Financial Support
Financial support for first-year students is very limited. All admission applications completed by December 15th will be automatically considered for Departmental AND University-level fellowships. A separate financial aid application for these fellowships is not required.
Departmental Support
Sources of financial support administered through the Department are listed below.
Teaching Assistantships
Teaching assistantships are primarily available to students in their second year of school or beyond. Students interested in a teaching assistantship should fill out the Teaching Assistant Application.
Texas New Scholar
The Texas New Scholar program provides financial support for incoming master and doctoral students. The amount and numbers of awards are determined annually. This mechanism typically provides employment and out-of-state tuition waivers.
University-level Support
The Graduate Recruitment and Outreach Program provides information on financing your graduate education. Below is a list of fellowships specifically for incoming graduate students.
Harrington Graduate Student Fellows Program
Harrington Doctoral Fellows – for incoming graduate students
The Harrington Doctoral Fellowship may be a one-, two-, or three-year award. Each year the new Harrington Doctoral Fellows will be chosen from among the successful applicants to programs leading to a doctoral degree--Ph.D., Ed.D., or DMA--at The University of Texas at Austin. To be eligible, a student must not be a current graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin (undergraduates at The University of Texas at Austin are eligible). Students who already have Master's degrees from other universities are eligible. A Harrington Doctoral Fellow can earn a Master's Degree in the process of completing the doctoral work.
Harrington Master's Fellows –for incoming graduate students
The Harrington Master’s Fellowship may be a one- or two-year award. Each year the new Harrington Master's Fellows will be chosen from among the successful applicants to programs leading to professional or terminal master's degrees--for example, the MFA, MSSW, or MSLIS--at The University of Texas at Austin. To be eligible, a student must not be a current graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin (undergraduates at The University of Texas at Austin are eligible).
West Texas Graduate School Fellowship
The intent of the Graduate Enrichment Fellowship Program is to provide access to higher education for students who might otherwise find it difficult or impossible to successfully pursue graduate study.
Applicants must have received their undergraduate degree from one of the following institutions:
- Sul Ross State University
- The University of Texas at the Permian Basin
- The University of Texas at El Paso
- West Texas A&M
These fellowships are for incoming graduate students who have received their undergraduate degree from any public university in Brewster, Ector or El Paso counties.
Graduate School Diversity Recruitment Fellowship Program
The University of Texas at Austin is committed to educate leadership for the future, which must come from all regions and populations of Texas. One of the goals of the Graduate Recruitment and Outreach Program is to assist the University in the creation of educational environments in which we prepare our students, faculty and staff to work more effectively with persons who come from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
The intent of the Graduate School Diversity Recruitment Fellowship Program is to help create a more diverse educational environment. This competitive fellowship program is for incoming students and is open to anyone applying to a master's or doctoral program in the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin.
McNair Scholars Fellowship Program
The Ronald McNair Program assists low-income and first-generation undergraduate college students who wish to prepare for graduate school. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, this program (which was named for the African American scientist and astronaut who was killed in the 1986 Challenger explosion) includes research opportunities, faculty mentors, opportunities to publish and/or present research findings, and preparation for the GRE and graduate-level coursework.
South Texas Graduate Fellowship Program
The South Texas Graduate Fellowship Program will offer 20 first-year fellowships to students who have graduated or are graduating from any of the public universities in South Texas (defined for this purpose as all public institutions of higher education in South Texas, including Bexar County) who enter any master’s or doctoral program at The University of Texas at Austin. These fellowships will be awarded on the basis of merit to eligible students entering in a given year.
The students selected for this fellowship must be full-time graduate students in good academic standing and must have received an undergraduate degree from one of the following institutions:
- The University of Texas at Brownsville
- The University of Texas - Pan American
- The University of Texas at San Antonio
- Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
- Texas A&M University - Kingsville
- Texas A&M International University - Laredo
University Preemptive Fellowships
These fellowships are prestigious awards offered by the Graduate School to attract top quality graduate students to The University of Texas. Graduate Advisers have the vital role of identifying and nominating eligible applicants. Applicants who satisfy certain criteria may be offered fellowship support immediately without waiting for a committee decision. These fellowships are not available to students who are currently or were previously enrolled in the Graduate School at U.T. Austin; however, U.T. Austin undergraduates who meet the criteria are eligible.