Financial Support
This information is for students enrolled in a graduate degree program in the department.
The department awards graduate assistantships to first year students. Graduate assistants must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher (on a 4.0 scale) and must enroll for at least nine graduate credits for the fall and spring semesters. An assistantship includes a monthly salary that is subject to applicable taxes and a tuition waiver for fall, spring, and summer semesters. The availability of graduate assistantships is subject to receipt of anticipated funding from the state of Illinois, and the student must be eligible for employment based on U.S. immigration laws.
The department notifies students if they are eligible for an assistantship. The student must complete the graduate assistant application before receiving an employment contract from the University. Students who accept a graduate assistantship are employees of the University and the state of Illinois. Under the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (5ILCS 430/5-10), state employees must complete the Mandatory Governmental Ethics Online Training each year. The University notifies graduate assistants during the fall semester about the deadline for completing the ethics training. Graduate assistants who do not complete the ethics training will lose their assistantship and tuition waiver, and may not receive future assistantships at the University.
Dr. Laura Berk (Distinguished Professor Psychology Emerita) established the Developmental Psychology Graduate Teaching Fellowship for a master's degree student admitted to the Developmental Psychology sequence. The Fellowship supports a second year graduate student with an assistantship for teaching a developmental psychology course. The department also provides the student with a full tuition waiver for the fall, spring, and summer semesters. Each year the developmental psychology faculty members select a first year graduate student as the Berk Fellow. The student's faculty mentor prepares the student to teach a psychology course during the following academic year. The graduate student must enroll in PSY 491 Internship in College Teaching of Psychology before teaching a psychology course.
Dr. Audrey J. Grupe (Psychology Professor Emerita) established the Grupe Fellowship in School Psychology. Dr. Audrey J. Grupe and Mary Jane McCarthy support the Fellowship through gifts to the department to recognize the financial aid they received while pursuing their degrees and to commemorate their professional careers. They wish to help fellowship recipients, from their home states, earn graduate degrees in school psychology so that the recipients might provide services to children and their families in a school setting. Applicants who accept admission to the specialist program in School Psychology and hold an undergraduate degree from an accredited institution in Illinois or Indiana are automatically eligible for the Grupe Fellowship.
APA Scholarships, Grants, and Awards website
APAGS Scholarships and Awards website (American Psychological Association of Graduate Students)
Federal Student Aid Website (also known as FAFSA Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
Psi Chi Graduate Awards & Grants website Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology