PhD Program

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Financial Resources

Financial Support and Benefits

Students in good standing are fully supported for their tuition, health care benefits, and stipend throughout their graduate studies (current stipend: $41,308). First-year students are supported by PIBS (year #1). After completion of their first year, students choose a dissertation laboratory and continue to be funded until graduation by a variety of sources, including Department of Pathology funds, U-M funds, mentor's research grants, training grants, and individual fellowships.

In addition, first-year students receive a laptop computer and a one-time $2,500 "moving expense" stipend paid out during the summer of their transition into PIBS.

Cost of living comparison tool.

 

Grant Opportunities and Awards

MCP students have access to numerous grant opportunities, fellowship awards, and financial aid from MCP or the Department of Pathology, from the U-M Rackham Graduate School or the U-M Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (OGPS), as well as from extramural institutions. Some of these awards are listed below.

  • Conference Travel Grants—To facilitate and ensure that MCP students attend extramural scientific meetings and present their research, the graduate program provides financial support for travel on a yearly basis by awarding the Rackham Travel Grant and/or the MCP Travel Grant Awards. Every year, most MCP students take advantage of this opportunity. For example, in 2022, fourth-year MCP student Sanjana Eyunni (Chinnaiyan Lab) was awarded a Rackham Travel Grant to attend the Annual Multi-Institutional Prostate Cancer Program Retreat at the University of California in Los Angeles, California to give an oral presentation entitled "The Furious roles of FOXA1 Class 2 mutants in prostate tumorigenesis".

  • MCP Outstanding Research and Service Awards—Every year, MCP celebrates the many outstanding contributions of our MCP students with several honors, including the MCP Outstanding Research and Service Awards, at the Annual MCP Research Symposium. The MCP Outstanding Research Award recognizes the outstanding research and scholarly accomplishments of the student awardee. The MCP Outstanding Service Award distinguishes a student who has shown great commitment of time and effort towards service to the department and the community.

  • Rackham Merit Fellowship—The Rackham Merit Fellowship (RMF) Program helps sustain the academic excellence and inclusiveness of the Michigan graduate community, one that embraces students with diverse experiences and goals, and who come from many educational, cultural, geographic, and familial backgrounds. By offering financial assistance to those students who might not otherwise have access, we aim to reduce disparities in graduate education. We also aim to promote the values of diversity and inclusion by encouraging the admission and funding of students who represent a broad array of life experiences and perspectives, because this enhances the quality of the intellectual environment for all students. MCP students Heizel Acosta (1st year student), Cameron Vasquez (1st year student), Joanna Lum (Venneti Lab), and Thandiwe-Kesi Robins (Fisher Lab) are RMF Fellows.

  • MCP Student Research Grant—MCP supports graduate students by awarding the MCP Student Research Grant, a competitive award (internal competition) designed to support a student-initiated research project and to advance their progress toward their degree. This grant is intended to support an exploratory research question relevant to the student’s thesis and to encourage the independent research work of the students by providing support for novel/risky ideas that might provide proof of concept for feasibility and further study. For example, in 2023, MD/PhD MSTP student Kristen Lozada Soto (Nusrat-Parkos Lab) received a Research Grant ($3,000) to investigate how the CLDN23 proteins orchestrate intestinal mucosal wound repair by identifying possible molecular targets using spatial transcriptomic technologies. In 2024, up to three $5,000 grants sponsored by various Departments in Michigan Medicine will be awarded.

  • Extramural Awards—Many MCP students are also supported by prestigious extramural awards, including NIH NRSA F31 fellowships and diversity awards, Department of Defense (DOD) pre-doctoral research awards, professional societies and disease foundations fellowships (Examples: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7).