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GENERAL INFORMATION

The Graduate School tries to ensure that all students will have sufficient resources from Harvard or other sources to support them while they work toward their degrees. Awards include support for tuition, fees, and living expenses in the form of grants, loans, teaching fellowships, research assistantships, and work-study jobs and are based on merit as well as need-related considerations. Approximately ninety-five percent of all graduate students receive financial support from Harvard or other sources.

The Financial Aid office staff provides information and counseling regarding costs and potential resources. Students are urged to consult the financial aid officer for their department.

Entering students apply for financial aid by filing the appropriate financial aid application included with the admissions application. Continuing students apply for aid by completing the GSAS financial aid application, due January 4, 2010.

First- and second-year students may receive grants to cover living expenses as well as tuition and fees. Ordinarily, students in the third and fourth years receive a fellowship that pays for tuition with living expense costs provided by teaching, research, or loans. Students must be making satisfactory progress, as defined by the academic department, to receive financial aid.

DIRECTOR OF FELLOWSHIPS

See Chapter XI, Director of Fellowships.

TEACHING FELLOWSHIPS

Teaching fellows (TFs) teach part-time as part of their training toward the PhD or, exceptionally, toward a master’s degree. They ordinarily must be registered as full-time resident students and making satisfactory progress toward their degree. They are charged the appropriate resident tuition.

Relevant teaching experience is an integral part of graduate student education, and is a requirement of many GSAS departments. Such requirements are stated clearly in each department’s description in GSAS Programs of Study and in chapter VI of the GSAS Handbook. Graduate student teaching is supervised and regularly evaluated by the faculty. Care is taken to ensure that teaching does not unduly impede a candidate’s progress toward the degree. In addition, the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning offers valuable teacher training.

Graduate students are normally given the opportunity to teach at least 16 “term fifths” during their degree programs. (A “fifth” is a fraction of time that represents 20 percent of a full-time workload.) As a general rule, TFs should expect to spend roughly ten hours per week teaching, preparing, and correcting class work and providing counseling for every “fifth” assigned.

PhD candidates in the Humanities and Social Sciences receive stipend support in the first two years of study to facilitate the successful completion of course requirements for the degree.  A second year student may request permission to teach by sending a request to the Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid that describes the academic basis for a teaching appointment and is accompanied by the endorsement of his or her advisor. Second year students in the Humanities and Social Sciences should not commit to a teaching appointment without prior approval. Ordinarily, a second year student will be limited to 1/5 teaching per term or 2/5 in one term with no teaching in the other term of the academic year.

Second year students in the natural sciences should refer to their program’s teaching policy and consult the primary advisor to confirm their eligibility to accept a teaching position.

After the completion of the department PhD qualifying examinations, students may teach an average of 3/5 per year. No student may hold more than a 4/5 appointment in any one term. Students teaching more than 6/5 during the academic year must be a teaching assistant instead of a teaching fellow, and must register on Leave of Absence rather than In Residence.

GSAS also requires that, prior to serving as teaching fellows, all incoming PhD students who are nonnative speakers of English and who have received their undergraduate degrees from non English speaking institutions must either (1) demonstrate oral English language proficiency based on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) internet-based test (iBT) speaking score, or (2) take approved English coursework at the Harvard Institute for English Language Programs (IEL). For more information on this requirement, please contact the GSAS Student Affairs Office ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 617-495-1816).

Graduate students who receive a PhD Dissertation Completion Fellowship are prohibited from teaching and other forms of concurrent employment. For details on completion fellowship awards, see online.

The 2009–2010 teaching fellow salaries are prorated based on an annual full-time senior rate of $47,400 base (2/5 for the year, $18,960) for those who have completed their academic residence requirements, and an annual full-time junior rate of $41,600 base (2/5 for the year, $16,640) for those in the first two years of graduate study.

Each department has its own procedures for appointing teaching fellows, but all are expected to post their available positions each year. Students apply for consideration by submitting a written request to the appropriate department officer, course head, or, in the case of Core courses, the director of the Core Program.

International students should be aware that immigration regulations limit their employment, including Teaching Fellowships and Research Assistantships, to 20 hours per week while school is in session. Therefore, international students’ employment cannot exceed .57 time during each term. International students in departments that require teaching for the degree should consult with their financial aid officers for further information.

For more information students should refer to the online Teaching Fellows Handbook. 

REGULATIONS REGARDING EMPLOYMENT

Students considering outside employment are invited to discuss their plans with a financial aid officer. Because any change in resources may affect eligibility, all students receiving financial aid are required to inform their financial aid officer before under­taking any employment. To maintain full-time student status during the academic years, employment is limited to twenty hours per week. If a student is considering more than twenty hours per week, the student should consult with his/her financial aid officer.

Students from other countries, or their spouses, entering the United States on temporary non-immigrant visas should fully understand the regulations concerning permissible employment under those visas. Before making plans for employment in the United States, they should consult with the Harvard International Office, 864 Holyoke Center, on eligibility for such employment. Visit the website.