Non-Service Stipends - FAQ

What is a Fellowship?

Graduate School fellowship awards are stipends with no service obligation. Students do not work or serve in exchange for the fellowship stipend. These stipends allow students to fully engage in their own academic work or research for the duration of the award.

What are the non-service stipend rates?

Beginning with the 2018-2019 academic year, the Ph.D. minimum required stipend rate is $14,500/semester ($29,000/academic year). The Master’s stipend rate ranges from $5,000 to $29,000 and is determined by the program.

What are the requirements for Ph.D. students receiving a non-service stipend?

Ph.D. students receiving fellowship stipends must be given full scholarship for the duration of the award. The primary responsibility of funding the scholarship lies with the department providing the fellowship stipend to the Ph.D. student. In the case of external awards (e.g. ACLS, NSF), the student’s academic program is required to provide scholarship funding where required by the awarding organization. For example, if ACLS requires “the institution” to cover the recipient’s coursework or thesis work, the academic program becomes responsible for providing the funding. The scholarship allocation may be used where appropriate, in accordance with Graduate School policies. Ph.D. students must be enrolled full-time for the duration of their award. Ph.D. students must receive stipend at the standard rate, at minimum. All fellowship awards must be communicated to the Graduate School via the financial aid budget.

What are the requirements for Master’s students receiving a non-service stipend?

Master’s students receiving fellowship stipend are not required to receive scholarship during the period of award. Master’s students must be enrolled at the level specified by their program. All fellowship awards must be communicated to the Graduate School via the financial aid budget. Master's students must set up a supplier ID before the Graduate School can process their award. See the Non-Service Award FAQ.

How are non-service stipend requests submitted?

You may request all awards through the Financial Aid Budget Template. This is provided to each program by the Graduate School. The financial aid budget is a spreadsheet academic programs use to communicate all award information for all graduate students. This spreadsheet also indicates that the program grants the Graduate School permission to act on its behalf by posting merit awards in Banner, processing service stipend payments in GMS and processing non-service stipend paperwork, charging the cost centers listed in the spreadsheet. Programs are required to use the spreadsheet for any and all awards to graduate students. This includes scholarship-only awards, stipend-only awards, combination scholarship + stipend awards, award updates, and awards to non-traditional students participating in the program (e.g. exchange students). The financial aid budget is the official record of all requests from the program to the Graduate School and is utilized for audit purposes. Please refer to the Awarding Scholarships and Stipends section of the Financial Support section of the GradAdmin website for more information.

External Departments that wish to offer graduate students merit-based aid may submit the General Financial Aid Budget Template.

May a student receiving a non-service stipend work at Georgetown?

Students may not work / serve at Georgetown for the duration of the fellowship award. For non-Georgetown University fellowship awards (e.g. FLAS) the program should check the requirements. If the award allows the student to serve and the student wishes to serve, then the award should be processed as an assistantship rather than a non-service stipend.

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