Tuition and Financial Aid
Current information on tuition and fees is available through the Registrar's Office (make sure you select the Graduate College and the semester of interest). PhD students receive financial support offers at the time of admission in the form of fellowships, Research, or Teaching Assistantships. There is no guaranteed funding provided for other incoming students. Opportunities do exist within the University for Graduate Assistantship and Teaching Assistantship positions for MS students as well as other types of funding. More information can be found below, as well as on the Graduate College website. Also see Financing Your Education to help you request financial aid at Iowa.
Graduate Research and Teaching Assistantships:
Students enrolled in our programs may be recruited by affiliated faculty members as graduate research assistants (RAs) when such positions become available. Typically these are offered by individual faculty, are paid through research grant funding, and may not necessarily correspond to the academic year. Assistantships are available to advanced students who show exceptional research potential. To learn more about RA opportunities, students should contact the individual faculty member.
Graduate research assistantships offered to enrolled students by our faculty are generally for 25%-time at minimum. A graduate research assistantship at 25% or more qualifies the student for Iowa resident tuition, a stipend, a partial tuition scholarship, and health insurance benefits.
Teaching assistantships are the most common form of financial aid. These assistantships serve two purposes: assistance in the instructional program of the University and the preparation of future college teachers.
In order to qualify for employment as a teaching assistant, students whose native language is not English are required to pass two exams offered by the University: the SPEAK test, a general test of spoken English, and the English Language Performance Test (ELPT), a practice lecture test given to students who pass the SPEAK test. The program will register students for these exams. More information on these exams can be found here.
Financial Aid Eligibility and Opportunities
All financial assistance to UI students from general University sources is administered by the Office of Student Financial Aid.
- You may be eligible for assistance from this office if you are enrolled at least half-time (5 semester hours during the academic year, or 3 semester hours during the summer session) in a graduate degree program.
- International Students do not usually qualify for support from this office due to the nature of state public funding for this institution.
- For detailed information about loans, grants, scholarships, or part-time student employment, contact the Department of Student Financial Aid, The University of Iowa, 208 Calvin Hall, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1315; telephone 319/335-1450.