Financial Aid

Fellowships

All history Ph.D. students receive five years of funding (a stipend, plus health insurance and full tuition) from a combination of sources: the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Provost's Office, and several special fellowship funds, including the Helguera Endowment, established in honor of emeritus Professor Leon Helguera by Vanderbilt alumnus Patrick McMullan.  Ordinarily, the first and fifth years and half of the fourth year are service free; during the other semesters, students serve as teaching assistants or graders.

Students are encouraged to apply for dissertation-finishing fellowships that provide an additional year of service-free support.  The College of Arts and Science offers dissertation-finishing fellowships in the social sciences on a competitive basis.  The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities awards fellowships in the humanities and qualitative social sciences.

Students must be enrolled full-time and are expected to meet departmental and Graduate School benchmarks in order to maintain their fellowship status.

Summer research

Herbert and Blanche Henry Weaver Summer Research Awards will be available each year to graduate students in history.  The award honors Herbert Weaver, Professor of U.S. History and chair of the History Department from 1952 to 1954 and 1962 to 1967, and Blanche Henry Clark Weaver, Dean of Women at Vanderbilt from 1940 to 1944.  Since all students now receive 12-month stipends, the awards may be used only to pay for actual research expenses, up to a total of $2,000. 

The College of Arts and Science also offers summer research awards on a competitive basis.

Small research grants

The William Campbell Binkley Graduate Education Fund provides small grants-in-aid for research expenses. They are available to students in good standing at any stage of the graduate program, and there is no limit to the number of times a student may apply.  Awards will not exceed $500.  

Travel to conferences

Students presenting papers at major conferences may apply to the Graduate School for up
to $500 in support of domestic travel (within all of North America) and up to $1,000 in support for foreign travel. Students may receive one grant each year, but only one every two years may be for foreign travel.

Students who are presenting their work at a second conference in an academic year may apply to the History Department for support up to $400.  This funding is available only if Graduate School conference travel funds have already been used.

The Graduate Student Council awards travel grants of up to $300 to students who will be presenting a paper at a conference.

Students interviewing for jobs at the AHA meetings may apply to the Department for support in the amount of $100.

 

For more detailed information about financial aid, or any other aspect of our graduate program, please write the Director of Graduate Studies.