Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology & Special Education

Each year, the College of Education provides in excess of $3 million dollars in support of doctoral students. This support takes the form of fellowships (which require no work responsibilities) and assistantships in teaching and research. Current information on financial support can be viewed on the College of Education financial support for graduate students website, the Graduate Schools website, and the Financial Aid website.

This fellowship provides financial support for advanced doctoral students who have projected or incurred expenses relevant to data collection for their dissertation or research practicum. 

These funds must be spent on research expenses such as travel to sites, piloting research instruments, providing incentives to participants, and data entry/transcription. Doctoral students in EPET who are at the practicum or dissertation stage (but not the dissertation completion stage) are eligible to apply. Availability and amount of these fellowships are determined on an annual basis.  

The Graduate School and the college support more than 20 students each year, providing a fellowship of approximately $7,000 which allows students to devote considerable time to completing their dissertations. Recipients may hold a maximum of a quarter-time assistantship during the award semester. Doctoral students are notified, via the Ph.D. listserv, of the application process and submission deadlines. Applications are submitted to the department in fall (for upcoming spring or summer). 

The competition, offered on an annual basis, is open to doctoral students who are positioned to submit the final versions of their dissertations to the Graduate School by the end of summer of a given year; projected spring and summer Ph.D. graduates are therefore eligible. Students who have already defended their dissertations and are engaged in final revisions are not eligible for the award. 

The college funds a number of doctoral students during the summer, providing approximately $6,000 to support their research and scholarly development. Applications for these competitive fellowships are submitted in late autumn. Separate competitions are held for first year students, more advanced students, and multi-year awards. Doctoral students are notified, via the Ph.D. listserv, of the application process and submission deadlines, which occurs in late fall.

Doctoral students may request support for travel to national or international conferences in which they present the results of scholarly research. Such funds are available from the EPET program, the CEPSE Department, and the Graduate School. 

More than 40 scholarships are available for currently enrolled students who show promise of making significant contributions to particular areas of education. Applications are available each December. Most of the endowed scholarships are reserved for continuing graduate students. The competition is announced widely across the college. To find out more information and apply for these scholarships / fellowships, please visit the College of Education’s Graduate Endowed Scholarships page.