Graduate College Doctoral Retention Scholarship

This scholarship is intended to support meritorious Ph.D. or Ed.D. students with financial need enrolled at Texas State. It is designed to provide for the cost of tuition for students who are at risk of being unable to continue their doctoral studies at Texas State University due to financial challenges. Examples of such challenges may include, but are not limited to, significant loss of income or family support, unanticipated medical bills for oneself or dependents, increases in childcare or eldercare, costs related to unforeseen events, etc.

AMOUNT

The scholarship covers the cost of tuition (not fees) for courses counting towards the student’s Ph.D. / Ed.D. degree for one academic year, for 1-9 credits per semester (1-3 credits in the summer), for a total maximum of 21 credit hours. The student will receive funds for the number of credit hours they plan to enroll in as indicated on their scholarship application and as approved by their program.

Eligibility Requirements

In order to qualify, doctoral students must minimally be in their second year in a face-to-face or hybrid Ph.D. or Ed.D. program at Texas State and not already be receiving a tuition scholarship. Students must be in good standing at the time of application and in each of the semesters in which the scholarship is awarded. During the tenure of the scholarship, students must be enrolled in the number of hours indicated on their application and as approved by their program.

Application Materials

  1. An essay of 250-500 words supplied by the student that describes the nature and extent of their financial need and any special financial circumstances. Applicants are asked to be specific in identifying their income (including assistantships, scholarships, etc.), expenses (e.g., housing, medical costs, living expenses, childcare, eldercare, etc.), and extenuating circumstances (if applicable) as this information will help the selection committee understand the applicant’s financial need. We encourage applicants to use the maximum allowable word count.
  2. A statement signed by the applicant’s dissertation advisor, research professor, graduate advisor, or doctoral program advisor outlining the goals for the time the student is supported by the scholarship (e.g., completing required coursework, drafting and/or defending dissertation proposal, collecting data / running experiments, writing chapter XYZ of the dissertation) and a timeline for completing the dissertation. This timeline may extend beyond the scholarship period. This document should be 1-2 pages in length with bulleted lists for the goals and timeline. Note: Students who received a retention scholarship in the previous year must also address how they met the goals they outlined in their previous application. For this purpose, a third page can be added to the document. 
  3. A CV or resume of maximally five pages which includes information on past achievements (e.g., work experience, internships, scholarships/fellowships/grants, awards, presentations/publications/performances, etc.)
  4. An indication in a form field in BOSS of the number of hours the student plans to enroll in the fall, spring, and summer terms (it is permissible to request funding for fewer than three semesters).

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Financial Need (50%)
  2. Merit (25%)
  3. Realistic and clear plans for timely degree completion (25%)
  4. Prior retention scholarship holders will only be considered if they met the goals they had outlined in their previous application. 

Selection committee

Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee appointed by the graduate dean. Each applicant will be reviewed by minimally two selection committee members. The Dean of The Graduate College will make the final award decisions.

Applications

Students will apply directly for the opportunity via the BOSS scholarship system.

Application deadline: The application must be completed by June 1.