The Graduate School at Brown offers incoming doctoral students five years of guaranteed financial support, including a stipend, tuition remission, a health-services fee, and a health-insurance subsidy. All forms of student support, except loans, are administered through the Graduate School in cooperation with department and programs.

This support may take the form of a teaching assistantship, research assistantship, fellowship, or proctorship. All such assignments form part of the student’s professional training, and provide not only financial remuneration but are viewed as integral to the student’s academic development. See program requirements for graduate training.

All recommendations for graduate student funding are made at the program level. Eligibility and awards are determined annually and are always conditional on students making satisfactory progress toward their degrees. Students with questions or concerns regarding Brown funding — including eligibility, awards, or renewals — should discuss them with the program’s director of graduate study.

Students should be mindful of the fact that teaching, research, and proctorship appointments are part of their professional training. Such appointments establish a responsibility to the faculty and students within the academic unit.

Performance in these appointments is also a component of a student’s academic review. Students who fail to perform in their funded Graduate School appointments (as RAs, TAs, fellows or proctors) can be terminated and their funding suspended under the following conditions:

• Gross negligence and failure to appear
• Failure to complete work
• Inappropriate behavior in the classroom or laboratory, or violations of the Academic and Student Conduct Codes

Such students will have their funding terminated regardless of other indices of academic standing.

Grounds for termination must be presented in writing to the Graduate School in the form of an academic disciplinary procedure. The case will be heard by the academic disciplinary board. (See the Academic Code.) As with all such cases, the student has the right to appeal such a decision.

Financial aid for master’s students is not centrally managed and varies among programs. If you are interested in a master’s program and have questions about financial aid, please contact the program’s director of graduate study.

Required Documents
All students entering the Graduate School with any form of financial support are required to complete an Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9). Details on the I-9 are available here.

All students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and will receive any form of Brown funding are required to submit a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The FAFSA should be submitted on-line at www.fafsa.ed.gov. The Brown Graduate School's code for the FAFSA is E00058. (Be sure to not use the undergraduate code).