Costs and Funding

Our Priority is Student Success

We understand that a graduate education is a significant investment of time, energy and money. Fortunately, there are ways to lessen the financial burden. Each year, graduate students from the University of Arkansas receive NASA, NSF, Fulbright, and other prestigious national awards in addition to travel grants, research training grants and national research grants administered by individual faculty.

It is never too early to start looking for funding resources — even if you are not yet enrolled in a graduate program. While the Office of Graduate Fellowships, Enrollment, and Graduation Services can assist students with questions about awards, your current or prospective academic department is a valuable resource to guide you through funding opportunities relevant to your discipline, bringing you that much closer to achieving your graduate degree.

At the University of Arkansas, several types of financial assistance are available to qualified graduate students to help meet the expected Cost of Attendance including the following:

April 15 Resolution of the Council of Graduate Schools

As a member of the Council of Graduate Schools, the University of Arkansas Graduate School abides by the April 15 Resolution when offering financial aid including fellowships, scholarships, and grants.

Acceptance of an offer of financial support* (such as a graduate scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, or assistantship) for the next academic year by a prospective or enrolled graduate student completes an agreement that both student and graduate school expect to honor. In that context, the conditions affecting such offers and their acceptance must be defined carefully andunderstood by all parties.

Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this Resolution. In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and sub-sequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student to first inform the program that they are withdrawing or resigning from the offer of financial support that they previously had accepted. Starting in Fall 2020, applicants are no longer required to obtain a formal release from the program whose offer they accepted, either before or after the April 15 deadline. It is further agreed by the institutions and organizations subscribing to the above Resolution that a copy of this Resolution or a link to the URL should accompany every scholarship, fellowship, traineeship, and assistantship offer. footnote 1

footnote 1 “April 15 Resolution,” Council of Graduate Schools, February 3, 2021