All applicants who are admitted to the program receive guaranteed funding for at least 4 years.

RA/TA Match for Incoming Ph.D. Students

Financial support includes a tuition waiver and a stipend that comes from a variety of sources including Teaching Assistantship (TA) and Research Assistantship (RA) positions, as well as student grants funded by both the UW and the Information School. You must be a full-time enrolled student (10 credits) to receive financial support. 

In general, matching of a student to an RA or TA position takes place anytime from July-August for incoming Ph.D. students. The process normally includes the following steps:

1. Faculty with RA positions write a brief description of the project and position requirements. 
2. The Informatics program chair, with the assistance of Informatics faculty, prepare list of courses needing TA positions for the upcoming academic year with TA skill requirements. 
3. Incoming students rank their top preferences among research projects and TA positions.
4. Faculty with RA positions/Informatics chair rank their preferences of incoming students. Faculty rank only students they would actually hire for their positions. If no incoming student has the skill set for a particular RA position, or all incoming students with the appropriate skill set have been assigned to other positions, that position may be posted following normal UW RA posting guidelines.
5. The Ph.D. program chair, with the assistance of human resources, matches students with RA/TA slots; highest priority matching being 1-1 (student first preference- faculty first preference).

More Information

• View graduate tuition rates.
• Read about grants and funding information.

Conference Funding

iSchool Ph.D. students may request funding to off-set costs for participating in professional conferences. Priority for funding is awarded to students who are presenting peer-reviewed papers or posters, serving as an invited speaker at major national or international conferences, or participating in a Doctoral Consortium/Seminar. In addition to iSchool funds, Ph.D. students can be considered for the Graduate School Fund for Excellence and Innovation Travel Awards. These funds are automatically requested on your behalf when you submit your Conference Funding Request Form.

Forms

• Conference Funding Request Form (Ph.D.)
• Travel Reimbursement Form (all programs)

Dissertation Funding

Once the general exam is passed, iSchool Ph.D. students can request funds to support their dissertation research. These funds are available to help offset the costs of research expenses and may be used to pay for such things as transcription of interviews, financial incentives (i.e., gift cards) for interview participants, or travel specifically related to dissertation research.

Ph.D. students may request up to $500 a year for a total of a $1000 of funding toward their dissertation research. Dissertation funding requests are reviewed by the Ph.D. program committee for approval.

• Dissertation Funding Request Form

UW Graduate School Fellowships

There are a number of fellowships administered by the UW Graduate School for which iSchool Ph.D. students are eligible.  In cases where the iSchool must nominate a student for the fellowship, Ph.D. students follow the iSchool Ph.D. Fellowship Nomination Process. 

• View a list of fellowships and awards won by Ph.D. students.   

External Funding

Current Ph.D. students can view the iSchool Ph.D. Canvas funding page for a list of more opportunities.