Emergency Funding for Graduate Students
BU Life’s Emergencies
***IMPORTANT: If and when you receive a grant, please forward all details of that grant (the award letter, amount, dispersion process, costs covered) to the Graduate Program Administrator. Students must secure at least $5k stipend salary (cumulatively) per semester in order to receive the BU Health Insurance Credit. Please also note: GRS funding must be used before the completion of your 7th year.
AY23-24 PhD Payroll Schedule
The Provost’s Office has announced a revision to the stipend rate for the 2023-2024 academic year.
Effective September 1, 2023 the standard PhD stipend rate for RFs, TFs, and Dean’s Fellows will be $26,267 per academic year ($39,401 for 12-month stipends).
This means the stipend rate is $13,133.52 per semester.
For NS/DFs, this breaks down to $3,283.38 per month (paid out every 4th Friday each month: Sep 22, Oct 27, Nov 24, Dec 22, Jan 26, Feb 23, Mar 22, Apr 26)
For RF/TFs, this breaks down to $772.56/week in Fall 2023 and $729.64/week in Spring 2024; and the start and ends for the TFs are the following:
- Fall 2023: Aug 28, 2023 – Dec 24, 2023 (17 weeks)
- First pay day 9/8/2023
- Last pay day 12/29/2023
- Spring 2024: Dec 25, 2023 – April 28, 2024 (18 weeks)
- First pay day 1/5/2024
- Last pay day 5/3/2024
Summer 2024: Fall 2021 cohort forward receive 5 Years of guaranteed Summer Funding. Summer DARFs (processed beginning of April) for $5k split equally ($2500 each) between the 2 summer sessions and are paid out on 4th Friday of May and June. Cohorts prior to Fall 2021 must submit Summer Funding proposals to the department by 4pm EST on April 21st, or apply to other grants to carry themselves over the Summer Sessions.
External Funding Opportunities
We suggest that you investigate external funding opportunities from the specific agencies or foundations mentioned below. Always check funding source websites for current deadlines.
Federal and state, foundation, and corporate funding
Area Studies and Language Training
Summer Funding Opportunities
Dissertation Writing and Completion (Post Field)
Other online databases
Electronic guides to finding information about grants and the grant application process
International Funding Opportunities
Please contact the Graduate Program Administrator to examples of successful grant applications.
The BU Administrative Process
Department Review -> CAS Grants Office Review -> Office of Sponsored Programs Review -> Submission
If the external grant funds need to disburse through BU rather than directly to the student, then the grant application needs to run through the internal BU process. We recommend that you check in with the department before applying to any external grant to keep the department apprised of your funding sources, and to double check whether it needs to follow this process.
The internal process is important for the following reasons: (1) To ensure compliance with BU policies, (2) To begin the account set-up process for funds that will be routed through the University, and (3) To provide you with the highest chance of a successful application. For NSF, for instance, there is no way to submit the application without completing the full procedure before the deadline. For that reason, you must submit materials with a sufficiently long lead time.
Applying for GRAF
There are two rounds of GRAF applications — one in the Fall (due to GRS by Nov. 1) and one in the Spring (due to GRS by March 21). The department will set internal deadlines, to be announced by the DGS.
Details on both the Short Term GRAF and the Long Term GRAF are here: http://www.bu.edu/cas/current-students/phd-mfa-students/financial-aid/aid-for-phd-students/.
Your applications need to be submitted electronically to the Department Admin by the internal deadline (not directly to GRS). Please note that the Nomination Form on the web link (http://www.bu.edu/cas/files/2017/06/GRAF-Nomination-form.pdf) is the crucial document that you need to submit. It contains complete instructions.
For the 1-page letter from the dissertation supervisor or DGS, our department asks that this letter come from your supervisor, not the DGS. Please have your supervisor send that letter electronically directly to the Department Admin by the internal deadline.
For your transcript, note that you do NOT need to get an official transcript from the Registrar. An unofficial one that you can get online is fine.
Applying for External Grants
In general, anything that pays indirect costs to the University needs to go through the full internal procedure. This includes anything from US government agencies, along with some others; National Science Foundation (NSF) is by far the most common for us, but also NIH, NIMH, Margot Marsh Biodiversity, Leakey Foundation (with slight variations), etc. The following external grants do not need to go through the internal procedure: Wenner-Gren, Cora du Bois, SSRC, Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, National Geographic. Even for those, however, please keep departmental staff and your advisor aware of what you are doing.
At least two weeks (10 business days) prior to the application deadline:
- Notify the Department Administrator of your intent to apply. The CAS Grants office needs to be informed of any upcoming submissions for the week on Mondays by noon.
- Submit the following documents to the Department Administrator
- BU Proposal Summary Form (PSF) – PDF
- Project Proposal
- Project Budget with Budget Justification
- Both the PI and the co-PI (the major advisor and the student respectively for NSF) need to complete the Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) form.
- The Department Administrator will then submit the full application to the CAS Grants Office for Dean’s approval. You will be notified if any revisions need to be made. Most applications need revisions, especially to the budget, which is why it is important to submit ahead of the deadline. The earlier you submit the application, the more time you have to make the necessary corrections.
- Once the Dean has approved the proposal, the CAS Grants Office will forward the application to the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for final approval with the PI and Department Administrator copied on the message.
- Our research administrator at OSP, Dianna Lopez, will review the application and assist with formal submission to the external sponsor.
NSF in a Nutshell
For a helpful resource on navigating the NSF process, click here.