Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowships

These awards are designed to increase the completion rate of Ph.D. students and to enhance recruitment of new students. Recipients must be advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. by the beginning of the fellowship award period, be scheduled to be employed on an assistantship (RA, TA, or GPTI) for the award year, and expect to complete their dissertation on campus during the year of their fellowship. Support will be available for up to 12 months to enable students to dedicate their time exclusively to dissertation research. The stipend level will be the equivalent of their current assistantship stipend, and it may be augmented from other sources (no outside employment is allowed).

Students may not apply for this fellowship - they must be nominated. Nominations must come from faculty and must include contributions from the major advisor and an endorsement from the department/program.  Recipients will be funded by the Graduate School.  Departmental/college/grant funds previously used to support the DDC fellow must be used to recruit a new Ph.D. student. 

Please note that students in excess of 99 hours are not eligible to receive Graduate School funding support.  The Texas Legislature has capped fundable graduate study at 99 doctoral hours for most programs and may impose sanctions upon universities permitting registration for excess hours. Doctoral students with more than 99 doctoral hours may be subject to pay out-of-state tuition, regardless of residence status. The maximum time allowed for completing the doctoral degree is eight years from the first doctoral semester or four years from admission to candidacy, whichever comes first. The Graduate Dean must approve exceptions or extensions in advance.

Timetable for Nomination Cycle

*Please note the revised timetable/process for these fellowships for the 2025-2026 academic year:

 

Submit Preliminary Nomination

 

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