Each spring semester, all students who wish to be considered for departmental funding must complete a financial aid application. The Graduate Advisory Committee, sometimes known as the Financial Aid or Funding Committee, evaluates the financial aid applications and student files to make recommendations for financial aid. In large measure, financial aid is based on two separate factors: the extent to which you are making satisfactory progress and the amount of funds made available to our department by the College of Arts and Sciences. The committee makes funding decisions, which are conveyed to graduate students in writing around the end of spring semester, with continuing notification as AI positions open throughout the summer. Graduate education in the department is funded primarily through associate instructorships and fellowships.
Fellowships & Funding Opportunities
Associate instructorships (AIs)
Associate instructorships provide financial assistance for you to either assist faculty members in teaching undergraduate courses or teach your own courses as an independent instructor. AIs assisting faculty in teaching undergraduate or graduate courses are expected to work an average 20 hours per week, maintain a 3.5 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) and demonstrate normal progress toward the Ph.D.
Fellowships + Grants
Each year, our department awards some fellowships to incoming graduate students. Other fellowships, including some for more advanced students, may be available from other units on campus, but decisions about these are made by these units and not by the department.
Funding for conference presentations
In addition to providing financial support in the form of assistantships, fellowships and grants, we also provides support for graduate students who have been selected to present a paper at an important scholarly conference. You may apply for conference funding during both the fall and spring semesters.
Funding for training workshops
Subject to available financial resources, Political Science also provides annual support for you to attend off-campus training workshops to learn skills that are not regularly offered at Indiana University. In recent years, we have sent students to the Institute for Qualitative Research Methods (IQRM) and the Inter-Consortium for Political Science Research (ICPSR).
IU fellowships & awards
In addition to student academic appointments, financial support is available to you in the form of fellowships or other awards from the College of Arts and Sciences and University Graduate School. Fellowships carry no specific job responsibilities; the only requirement is that you continue to make good progress toward your degree. Other types of awards include scholarships, research grants, and travel grants.
Funding through campus centers
The Ostrom Workshop
- Promotes interdisciplinary study of institutions, incentives, and behavior as they relate to policy relevant applications
- Research
- Summer
Robert F. Brynes Russian and East European Institute
REEI provides many opportunities for graduate students to receive funding for study and research in Russian and East European Studies.
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships
The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships are funded by the United States Department of Education in support of graduate and undergraduate students studying less commonly taught languages and cultures, in particular, those considered to be of critical interest to the United States.
The College of Arts