Financial Aid Information

The Graduate School administers graduate recruiting fellowships and scholarships, dissertation fellowships and Summer Graduate Research assistantships.

The largest source of funds for graduate support is from teaching, research and graduate assistantships offered by academic departments, along with accompanying partial or full tuition scholarships and nonresident fee scholarships. More information about assistantships is given below; contact your prospective department regarding the availability of such assistantships.

What is the cost of attendance?

• To view the Estimated Cost of Attendance for Graduate Students, please click HERE. Note that there are separate costs of attendance for the following graduate student categories at University of Mississippi: Accountancy, MBA, PMBA, and Online, all listed in detail here by the Office of Financial Aid.
• To view the Tuition Estimator, please click HERE

Online programs are NOT eligible for fellowships, scholarships or assistantships at this time.

Graduate students can also apply for external grants, awards and fellowships. These funds can be obtained from national, state and local organizations, foundations and agencies. A few links are provided below.

• NSF GRFP
• HigherEdSpace Funding
• Fastweb
• Scholarships.com
• UniversityHQ

The last option is obtaining a loan. To apply for federal loans, you must complete a FAFSA form online. For information on student loans, please click HERE.  If you have questions pertaining to loans and other forms of financial assistance not noted above, please contact the Financial Aid Office:

The University of Mississippi
P.O. Box 1848
University, MS 38677-1848
Phone: 800-891-4596
Email: finaid@olemiss.edu

University of Mississippi Recruiting Fellowship and Scholarship Program

The University of Mississippi Graduate School seeks to recruit an outstanding and inclusive student body. To that end, we have established a program to help departments and programs recruit such students to University of Mississippi graduate programs.

To be considered for the funding program, admitted students must not be enrolled in an on-line program. There are three categories of funding, two of which provide a fellowship.

Recruiting Fellowships

Academic Excellence Fellowship

Overview:

Requires nomination by the nominee’s graduate program. Nominees must demonstrate superior academic achievement by having at least one of the criteria given below. Preference will be given to students who will also be receiving an assistantship from another University source of at least $2500/semester.

-Undergraduate GPA of 3.5

-Master’s degree GPA of 3.75

-Other measure of potential for excellence in graduate study

Selection process:

Department chairs or graduate program coordinators should submit nominations for the Academic Excellence Fellowship using a Qualtrics form available from the Graduate School (email gradfa@olemiss.edu for further information) as soon as possible and no later than a month prior to the first semester for which the student plans to enroll. The nominations should include information about how the nominee fits the selection criteria as well as what financial support, if any, the department is providing to the student.  Nominations will be reviewed by a faculty committee and funding recommendations will be made on a rolling basis.

Graduate School Access Fellowship

Overview:

The University of Mississippi is interested in enhancing access to graduate education.

Selection process:

The Graduate School Access Fellowship awards are based upon review of application materials by a faculty and staff committee. Those who are selected for the Access program must follow the directions on the award letter provided by the Graduate School (stating their selection for the Graduate School Access Fellowship and Scholarship Program) to provide additional information so that we might determine if the fellowship is part of the specific funding offer. Individuals who do not provide the requisit information at the link will not be eligible for the fellowship portion of the Access program.

Fellowship Funding Terms

The fellowship is $1,000/semester for 4 semesters for master’s students and $1,500/semester for 8 semesters for MFA and doctoral students. The fellowships are paid during the Fall and Spring Semesters only.  To receive this award, the student must be admitted into a degree program, must be enrolled on the Oxford campus for at least 9 hours of graduate coursework each semester, must not have a full-time job and the fellowship must not result in an over-award of financial aid.  Requests to extend the award beyond 4 or 8 semesters will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Online programs are NOT eligible at this time.

• • Effective for new students commencing Fall 2022 or later, continued receipt of the fellowship each academic year requires that the student participate in four different professional development events, designated by the Graduate School, including cultural competency and networking events.  The Graduate School will provide a list of the opportunities for the term and advertise additional events in the G School Journal.

1. 1. 1. During the first year of the fellowship, the student must participate in
         • Orientation*
         • At least two* qualifying professional development session (one per fall and spring terms)
         • At least one additional professional development event focused on increasing their cultural competence as it relates to their career. Cultural competence is the ability to effectively interact with people from cultures or belief systems different from our own and draws upon the institutional values of diversity, inclusion, and equity.
         • *Should a student miss Orientation, then the student will be required to attend one additional qualifying event in addition to the three above.
      2. During the second year of the fellowship and all academic years thereafter when a student receives funds associated with the recruiting fellowship, the student must participate in four different professional development event, including networking events as follows:

• • • • At least three qualifying professional development sessions per year.
      • At least one additional networking event per year.

Recruiting Scholarship

Graduate School Access Tuition Scholarship

Overview:

The University of Mississippi is interested in enhancing access to graduate education.

Selection process:

The Graduate School Access Scholarship awards are based upon review of application materials by a faculty and staff committee. Those who are selected for these awards will be notified by the Graduate School of their selection and the specific funding offer.

The tuition scholarship for full-time students (those registered for at least 9 hours of graduate coursework) without a qualifying graduate assistantship is valued at 75 percent of regular graduate tuition and 44 percent of the non-resident fee.  The tuition scholarship is available for Fall, Spring and Summer Sessions and not applicable for any intersessions.

The tuition scholarship for part-time students (those registered for fewer than 9 hours of graduate coursework) is valued at 50 percent of regular graduate tuition and 44 percent of the non-resident fee.  The tuition scholarship is available for Fall, Spring and Summer Sessions and not applicable for any intersessions.

Only applicable during Fall, Spring and Summer Sessions. Not applicable to any intersessions. Online programs are NOT eligible at this time.

 

Summer Graduate Research Assistantship Program

The Summer Graduate Research Assistantship Program provides $3,000 for doctoral and MFA students and $2,500 for master’s students in departments that do not offer a doctoral degree. The Summer Graduate Research Assistantship Program is competitive and awarding of the funding is not guaranteed. The funding is offered during the summer (minimum of 10 weeks of research). The goal is to provide funds to enable promising graduate students to remain on task and on campus in their pursuit of a degree. Students cannot obtain additional university employment during this period. Funds are not renewable.

To be eligible, the student must be a full-time, full-standing student at any stage and in any discipline and should have participated in UM’s Three Minute Thesis (R) Competition. Preference will be given to doctoral students who have completed their prospectus. A limited number of assistantships will also be reserved for master’s (thesis option) track students. Online programs are NOT eligible at this time.

 

Graduate Assistantships or Instructorships

Application for a graduate assistantship/instructorship should be made directly to the academic department in which the applicant will pursue a degree. International students who attain graduate assistantships that involve any teaching or instruction activities are subject to the Policy on Language Assessment for International Graduate Students. Graduate assistantships open to degree-seeking graduate students from any discipline are advertised on the webpage for Open Graduate Assistantship Opportunities.

Graduate assistantships that require part-time teaching, laboratory assistance, research or other assistance are available in a number of fields and from grant and contracts. Certain academic departments offer graduate instructorships, which involves direct responsibility for teaching one or more courses.

Stipends for graduate assistantships/instructorships vary, depending on the level of the graduate student, the service to be rendered and the time commitment (typically ¼- or ½-time appointments are made). Academic excellence, maturity and teaching or research experience are the main qualifications considered in the appointment of assistants/instructors. In addition to the stipend, graduate assistants/instructors also receive a partial tuition scholarship (75% of regular graduate tuition** for ¼-time appointments and 100% of regular graduate tuition** for ½-time appointments) and receive a full nonresident fee scholarship during regular (i.e., fall and spring) academic terms. Online programs are NOT eligible for the tuition or fee scholarships at this time.

See Financial Aid FAQs for additional details on tuition and fees.

Tuition Scholarships and Nonresident Fee Scholarships

Some programs have established program-specific minimum stipends for the academic year for any student receiving an assistantship. That list of programs is found at Program Minimum Stipends. All other graduate students who are enrolled full-time and who receive an assistantship are eligible for tuition scholarships according to the following schedule:

	75% Tuition Scholarship**	100% Tuition Scholarship**
Work Load	10 hours of work per week (¼-time)	20 hours of work per week (½-time)
Minimum Annual Stipenda,b	$3,000 per semester	$6,000 per semester
Enrollment Min  (as current policy)	9 hrs	9 hrs
Enrollment Max  (as current policy)	13 hrs	13 hrs

**Accountancy and MBA students need to confer with your program regarding fee differential.

^a The minimum stipends are calculated using the following specific dates:

• Fall semester begins the Thursday before the start of classes and ends the last day of finals.
• Spring semester begins the first day of classes and ends the last day of finals.

^b Effective July 1, 2024, units that hire a graduate assistant from the start of the Fall term through the end of the Spring term will be expected to meet the per term minimums without counting the pay between terms (the same is true for other appointments with work extending beyond the single term). To do so with a single appointment running across the two regular terms, the unit will pay a stipend of the same rate for the weeks between the terms as they pay during the regular term.

• Graduate assistants with an appointment that extends across the regular academic year (which would run from the Thursday before the start of the fall term through the last day of finals in the spring) will require a minimum of $13,500 for a ½-time appointment and $6,750 for a ¼-time appointment.
• Assistantships that run from August 1 through May 31 must have a minimum stipend of $15,375 for a ½-time appointment and $7,688 for a ¼-time appointment.
• The minimum 12-month stipend translates to $19,500 for a ½-time appointment and $9,750 for a ¼-time appointment.
• The rate of $5,750 for a 16-week term translates to a minimum stipend of $375 per week (for a ½-time appointment) for weeks where the graduate assistant works outside the dates of the Fall or Spring terms (graduate students are not expected to work when the university is closed; if they have to work when the university is closed, the hiring unit shall follow the policy that outlines credit for hours worked while the university is closed).

Any unit wishing to pay only the per term assistantship rates should hire graduate assistants separately per term and cannot require the graduate assistant to work between the terms unless the unit completes a separate e-form to address the pay between the terms. Graduate assistants hired for the regular academic year should be aware that they are paid on a schedule that includes work between regular terms. Units should be aware that hiring graduate students on a semester-by-semester basis results in 2 missed pay periods.

Both the 75% and 100% scholarships include a full non-resident fee scholarship.  Online programs are NOT eligible for graduate assistantships at this time.

The UM Institutional SREB Doctoral Fellowship Program

The Graduate School and academic departments at the University of Mississippi (UM) sponsor up to seven “Institutional SREB Fellowships” per academic year for doctoral students (scholars) through a combination of Doctoral and Dissertation Scholar Fellowships. The Southern Regional Education Educational Board (SREB) administers this fellowship opportunity through its Doctoral Scholars Program (http://www.sreb.org/page/1074/doctoral_scholars.html).

Departments providing assistantships may nominate scholars to receive one of the awards. If selected for the SREB Doctoral Scholar Fellowship, the scholar will be eligible for three (3) years of support under this program. Individuals selected for SREB Dissertation Scholar Fellowships receive one year of support. The criteria and specific levels of financial support differ for the two types of awards and serve different student groups. Online programs are NOT eligible at this time.

Click here to view the announcement for Fall 2024 UM Institutional SREB Doctoral Fellowship Nominations

Click here to view the announcement for Fall 2024 UM Institutional SREB Dissertation Fellowship Nominations