Funding Principles

Humphrey School of Public Affairs – Ph.D. Program

Principles for Assigning Assistantships and Fellowships

Approved on November 6, 2019 and Updated on March 22, 2021

This document establishes principles for awarding assistantships and fellowships to students who matriculate into the Humphrey School Ph.D. Program in Public Affairs (Program). These principles are not applicable to students who are UMN employees and are receiving Regents Scholarships or to students who are funded by external sources (e.g., foreign governments) because they are not eligible to be appointed to research or teaching assistantships or to be awarded School-based fellowships.

Students will receive a minimum of eight semesters and three summers of financial aid to support completion of their doctoral studies. As specified in letters of admission, this support will consist of research assistantships, teaching opportunities (assistantships or instructor positions), and/or fellowships. Most funding support will be research assistantships at the 50% level. Many teaching assistants may be at the 25% level and may be combined with 25% level research assistantships.

Research and Teaching Assistantships

• • Students appointed to research and teaching assistantships and instructor positions will receive salary and fringe benefits and be expected to fulfill work obligations particular to the appointment. These appointments typically cannot exceed 50% time, carrying with them the obligation for 20 hours of work per week during the period of appointment. Permission from the Associate Dean is required for appointments that exceed 50%.

  • During their first year of study, students ordinarily will be appointed to research assistantships. Efforts will be made, whenever possible, to provide students with opportunities to work in research assistantship positions related to their research interests. However, it is not guaranteed that research assistantship appointments will be directly related to student research interests.

  • Students may receive research assistantship appointments outside the Humphrey School that may have higher or lower rates of pay than the Humphrey School Ph.D. student pay rate. To ensure equitable pay at the Humphrey School, the PhD program will supplement the pay for students whose appointments have a lower pay rate than the Humphrey rate. The Humphrey School will not supplement doctoral student pay to match any higher rates paid by other academic units.

  • A goal of the program is to provide teaching opportunities (assistantships or instructor positions) for all students at least once. Teaching appointments will be made to meet curricular needs. Due to the funding implications associated with the creation of new courses, students will not typically have opportunities to teach courses of their own design. Faculty advisers and the Ph.D. program DGS will assist students in finding teaching opportunities. The Ph.D. program, per se, has no authority to appoint students as teaching assistants or course instructors. Appointments as teaching assistants will be approved by the faculty instructor who has been authorized by the Associate Dean to hire a teaching assistant. Appointments as instructors will be approved by DGS of the relevant Master’s degree programs (MPP, MURP, MS-STEP, MDP, MHR, or MPA), administrators responsible for other teaching opportunities such as the Junior Summer Institute for undergraduates, and the Associate Dean.

  • The percent time appointments for teaching assistantships vary, depending on course enrollments, and are determined by the Associate Dean. The percent time appointments for instructor positions is typically prorated based on the number of credits for the course as below:

  • 1 credit course = 12.5% appointment

  • 1.5 credit course = 18% appointment

  • 2 credit course = 25% appointment

  • 3 credits course = 37.5% appointment

  • 4 credit course = 50% appointment

Per authorization by the Associate Dean, teaching lab-based courses with a large enrollment may be eligible for appointments with higher percentages.

Summer Support

• • Most summer appointments will be research assistantships. During the summer following their first year of study, students ordinarily will be appointed to research assistantships that enable them to gain experience in academic research. These research appointments typically cannot exceed 50% level (20 hours per week). Permission from the Associate Dean is required for appointments that exceed 50%.

  • Contingent upon program budget availability, one summer fellowship will be provided to each student during their enrollment in the Ph.D. Program. A fellowship is a financial stipend (as distinct from salary) and does not include any obligations for work other than the student’s own research and continued progress towards the completion of the dissertation and degree. This summer fellowship is not competitive and all students who meet the eligibility requirements in the Humphrey School PhD Summer Fellowship Application Eligibility Criteria will receive the fellowship as long as the program-level fellowship budget is available that year.

Travel and Professional Development Support

Students will receive up to $4,000 per student for conference travel and professional development activities over the course of enrollment.

Funding Beyond the Fourth Year

Students are expected to seek their own funding support for years five or beyond. Faculty advisers and the Ph.D. program DGS will assist students in identifying financial assistance if students need a fifth year to complete their dissertation and degree.