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Many departments and committees within the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences place restrictions on the extent of financial assistance they will provide. Some departments and committees offer funding for a set number of years in the program, while others offer financial assistance until a particular tuition requirement has been met. Ordinarily, students are eligible to apply for at least tuition support for four years. However, financial aid varies by student and by department. Students should always refer to their original and subsequent Notices of Financial Support.

Departmental funding restrictions do not affect a student’s ability to apply for Title IV funding (Federal Perkins Loans, Ford Federal Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, GradPLUS Loans, and Federal Work-Study) or HELP loan funding.

Departments have established limits beyond which applications for assistance will not be considered. Unless specified otherwise in the original or subsequent Notice of Financial Support, the following represent departmental funding limits. Please note financial aid accepted upon entrance takes precedence. All applicants for departmental financial aid must meet eligibility requirements; please see departmental requirements for satisfactory progress.

Students who have been traveling scholars or on leave of absence should contact their financial aid officer to determine if they may still apply for financial aid past the time limitation. 

The following departments provide funding through reduced tuition requirement, plus Dissertation Completion Fellowship:*

The following departments provide funding through the reduced tuition requirement:*

Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning
Health Policy
Political Economy and Government
Public Policy

The following departments provide funding subject to annual review of academic progress:*

Biology, Molecular and Cellular
Biostatistics
Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Mathematics (program completion expected in four years)
Physics
Chemical Physics

The following departments provide funding through the sixth year:*
Astronomy
Biology, Medical Sciences (subject to annual review of academic progress)
Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary
Biological Sciences in Dental Medicine
Biological Sciences in Public Health (subject to annual review of academic progress)
Biophysics
Chemical Biology
Systems Biology

The following departments provide funding through the fifth year:*
Business Economics
Engineering and Applied Sciences
Science, Technology and Management
Organizational Behavior

The following departments may provide funding through the fourth year:*
Earth and Planetary Sciences (funding for fifth year and beyond, if necessary, considered on case-by-case basis)
Statistics (funding for fifth year and beyond, if necessary, considered on case-by-case basis)

The following departments may provide funding through the second year:*
Regional Studies — East Asia
Regional Studies — Russia, East Europe, Central Asia

* Please note financial aid accepted upon entrance takes precedence.

DISSERTATION COMPLETION FELLOWSHIP

The Dissertation Completion Fellowship is open to all PhD students in the Humanities and Social Sciences for use in their final year of graduate study. The fellowship is designed to give students a year of full support to finish the dissertation and receive the PhD by June of the fellowship year.

Graduate students must submit a completed application available online by the February 2009 deadline if they wish to receive a fellowship for the 2009-2010 academic year. To qualify for the Dissertation Completion Fellowship student must have at least two draft chapters of their dissertation in good order and plan to graduate in June 2010. Students who accept this fellowship are committing themselves not to teach, hold other employment, or pursue other projects during the time they hold the fellowship. Students who hold dissertation completion fellowships of any kind are ineligible for future Harvard fellowship funding. Registration subsequent to DCF tenure is ordinarly not permitted.