Graduate Funding

Learn about the costs and how to fund your graduate education at MIT

PhD studies in EAPS

Any student admitted to an EAPS doctoral program can expect to receive financial support that includes a stipend, full tuition, and health insurance. First year support may be in the form of a fellowship or research assistantship. Support in the following years is most commonly from a research assistantship or teaching assistantship. Continuation of support for the length of a five-year program is based on the student making adequate progress toward the degree.

Applicants are encouraged to apply for independent fellowships from outside private or government agencies. If an independent fellowship falls below the EAPS level of support, the department will supplement this external fellowship with either a research assistantship or an internal fellowship, if available. If you are awarded a fellowship from some other source, please contact the EAPS Education Office to discuss department policy on merging various sources of support. 

SM studies in EAPS

The 5th-year and traditional masters degrees are self-funded. Students should plan to pursue financial aid or external fellowships for these degrees. Students may also apply for internal fellowships from the MIT Office of Graduate Education (OGE) during the nomination period, generally January to March; eligibility criteria varies by fellowship.

MIT facts + figures on salaries, stipends, costs of attendance, and more

Visit the MIT Office of Graduate Education (OGE) site for complete information on costs and funding, including:

Additional Funding Support

Internal funding sources and advice

MIT OGE Fellowships Office is a good resource for funding opportunities and provides advising and support for:

  • internal MIT fellowships
  • fellowship application guidance
  • access to lists and databases of external fellowships

MIT Student Financial Services is also available to provide help with:

  • student loans
  • federal work-study
  • sponsored billing
  • veterans benefits

MIT Office of Graduate Education can assist students with certain financial needs or gaps in funding, including:

  • guaranteed transitional support (for students who wish to change research advisors or groups)
  • the MIT Grant for Graduate Students with Children
  • the MIT Graduate Student Short-Term Emergency Fund 
  • doctoral long-term financial hardship funding

Fellowship opportunities from external organizations

Here are a few examples of the types of fellowship funding EAPS students have pursued:

American Meteorological Society Graduate Fellowships
Offered to students entering first-year graduate studies in atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences.

American Society for Engineering Education Program
ASEE administers a number of fellowship and research opportunities with funding provided by the Federal agencies including the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship Program
Provides benefits and opportunities to students pursuing doctoral degrees in fields that use high-performance computing to solve complex science and engineering problems, including aeronautics, astrophysics, biological sciences, chemical engineering, chemistry, electrical engineering, environmental science, materials science, mechanical engineering, and physics.

DOE Office of Science Graduate Fellowship (SCGF) Program
Supports outstanding graduate students pursuing graduate training in basic research in areas of physics, biology (non-medical), chemistry, mathematics, engineering, computational and computer sciences, and environmental sciences relevant to the Office of Science mission areas.

Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship
The Hertz Fellowship is awarded annually to the nation’s most promising graduate students in science and technology. Using a rigorous, merit-based process, we identify innovators with the greatest potential to create transformative solutions to the world’s most urgent challenges.

Graduate Fellowships for STEM Diversity (GFSD) 
Formerly the National Physical Science Consortium (NPSC), founded in 1989 “To increase the number of American citizens with graduate degrees in STEM fields, emphasizing recruitment of a diverse applicant pool.” Graduate Fellowships for STEM Diversity (GFSD) is a partnership between federal agencies & laboratories, industry, and higher education institutions.

National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Provides three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based master’s or doctoral degrees and is intended for students who are at the early stages of their graduate study.

NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO)
Seeks to sponsor U.S. citizen and permanent resident graduate students who show significant potential to contribute to NASA’s goal of creating innovative new space technologies for our Nation’s science, exploration and economic future. 

Example grant programs supporting graduate research

American Association of Petroleum Geologists Grants-in-Aid Program
The purpose of the Program is to foster research in the geosciences by providing support to graduate students in the earth sciences whose research has application to the search for and development of petroleum and energy-minerals resources, and to related environmental geology issues.

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Travel Grants and Scholarships
Investing in a thriving, inclusive scientific future, AGU offers a variety of scholarships and grants for students and early-career scientists across multiple disciplines.

Geological Society of America (GSA) Research Grants Program for Students
The primary role of the GSA research grants program is to provide partial support of master’s and doctoral thesis research in the geological sciences for graduate students at universities in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Central America. In 2023, 57% of the applicants received funding, with the average award being $2,234