Doctoral Program Funding
If your application is submitted with required supplementary materials by December 5th, you will automatically be considered for funding for five years of support during your doctoral studies. Please see the application checklist for detailed information on when materials are due. Admitted students receive a guarantee of support for years two through five, contingent on maintaining satisfactory academic progress. Please see the Graduate Program Guide for information on satisfactory progress.
The department offers a number of financial support packages to incoming students with outstanding records and will be in the form of a Project Assistantship, Research Assistantship, Teaching Assistantship or fellowship and will include tuition remission, a stipend, and benefits (including health insurance).
The funding packages for which you are automatically considered upon admission are:
University Fellowships
Fellowships offer students the opportunity for full-time study with no work responsibilities. The university has a campus-wide fellowship competition for incoming graduate students. Each year, a number of our applicants receive University Fellowship packages for the first year of study. The fellowship stipend is over $23,000 and is often accompanied by departmental scholarships. Fellowships also include health benefits and a tuition waiver. Additional information can be found on the University Fellowships web page.
Department Fellowships
Department fellowships offer students the opportunity for full-time study with no work responsibilities. Each year, a limited number of applicants receive department fellowship packages for the first year of study. The stipend varies, but department fellowships also include health benefits and a tuition waiver.
Graduate Research Scholar Fellowships
This fellowship provides a stipend, tuition, and health insurance for underrepresented students who meet the GRS eligibility criteria. Eligible students must indicate their interest in the GRS fellowship on the Graduate School online application. Interested students can also contact the Economics Department by December 5th. Additional information on the Graduate Research Scholar Fellowship including eligibility criteria can be found on the GRS information web page.
Teaching Assistantships
Every year, some first year students are funded through Teaching Assistantships (TA). First time TAs typically teach for large undergraduate introductory Economics courses. There are two components to each introductory course–a large lecture and a small group discussion section. A TA’s main responsibility is to teach 3-4 small group discussion sections per week and attend lecture. There are a maximum of 24 students in each of these discussion sections. Other responsibilities may include grading homework and quizzes. Additional information can be found under Graduate Assistantships.
There are other sources of funding, like loans, through the Office of Student Financial Aid, as well as sources that are external to the university (e.g. grants, fellowships). However, the application process for those financial sources is not related to the process of admission to the Department of Economics. For more information, visit the Graduate School Funding page. This page will contain basic information detailing the funding resources available at UW-Madison, as well as contact information for initiating a search for other sources of funding.
Tuition and fee information is available on-line at the UW Office of the Registrar.