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Our department offers competitive funding packages for students to support them throughout their graduate study. Funding often includes both a stipend and tuition waiver. We regularly fund nearly all of our PhD students for at least three years and pass-through students for at least five years. We also try our best to fund our terminal master's degree students when resources are available.

Funding

Pass-through master's/PhD students in good standing are generally funded for five years. Students who enroll only for the PhD are usually funded for three years. When resources are available, we also offer funding to students in our terminal master's program. Students can receive funding by working for the department in a variety of ways.
Teaching Assistantships

Graduate student teaching assistantships (TA) require up to 20 hours per week of assisting sociology department professors and instructors. TA positions come with a paid stipend and up to 9 hours (full-time enrollment) of paid tuition. In order to qualify for this tuition benefit, a student must be in good academic standing and be a full-time graduate student (9 credit hours).

Teaching Fellowships

Advanced graduate students may also work as Teaching Fellows (TFs) where they serve as the primary instructor for an undergraduate course. The Graduate Director and/or Department Chair works with students to assign courses based on students' interests and the department's teaching needs. TF positions come with a paid stipend and up to 9 hours (full-time enrollment) paid tuition. Teaching fellowships not only provide funding for graduate students, but also valuable teaching experience for those interested in future employment as faculty members.

Research Assistantships
Graduate students in the master's, pass-through, or PhD programs may also work as research assistants (RAs) supporting faculty-led research projects. These positions are often funded through internal or external grants and are administered by individual faculty members. RAs assist in the full capacity of research, from data collection to data analysis and the writing of articles. Funding for RA positions may vary depending on the source, but they generally come with a paid stipend and up to 9 hours (full-time enrollment) paid tuition.
Summer Funding
The department aims to fund all students who express a need for summer funding, but availability of TA, TF, and RA positions vary during the summer. There are some Teaching Assistant (TA) positions available in the five-week summer sessions and a few Teaching Fellow (TF) positions for doctoral students. These positions pay between $2500 - $2800 for one summer term. International applicants with questions about work and funding should visit international.unt.edu.