Graduate funding

Discover options for
funding your graduate education

U.S. News & World Report has ranked University of Idaho the Best Value Public School in the West for five years in a row. This excellence includes a variety of scholarships, assistantships and other forms of funding and financial aid available to help you achieve success.

Beyond providing comprehensive financial aid resources, we help make the process as clear and easy as possible for our graduate students. At the College of Graduate Studies, you’ll receive guidance from knowledgeable people promptly.

Graduate scholarships and fellowships

One way to fund your graduate studies is through scholarships and fellowships.

Scholarships vary in amount and duration and are awarded based on academic excellence, perceived talent or in some cases, ethnic background, field of study or financial need. They may be awarded as a one-time payment or as an annual stipend. As with grants, scholarships need not be paid back.

Fellowships are like scholarships in that they do not require repayment. They are awarded by private organizations, institutions or government agencies. They vary in amount and are typically designed to offset research or education costs. It’s not uncommon for a fellowship to take the form of a multi-year stipend with or without a tuition waiver. Fellowships are typically awarded based on merit or need.

Current opportunities

Explore graduate fellowship opportunities currently available at the U of I College of Graduate Studies.

NSF EPSCoR Graduate Research Fellowship Awards

Attend University of Idaho as a National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR Graduate Research Fellow and earn your Ph.D. in one of the following interdisciplinary areas focused on wildland fire:

Environmental science
Water resources/water science
Bioinformatics and computational biology

A total of nine awards are available for eligible graduate students.

Who is eligible to apply

Recent winners of the NSF EPSCoR Graduate Fellowship Program Honorable Mention award (2022-23, 2023-24 or 2024-25 and through 2027-28).

Apply to become a fellow

What you’ll do

You’ll join a cohort of nine doctoral students that will take a multi-disciplinary approach to wildland fire science to integrate the biological, physical and human dimensions of fire in systems ranging from local to global scales.

The three interrelated thematic areas of inquiry include:

Mechanistic Knowledge and Tools
Dynamic Ecosystem Feedbacks and Trajectories
Integrated Human-Environment Systems

In parallel with your doctoral degree, you will also have the opportunity to pursue an Environmental Education and Science Communication (EESC) graduate certificate program at U of I’s McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS).

Who you’ll work with

Depending on the doctoral program you choose, you’ll work with graduate faculty members across the university with expertise ranging from machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI) to ecosystem and ecological modeling.

Learn more about our graduate faculty researchers:

Project leadership

Jessica Miesel
jmiesel@uidaho.edu

Leda Kobziar
lkobziar@uidaho.edu

Alistair Smith
alistair@uidaho.edu

Lee Vierling
leev@uidaho.edu

Potential graduate advisors

Bert Baumgaertner
Associate professor of philosophy
bbaum@uidaho.edu
View Bert’s research profile

Mariana Dobre
Assistant professor of soil and water systems
mdobre@uidaho.edu
View Mariana’s research profile

Jan Eitel
Associate professor of natural resources and society
jeitel@uidaho.edu
View Jan’s research profile

Mary Everett
Research scientist in computer science
meverett@uidaho.edu
View Mary’s research profile

Paul Hohenlohe
Professor of bioinformatics and computational biology
hohenlohe@uidaho.edu
View Paul’s research profile

Kerri Vierling
Professor of wildlife resources
kerriv@uidaho.edu
View Kerri’s research profile

Andrew Kliskey
Professor of landscape architecture
akliskey@uidaho.edu
View Andrew’s research profile

Tim Link
Professor of hydrology
tlink@uidaho.edu
View Tim's research profile

Katherine Lee
Associate professor of agricultural economic and rural sociology
katherinelee@uidaho.edu
View Katherine’s research profile

Terry Soule
Professor of computer science
tsoule@uidaho.edu
View Terry’s research profile

Amy Skibiel
Associate professor of animal veterinary and food science
askibiel@uidaho.edu
View Amy's research profile

Michael Strickland
Research professor of water systems
mstrickland@uidaho.edu
View Michael’s research profile

Jerry Long
Professor of law
jlong@uidaho.edu
View Jerry’s research profile

James Moberly
Associate professor of chemical and biological engineering
jgmoberly@uidaho.edu
View James’s research profile

Jaap Vos
Professor of planning and natural resources
jvos@uidaho.edu
View Jaap’s research profile

Grant Harley
Associate professor of earth and spatial science
gharley@uidaho.edu
View Grant’s research profile

Jason Karl
Professor of forest, rangeland and fire science
jkarl@uidaho.edu
View Jason’s research profile

Travis Paveglio
Professor of natural resources and society, director of the Wildland Fire Institute
tpaveglio@uidaho.edu
View Travis’s research profile

Armando McDonald
Distinguished professor of forest and sustainable products
armandm@uidaho.edu
View Armando’s research profile

Mark Roll
Associate professor of mechanical engineering
mroll@uidaho.edu
View Mark’s research profile

Apply to become a fellow today!

Interested in applying? To apply, go to the NSF opportunity page.

Graduate fellowship sources

David L. Boren Fellowships

Boren awards provide a unique funding opportunity for U.S. students to study world regions critical to U.S. interests (including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America and the Middle East). The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are excluded. The Boren fellowship allows graduate students to add an important international and language component to their graduate studies. Boren fellows can be awarded up to $30,000. For additional information on preferred geographic regions, languages, fields of study and application procedures, use the link below.

Learn about Boren Fellowships

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) helps ensure the vitality of the human resource base of science and engineering in the United States and reinforces its diversity. The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited U.S. institutions.

As the oldest graduate fellowship of its kind, the GRFP has a long history of selecting recipients who achieve high levels of success in their future academic and professional careers. The reputation of the GRFP follows recipients and often helps them become life-long leaders who contribute significantly to scientific innovation and teaching.

Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs

Through its fellowship programs, the Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation’s college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.

Predoctoral, dissertation and postdoctoral fellowships will be awarded in a national competition administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on behalf of the Ford Foundation.

Explore the Ford Fellowship

National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship

The National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship is a highly competitive, portable fellowship awarded to U.S. citizens and nationals intending to pursue a doctoral degree in one of 15 supported disciplines. NDSEG confers high honors upon its recipients and allows them to attend whichever U.S. institution they choose. NDSEG Fellowships last for three years and pay for full tuition and all mandatory fees, a monthly stipend and up to $1,000 a year in medical insurance (this excludes dental and vision insurance).

The Department of Defense (DoD) is committed to increasing the number and quality of our nation’s scientists and engineers and, towards this end, has awarded nearly 3,400 NDSEG fellowships since the program's inception 23 years ago. The NDSEG Fellowship is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Army Research Office (ARO) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR) under the direction of the director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E).

Learn about DoD Fellowships

External funding

Research funding is financial support for scientific research in areas like hard sciences, technology and social sciences. This funding is usually awarded through a competitive process where potential projects are evaluated, and only the most promising ones receive support. These evaluations are typically conducted by government agencies, corporations or foundations.

External funding sources

Foundations and associations

Government agencies

Online databases

Online Resources

Searchable Grants Databases

Assistantships

Assistantships usually require students to work as teaching assistants (TAs) and research assistants (RAs). All non-Idaho resident University of Idaho assistants receive an out-of-state tuition waiver based on the percentage of their assistantship.

Types of assistantships

Teaching assistants
Teaching positions are usually paid through state funds. TAs are considered members of the faculty, and they often teach first-year, 101-level courses.

Research assistants
Research positions are typically paid through grants. Students in research positions usually work as RAs, assisting in laboratory work.

Check with your department of interest for available assistantship opportunities.