Funding

The Department, together with the Graduate School, offers five to six assistantships per year to students admitted into the PhD program. These assistantships include tuition remission, a living stipend, and health insurance. Assistantships generally require students to serve either as a teaching assistant for up to 15 hours a week or as a teaching associate teaching one class per semester (the Graduate School may also offer a few non-service University fellowships which consist of tuition remission plus a stipend without service obligations. Students are nominated for these special fellowships by the Philosophy Department and decisions are made by an interdisciplinary committee). Assistantships are guaranteed for a total of five years for awardees in good standing, but the Department will normally extend assistantship support to students in good standing beyond five years if necessary. Students admitted without financial aid can apply for assistantships in later years.

Assistantship decisions are based on academic merit, the type and amount of financial support previously received from Georgetown, and the applicant’s ability to perform the functions required of teaching assistants or associates. For the academic year 2014-2015, Department assistantships included full tuition remission, $25,000 as a living stipend, and health insurance benefits.

The Department has a limited amount of funds to pay the application fees for competitive candidates for whom paying fees would be a serious hardship. To apply for these funds, an applicant should send an email to the Director of Graduate Admissions in the Philosophy Department, outlining his or her educational background and explaining why the funds are needed. All application materials other than the application fees should be filed as usual until the applicant hears from the Department about these fees.