Financial Aid and Funding
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Graduate applicants in biomedical engineering and bioinformatics have the opportunity to apply for a variety of forms of financial assistance. Assistance may come in the form of fellowships, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and/or tuition fee waivers.
The department’s graduate committee continuously reviews the record and progress of every graduate student, and appointments to all forms of financial assistance are conditional on satisfactory academic and job specific performance.
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PhD student funding
For doctoral students, the biomedical engineering department offers guaranteed, multi-year teaching and/or research assistantships to highly qualified new students. In addition to tuition and fee waivers, these PhD assistantships provide a stipend to cover students’ living and other expenses.
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Fellowships
Fellowships are awarded to graduate students in biomedical engineering and bioinformatics in recognition of scholarly achievement and promise. Fellowships enable students to pursue graduate study and research without a service requirement, and they vary in amount and duration. For legal and taxation purposes, fellowships are regarded as gifts, not as compensation for services rendered.
UIC’s Graduate College is responsible for awarding fellowships. Unless stated otherwise, all fellows supported by the Graduate College are exempt from tuition and service fees. Students who hold fellowships are required to complete at least 12 semester hours each term.
Funding for Graduate College fellowships is derived from both university and external sources. Please visit the Graduate College’s fellowships page for information on fellowships that are currently offered to graduate students and the terms and conditions applicable to each.
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Graduate assistantships
Teaching and research assistantships are another way in which biomedical engineering and bioinformatics graduate students can fund their education.
Teaching assistants typically support faculty members who are teaching large-enrollment courses. Teaching assistants may handle laboratory and discussion sections and/or grade papers. The department determines the number of teaching assistantships that will be available, based on instructional needs and other priorities, and assigns students to these roles. The work of each teaching assistant is then determined by the supervising faculty member. No student may be appointed as a teaching assistant for more than a total of eight semesters, excluding summer semesters.
Research assistants are appointed by individual faculty members to help them in their scholarly research work.
Teaching and research assistantships are determined by a percentage of time. Assistantships in either of these categories with an assignment between 25% and 67% time will carry a tuition exemption. Assistantships for international students may not exceed a 50% assignment during the fall and spring semesters. Students who receive assistantship-based tuition exemption for the spring semester will also receive tuition exemption for the summer term immediately following, even if the assistantship does not continue through the summer.
Students holding 50% teaching or research assistantships must register for at least 8 credit hours in fall and spring semesters. Appointments less than 50% require 9 credit hours in fall and spring semesters.
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Tuition and fee waivers
The biomedical engineering faculty may nominate a select few entering students for University Fellowships and tuition-and-fee waivers. These nominations are forwarded to the Graduate College, which makes waiver decisions. The director of graduate studies is the primary resource for information on these waivers, which are reserved for the most advanced and high-performing students. Fellows and students with a tuition-and-fee waiver must register for a minimum of 12 credit hours each semester.
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Financial aid
Financial aid information is available from UIC’s student affairs office. Visit its Office of Student Financial Aid website to learn about:
- Cost of attending UIC
- Financial aid processes
- Types of financial aid
- Necessary forms
The Office of Student Financial Aid can be reached at (312) 996-3126 or money@uic.edu.
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external fellowships
AAUW Fellowship
https://www.aauw.org/resources/programs/fellowships-grants/
American Heart Association
https://professional.heart.org/en/research-programs/application-information/predoctoral-fellowship
NIH F31 and F32
https://researchtraining.nih.gov/programs/fellowships
NIH Predoctoral F31
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-14-147.html
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=6201
National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program
https://cdmrp.health.mil/funding/
Pre-doctoral Ford Fellowship and Dissertation Ford Fellowship
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/fordfellowships/index.htm
Hertz Graduate Research Fellowship
https://www.hertzfoundation.org/the-fellowship/
Howard Hughes Institute International Predoctoral Fellowship
https://www.hhmi.org/programs/international-student-research-fellowships
Josephine De Karman Fellowship Trust
Lejuene Foundation research grants
https://www.research.fondationlejeune.org/call-for-projets/
PhRMA Foundation
http://www.phrmafoundation.org
SMART Fellowship
https://smartscholarshipprod.servicenowservices.com/smart
UIC Graduate College Fellowships
http://grad.uic.edu/graduate-college-fellowships
UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research “Finding Funding” page
https://research.uic.edu/research-development/finding-funding/