Doctoral Program - Financial Support

Students accepted to the PhD program are offered financial support. All tuition expenses are paid and there is a fixed monthly stipend determined to be sufficient to pay living expenses. Financial support can be continued for five years, department resources permitting, for students in good standing.

The resources for student financial support derive from funds made available for student teaching and research assistantships. Students receive both a teaching and research assignment each quarter which, together, do not exceed 20 hours.

Students are strongly encouraged to apply for outside scholarships, fellowships, and other forms of financial support. Students with outside support enable the department to stretch its own resources. The department will supplement outside awards to the level set for departmental support. Students with outside support have fewer teaching and research assistantship duties.

New financial support available:

1. Interdisciplinary training: Due to a generous grant from the National Science Foundation, the department has funds available to support students interested in acquiring a training in statistics with an orientation towards interdisciplinary work. The many joint appointments and co-operative research activities of our faculty provide students with ample opportunity to become involved in such interdisciplinary work.

2. Stanford Graduate Fellowships: A prestigious program begun in 1996, these fellowships are awarded by Stanford to selected applicants nominated by departments, and are roughly comparable in benefits to National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships. The Stanford Fellowships are open both to foreign and U.S. applicants.

Teaching Assistantships
As part of the doctoral program students are expected to act as teaching assistants. Duties typically involve assisting a professor with grading of homework problems and/or conducting weekly tutorial section meetings for elementary and intermediate statistics courses. In later years students may be assistants for advanced courses. Each quarter students are asked to list preferences for TA assignments, which are accommodated where possible. Tutorial section meetings provide students an opportunity to develop teaching skills. There is a department Teaching Assistants Handbook with detailed information and advice about many aspects of TA work.

Documented teaching experience is an important factor in many post-PhD job searches. Through course evaluations and the like, students are offered the opportunity to build evidence of their teaching skills.

Occasionally the opportunity arises for a student to take charge of an entire course, including lectures; if several students express interest in the position, usually the choice will be based on their previous experience.

Research Assistantships
All PhD students, except those with external financial support, will have RA assignments with duties that may vary substantially from quarter to quarter and from project to project. First year students will have very light assignments. RA assignments will not exceed 10 hours per week and on the average are often much less. Once students have embarked on their own research, it is common for this research to take the place of other RA assignments.

Summer Quarters
Additional financial support in the form of teaching and research assistantships is usually available for the summer quarter.  Stanford is not in session from mid-August to the end of September, although research activities continue and students may remain in their University housing.