Most of our PhD students receive financial support from the University of Illinois, and the rest hold external fellowships.

Teaching Assistantships

PhD students are generally offered a position as a "50% teaching assistant" at the time of admission. This teaching assistantship includes a full tuition waiver (regardless of student's residency classification) and partial fee waiver, as well as a stipend sufficient for living expenses in Champaign-Urbana.

The stipend amount for the academic year 2024-2025 (Fall and Spring semesters) is about $24,380. The workload is officially 20 hours per week during the Fall and Spring semesters. Typical weekly duties for a first-year student consist of leading two discussion sections for a calculus course, where each section meets for 2 hours per week; plus 1 hour spent meeting with the other teaching assistants and the professor; 3 hours tutoring; time for grading student worksheets and quizzes; and grading exams several times per semester. More senior students can request assignments in the Merit program or sole-charge assignments in quantitative reasoning courses. The teaching assistantship will be renewed for a total of 6 years (5 years for students who enter with a 2-year Masters degree), assuming the student makes satisfactory progress in the PhD program.

Equity Doctoral Fellowships

These fellowships, funded by the Graduate College of the University of Illinois, provide a full tuition waiver and a stipend for three to five years. The competition is campus-wide. All eligible PhD applicants will be considered for nomination by the Department of Mathematics.

Illinois Distinguished Fellowships

These prestigious fellowships, funded by the Graduate College, carry a full tuition waiver and a stipend for up to three years. The competition is campus-wide. All PhD applicants will be considered for nomination by the Department of Mathematics.

GAANN Fellowships

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, GAANN Fellowships offer a full tuition waiver and stipend for 1-3 years to outstanding students. All U.S. applicants to the PhD program will be considered for GAANN fellowships.

External Fellowships

We encourage students to apply for outside fellowships such as the NSF Graduate Fellowship, or scholarships from your country of origin, and so on. See our Fellowship links.

Support for Continuing Students

Research Assistantships

Many senior PhD students are supported as research assistants funded by their thesis adviser's grant funding.

Mathematics Department Fellowships

The Mathematics Department offers a number of fellowships specifically for continuing graduate students.

Summer Funding

Many PhD students in our program receive summer support, in amounts ranging from $2,000-$6,000 for 1-3 summer months depending on duties and source of funding. For details, see the summer funding webpage.