Sources of financial support
Overview
Over the past 10 years, a declining share of doctoral students rely primarily on their own resources—loans, personal savings, personal earnings, and the earnings or savings of their spouse, partner, or family—to finance their graduate studies. In turn, increased proportions of students have relied on research assistantships (31%), fellowships or grants (28%), or teaching assistantships (21%) as their most important source of financial support during graduate school.
Primary source of financial support for U.S. doctorate recipients: 2006–16
| Year | Teaching assistantship | Research assistantship | Fellowship or grant | Own resources | Other sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 17.4 | 28.6 | 27.5 | 21.3 | 5.3 |
| 2007 | 17.6 | 31.0 | 25.7 | 20.4 | 5.3 |
| 2008 | 17.7 | 30.8 | 26.9 | 19.8 | 4.8 |
| 2009 | 18.1 | 30.3 | 27.5 | 19.7 | 4.5 |
| 2010 | 19.0 | 31.1 | 27.7 | 17.9 | 4.3 |
| 2011 | 19.9 | 31.4 | 27.9 | 16.5 | 4.3 |
| 2012 | 20.5 | 31.6 | 27.5 | 16.1 | 4.3 |
| 2013 | 20.8 | 31.9 | 27.0 | 15.5 | 4.6 |
| 2014 | 20.7 | 32.2 | 27.3 | 15.3 | 4.6 |
| 2015 | 20.6 | 32.0 | 27.4 | 15.3 | 4.7 |
| 2016 | 21.4 | 30.8 | 27.7 | 15.1 | 5.0 |
- NOTES: Percentages are based on the number of doctorate recipients responding to the primary source of financial support item. Own resources include loans, personal savings, personal earnings outside of the institution sources listed, and earnings or savings of spouse, partner, or family. Other sources include employer reimbursement or assistance and foreign support.
- SOURCE: Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities 2016. Related detailed data: table 35.
