Graduate Studies

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Financial Assistance

At the present time, all graduate students in the Physics Department at West Virginia University are provided an assistantship. Included with each assistantship is a complete waiver of tuition. First-year graduate students usually receive a teaching assistantship, and many of the more advanced students receive research assistantships.

Teaching Assistantships in Physics pay approximately $14,812 for the 9-month academic year. A teaching assistant is expected to spend approximately twenty hours per week teaching undergraduate laboratories and grading for lecture courses.

Research Assistantships are awarded by individual professors to students who have decided on their field of research. The pay is generally more than for a TA. Although students typically become RAs in their second or third year, students who advance rapidly into research may begin RA appointments sooner.

Summer Support in the form of a TA or RA appointment is usually available.

To students applying for Fall 2009 admission:

All teaching and research assistantships include a full tuition waiver. Graduate students only pay special fees ($570 per semester at the present time, covering services like the Recreation Center, transportation, Health Services, library, etc). Most first-year graduate students are supported on 12-month Teaching Assistantships. These graduate students typically teach three sections of introductory physics laboratory and help with grading in the larger lecture sections. The details of these first-year Teaching Assistantships are described below. Advanced students may be considered for Research Assistantships provided by individual faculty. Students supported on Research Assistantships are typically paid at a higher rate during the academic year and summer.

A 12-month Teaching Assistantship offer to students in the WVU Physics graduate program in Fall 2009 is valued at $34,880 for out-of-state residents. For in-state residents, graduation tuition is $4,472.

9 Month academic year teaching stipend= $14,812
Summer 3 month teaching stipend= $4,938
Tuition ($12,874 per year in 2006)= $15,130
TOTAL= $34,880

Each year, the Physics Department is able to provide supplemental fellowships of $2,000 to several highly qualified students. These supplements are added to the regular academic-year teaching stipend. No additional teaching or research duties are required of these supplemental fellowship recipients. To be considered for a supplemental fellowship, please submit your application by the February 15 deadline.

Important Note: Each year, there is a University-wide competition for graduate fellowships. Qualified graduate applicants from all departments within WVU can compete for these awards. Physics applicants must be nominated by the Department of Physics. Because of a strict program deadline, the Physics Department will select nominees for these fellowships from the set of applications it has received prior to January 20. These fellowships pay $23,000 over 12 months with modest teaching duties involving undergraduate honor students. A full tuition and fee waiver is included with the award, thus the value is over $37,000 per year for out-of-state residents. GRE scores and U.S. citizenship are used as selection criteria. If you are interested, please contact the Chair of the Physics Department, Professor Earl Scime, for more details.