Editing Postgraduate education (section)

===Funding===
In general, there is less funding available to students admitted to master's degrees than for students admitted to Ph.D. or other doctoral degrees. Many departments, especially those in which students have research or teaching responsibilities, offer tuition-forgiveness and a stipend that pays for most expenses. At some elite universities, there may be a minimum stipend established for all Ph.D. students, as well as a tuition waiver. The terms of these stipends vary greatly, and may consist of a scholarship or fellowship, followed by teaching responsibilities. At many elite universities, these stipends have been increasing, in response both to student pressure and, especially, to competition among the elite universities for graduate students.

In some fields, research positions are more coveted than teaching positions because student researchers are typically paid to work on the dissertation they are required to complete anyway, while teaching is generally considered a distraction from one's work. Research positions are more typical of science disciplines; they are relatively uncommon in humanities disciplines, and where they exist, rarely allow the student to work on their own research. Science PhD students can apply for individual [[National Research Service Award|NRSA]] fellowships from the [[NIH]] or fellowships from private foundations. US universities often also offer competitive support from NIH-funded training programs. One example is the Biotechnology Training Program – University of Virginia. Departments often have funds for limited discretionary funding to supplement minor expenses such as research trips and travel to conferences.

A few students can attain funding through dissertation improvement grants funded by the [[National Science Foundation]] (NSF), or through similar programs in other agencies. Many students are also funded as lab researchers by faculty who have been funded by private foundations or by the NSF, National Institutes of Health (NIH), or federal "mission agencies" such as the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] or the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]]. The natural sciences are typically well funded, so that most students can attain either outside or institutional funding, but in the humanities, not all do. Some humanities students borrow money during their coursework, then take full-time jobs while completing their dissertations. Students in the social sciences are less well funded than are students in the natural and physical sciences, but often have more funding opportunities than students in the humanities, particularly as science funders begin to see the value of social science research.

Funding differs greatly by departments and universities; some universities give five years of full funding to all Ph.D. students, though often with a teaching requirement attached; other universities do not. However, because of the teaching requirements, which can be in the research years of the Ph.D., even the best funded universities often do not have funding for humanities or social science students who need to do research elsewhere, whether in the United States or overseas.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}} Such students may find funding through outside funders such as private foundations, such as the [[German Marshall Fund]] or the [[Social Science Research Council]] (SSRC).

Foreign students are typically funded the same way as domestic (US) students, although federally subsidized student and parent loans and work-study assistance are generally limited to U.S. citizens and nationals, permanent residents, and approved refugees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ifap.ed.gov/sfahandbooks/attachments/0708FSAHBKVol1Ch2.pdf|title=Handbook: Citizenship|publisher=[[Federal Student Aid]]|access-date=2019-08-06|archive-date=2017-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162730/https://ifap.ed.gov/sfahandbooks/attachments/0708FSAHBKVol1Ch2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Moreover, some funding sources (such as many NSF fellowships) may only be awarded to domestic students. International students often have unique financial difficulties such as high costs to visit their families back home, support of a family not allowed to work due to [[immigration law]]s, tuition that is expensive by world standards, and large fees: [[visa (document)|visa]] fees by [[U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services]], and [[surveillance]] fees under the [[Student and Exchange Visitor Program]] of the [[United States Department of Homeland Security]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/03/21/international.students.ap/index.html |title=International students refuse to pay new fee|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040401103723/http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/03/21/international.students.ap/index.html |archive-date=April 1, 2004 }}</ref>