_ResearchAssistant

Research Assistant

Research assistants work alongside Lehigh faculty in myriad ways as research projects unfold, working collaboratively to develop theories, to test ideas, to generate new knowledge.

LehighUniversity_GraduateFundingSupport_TeachingAssistant

Teaching Assistant

Teaching assistantships are essential in educating future faculty members. Most typically, TAs supervise recitation sections and lab sections. Select doctoral candidates may have the opportunity to instruct their own courses. Some TAs may not have section responsibilities but may work with students during office hours and provide grading support.

LehighUniversity_GraduateFundingSupport_GraduateAssistant

Graduate Assistant

Graduate assistants work in offices or units across campus. They are generally assigned to a program or an area rather than working with one specific faculty member. Specific responsibilities depend upon the department or office to which a GA is assigned.

Other Funding

Graduate students at Lehigh have a number of options for funding their education.

Lehigh-Awarded Funds

In addition to assistantships, Lehigh’s individual academic departments and deans’ offices offer a limited number of fellowships and scholarships, including the Pasteur PhD Partners Fellowship.

External Funding

Students can apply for a variety of private, external fellowships and scholarships. These funding opportunities may or may not be need-based.

Employer Sponsorship

Employers can invest in their employees through sponsorship of graduate education.

Loans

The Office of Financial Aid helps administer Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Federal Direct PLUS Loans and Private/Alternative Student Loans.

Funding Stories from Lehigh Students

There are many ways to approach funding your graduate education. Lehigh graduate students share how they did it.

null

The Power of Research

Courtney Au-Yeung, Ph.D. Physics, funded her graduate education through a mix of fellowships from Lehigh and the National Science Foundation combined with a Research Assistantship. Au-Yeung’s dedication to her research and contributions to the science community helped fully fund her graduate experience.

null

Take a Risk

Neiad Ammary, Ed.D Educational Leadership, chose to pay for his first three graduate courses out of pocket. While it was a financial challenge in the short term, he believed the long term investment in his graduate education was a worthwhile risk. The relationships, skills and knowledge he gained outweighed the immediate costs.

null

Know Your Resources

Julissa Jimenez, M.Ed. Educational Leadership, was able to fund her education with the help of tuition reimbursement from her employer and special tuition rates in conjunction with Bethlehem Area School District. Jimenez recommends delving deep to discover the variety of scholarships available and also your employer’s reimbursement policies.