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Ph.D. Funding Overview

Please note: the following applies only to Ph.D. students. Regrettably, we are unable to offer financial aid to M.A. students, including research or teaching assistantships.

Overview

The Department of English recognizes the importance of financial support to students' success in the Ph.D. program. All admitted Ph.D. students are awarded identical 5-year funding packages, either through the Benjamin Franklin Fellowship or the William Fontaine Fellowship.

Both fellowships provide the following:

  1. 5 years of tuition
  2. 5 years of fees, including General and Clinical Fees
  3. 5 years of coverage under Penn’s Student Health Insurance (PSIP)
  4. 5 years of a competitive 12-month stipend for each academic year. The stipend for 2025-2026 is $43,050. The stipend is typically adjusted slightly for cost-of-living increases each year.
  5. Basic membership in Penn's athletic facilities

Students taking a sixth year to complete their dissertations apply to a range of internal and external competitive fellowships to fund their final year. We recognize that increasingly students are supported by yearlong fellowships rather than by teaching appointments, and in response, we have developed robust resources for preparing students for their applications, including workshops, a monthly funding digest, and a fellowship deadline calendar. See the Sixth-Year Funding page for more information.

In addition to their fellowships, Ph.D. students are eligible to apply for travel grants to support research trips, colloquium participation, and conference attendance. See Travel Funding for more information. 

The graduate stipend is intended to enable students to focus on completing program benchmarks and writing their dissertations in a timely manner. In cases where Ph.D. students in academic good standing want to take on additional work, they should discuss the feasibility and appropriateness of the work in question with their advisors. Whenever possible, the work should be aimed at strategically building the student’s resume and generating additional income without jeopardizing progress toward the degree. International students should also consult their Penn ISSS advisor about whether their visa allows them to take on additional work.