How to Pay for a Ph.D.
Because doctoral students are highly engaged in conducting research, there are many possibilities for finding doctoral grants and dissertation grants to help them pay for their doctoral degree. Many organizations are interested in the research projects of doctoral students and support them in the way of college grants. Get to know the companies that are marketing products and services in your field of expertise. Many of them will have programs you can apply for to that can help you fund your advanced degree. When first considering ways to help pay for a doctoral degree, another great place to look is at the college or university itself. This is because most of them have specific grants, fellowships and scholarships in the field of research and study that interests you. If you have not yet decided which college or university to attend for a doctoral degree, it is a good idea to check around for the possibilities at different academic institutions. Start with the financial office and the department where you will potentially be studying and conducting research. In many cases the grants issued by a particular academic institution may be applicable for all fields of research, in other cases they are field-specific. In some cases you will have to be enrolled in your doctorate program already before applying. For example, the University of Nevada in Las Vegas (UNLV) has the President’s Graduate Fellowships, which help existing doctoral students from many different academic backgrounds.
How Professional Organizations Help Pay for a Ph.D.
If you have not yet joined any professional associations, it is a good time to join a few organizations related to your field of study. Many organizations sponsor grants for advanced studies in their field. For example, every year the National Political Science Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha, awards the annual Howard Penniman Scholarship to five of its members to pursue graduate degrees. Each scholarship is $2,000 and is to be used for graduate level studies the field of political science.
Through the Screen Actors Guild Foundation there is the Woodbury University’s Matching Scholarship Program, for students pursuing a graduate degree. The graduate degree could be in a number of disciplines in which the entertainment industry is involved.
The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) has a couple of grants of interest to the doctoral student. The first one is The Young Investigator Grant. You must have been a member of the NSCA for at least a year prior to the deadline for the application. The grant strives to help those employed by non-profit research organizations such as colleges, universities, research institutes, and hospitals, who are within seven years of earning their Ph.D. or M.D. The grant is up to $15,000 and must be related to a project that fits NSCA’s mission. The Senior Investigator Grant is similar, but instead requires five years of membership in the NSCA prior to application and the award cannot exceed $25,000.
Another example is the Emergency Nurses Association, which issues the scholarships to its members every year, to be used towards advanced studies. Consider also the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant Program, which aims to assist eligible doctoral candidates to finish their dissertations on issues relating to housing and urban development. The awards are one-time grants of $15,000 per student year for about 15 candidates. Vistit www.hud.gov for more details.
The North American Interfraternal Foundation Helps Pay for Ph.D. Studies
If during your undergraduate days you were in a fraternity or sorority, it is worth checking out the The North American Interfraternal Foundation (NIF) because they issue several scholarships and fellowships every year to graduate students. See http://www.nif-inc.net for more details. The National Science Foundation sponsors the Graduate Research Fellowship Program. They award research-based grants for students pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree. They encourage applications for women, ethnic minorities, and those with disabilities as a way of increasing diversity in the fields of science, mathematics, technology and engineering.
With doctoral grants, dissertation grants, and fellowships, doctoral students can find help to pay for their PhD. studies.
