Business PhD Summer Funding

[dominique]

I was offered admission to a great school and I am almost sure I will accept the offer--Waived tuition, a 9 month stipend (spring and Fall) and a Scholarship (Spring and Fall). The only problem is the stipend and scholarship is just enough to survive on a monthly basis throughout each semester, but how will I survive during the summer??? Does anyone know of any funding for a first year Marketing PhD student? Are federal student loans available to PhD students with waived tuition and a stipend? What about Federal grants? I have found tons of funds for other fields (science, environmental studies, engineering etc.) Not much out there for Business. The little $ that I have found for Business PhD's requires that you are in the dissertation stage of at least have 1 year completed. Any information would be helpful. I have no idea where to start.

[Behavioral]

I was offered admission to a great school and I am almost sure I will accept the offer--Waived tuition, a 9 month stipend (spring and Fall) and a Scholarship (Spring and Fall). The only problem is the stipend and scholarship is just enough to survive on a monthly basis throughout each semester, but how will I survive during the summer??? Does anyone know of any funding for a first year Marketing PhD student? Are federal student loans available to PhD students with waived tuition and a stipend? What about Federal grants? I have found tons of funds for other fields (science, environmental studies, engineering etc.) Not much out there for Business. The little $ that I have found for Business PhD's requires that you are in the dissertation stage of at least have 1 year completed. Any information would be helpful. I have no idea where to start.

Look at the NSF GRFP for entering doctoral students and 1st year doctoral students. You'll have to apply next round (deadline November). $30,000/year fellowship with waived tuition (though you'll _most likely_ lose the university-provided stipend).

File your FAFSA soon. You qualify for federal loans, though the amount of subsidized vs. unsubsidized depends on when you file, your need, and other factors. Regardless, this is an option if you need to take out $20,000~ or less per year to live with a reasonable interest rate -- and since you're doing a Marketing Ph.D., I'd consider taking out loans since you're typically looking at making minimum $90,000/9-month salary coming out, and this is even if you're placed into a non-research university. Check out the DOCSIG website for details, namely here: http://docsig.org/FinalWWW2010.pdf

Federal 'grants' are not available, but numerous amounts of fellowships are. Check out NSF for those opportunities (you'll probably have the best luck under 'SDS' or 'Social and Decision Sciences' for a marketing Ph.D., regardless of whether you're quant or CB, and if you're quant, check out their Applied Maths sections, too, since you'd probably qualify for some of those awards as well.

Lastly, there should be available funding at your institution (if you're attending a 'research university') during the summer that will let you work as an RA under a professor. For schools offering 9-month stipends, the lowest of these awards I've seen is $3,000/summer support, which (albeit not great) should be enough to survive on.

Best of luck and let me know where you're headed to next year! Maybe we'll run into each other at the AMA conference or something

[dominique]

Thank you so much that info is very helpful. I just got back from the campus visit and was told that I can teach during the summer which will help as well. I will definately check into the references that you mentioned. I would much rather work on research than teach during the summers. Thanks again and good luck on your journey.