Funding

There are a number of ways to help finance your graduate education at the University of Texas at Austin. There are Graduate Fellowships offered through the Office of Graduate Studies, College of Liberal Arts, departmental awards, non-UT grants and fellowships, and of course, federal aid. All applicants who are being considered for admission will automatically be considered for these fellowships. No separate applications are required, unless noted.

Graduate Fellowships

Brief descriptions of available fellowships are below.  Please see the Graduate School site for more information.

Graduate School Recruitment Fellowships

These fellowships are prestigious awards offered by the Graduate School to attract top quality graduate students to UT-Austin. 

Harrington Graduate Fellowships

These fellowships are awarded on the basis of scholastic record and outstanding human qualities; including academic performance, character, and leadership. Harrington Doctoral Fellowships are awarded to entering graduate students admitted to a program leading to a doctoral degree at UT Austin. Doctoral Fellowships range from one-year to three-year awards. A Harrington Doctoral Fellow can earn a Master's Degree in the process of completing the doctoral work.

Stipend: Fellowships, including a stipend between $45,000-$50,000 for 12 months, tuition and required fees, an allowance for student medical insurance, and $2,000 for miscellaneous expenses, are awarded annually to the most highly qualified applicants or nominees. For more information, please visit the Office of Graduate Studies Harrington Fellows web page.

University Graduate Continuing Fellowship

The University Graduate Continuing Fellowship is based on the student’s record since coming to UT. It includes a stipend of $36,000 for 12 months, health insurance assistance and tuition assistance that pays the cost of in-state tuition and fees up to nine semester credit hours for the fall and spring semesters and three for summer. The department puts out a call for nominations each spring. This fellowship is intended for continuing graduate students.

College of Liberal Arts Thematic Fellowships

Departments in the College of Liberal Arts may nominate top graduate students working on an approved thematic field for the College of Liberal Arts Thematic Fellowship. The fellowship includes a 9-month stipend of $20,700, full tuition for fall and spring, and a stipend for purchasing 12-month student health insurance. This fellowship is intended for continuing graduate students.

 

Departmental Awards

Peyton and Douglas Wright Fellowship

Peyton Wright was a graduate of the department of Anthropology and a professional archaeologist. In his memory, his family and friends established a fellowship program in 1998 to aid other students in completing their graduate work in Archaeology.

This is a $2000 award intended to allow archaeology graduate students to undertake a research project leading to the Masters or PhD degrees. The purpose of this fellowship is to provide support for specific scholarly investigative projects. The fellowship is intended to cover costs associated with research projects.

Past Recipients

• 2023-24: Christine Sanchez & Kelton Sheridan
• 2022-23: Alana Pengilley
• 2021-22: Anya Gruber
• 2020-21: Fatemeh Ghaheri
• 2019-20: Nicole Payntar & John Duncan Hurt
• 2018-19: Camille D.S. Weinberg
• 2017-18: Elizabeth M De Marigny
• 2016-17: Jordan D Bowers
• 2015-16: Jinok Lee
• 2014-15: Emily Dylla
• 2013-14: Debora Trein
• 2012-13: Shannon Iverson
• 2011-12: Nadya Prociuk
• 2010-11: Carla Klehm
• 2008-09: Micaela Obledo
• 2007-08: Shawn Marceaux
• 2006-07: Lisa Kraus
• 2005-06: Kirsten Atwood
• 2004-05: Lesley Kadish
• 2003-04: Peggy Brunache, Chet Walker & Clay Schultz
• 2001-02: Mary Jo Galindo
• 2000-01: Terry Powis
• 1999-00: Carmen "Apen" Ruiz

Bromley F. Cooper Endowed Fellowship

This endowment was established in memory of Bromley F. Cooper, who explored the area of South Texas surrounding Kingsville, amassing a large collection of Native American artifacts and arrowheads, and keeping detailed records of the location of each find. Preference for this fellowship should be given (but not limited) to students concentrating on the archeological history of South Texas. The Cooper fellowship is $3,000.

Past Recipients

• 2023-24: Jordan Davis
• 2022-23: Kelton Seridan
• 2021-22: Julia Earle
• 2020-21: Manda Adam & Anya Gruber
• 2019-20: Kelton Sheridan
• 2018-19: Patricia Neuhoff-Malorzo & Lara Sanchez Morales
• 2017-18: Emily Dawson
• 2016-17: Luisa Aebersold
• 2015-16: Jannie Scott
• 2014-15: Eric Schroeder
• 2011-12: Casey Hanson 

Dr. H. Barry and Lucy V. Holt Endowed Fellowship

Barry Holt (B.A., Occidental; M.A., Tulane: Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Texas; J.D., Lewis and Clark) is a philanthropist and retired lawyer with a long-standing interest in archaeology and ethnohistory. He and wife Lucy Holt (B.S. and M.S. Nursing, University of Texas) have a history of impactful philanthropy and currently reside in Phoenix, AZ and Carlsbad, CA. Establishing this fellowship in 2021, the Holts write that “It is our hope and expectation that this Fellowship will encourage UT Graduate Anthropology students to pursue Ethnohistorical and Archeological research into the fascinating prehistoric cultures of Mesoamerica, which is so critical to our understanding of all human culture.”

Preference for this fellowship will be given to Anthropology graduate students whose academic focus is on Latin American (and particularly Mesoamerican) Archaeology and/or Ethnohistory from prehistoric times through the Spanish Conquest.

Distinguished Teaching Fellowship

The Department of Anthropology Distinguished Teaching Fellowship offers advanced graduate students the opportunity to teach an upper-division undergraduate course of their own design. The selected fellow is appointed as an Assistant Instructor for the semester and receives a fellowship award in the amount of $1,000.

Past Recipients

• 2025: Kenza Yousfi, States of Extraction
• 2024: Erin Wheeler, LInguistic Landscapes of Austin
• 2023: John Duncan Hurt, Pseudo-Science in Archaeology
• 2022: Rachel Voyt, Evolutionary Theory and Identity Politics in Primatology
• 2021: Emily Dawson, Archaeology of Feast and Famine

Teaching Assistantships

The main form of departmental support available to students in the department of Anthropology is in the form of Teaching Assistant (TA) positions.

Students wishing to be considered for a TA or AI (Assistant Instructor) position are required to submit a formal application to the department in the prior semester. 

Stipends range between $20,760 and $22,995 for a nine-month period (2024-25 rate) for a 20-hour/week appointment; additionally, TAs are entitled to a tuition reduction benefit, resident tuition rates, and health insurance benefits. NOTE: Candidates whose native language is not English must pass the English Proficiency Assessment and Orientation administered by the University before they may be appointed. 

A limited number of TA and AI positions are also availalbe in summer, with the call for summer applications going out each spring.

FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) Fellowships

These fellowships are administered through the following language centers. Only applicants possessing high academic qualifications and wishing to specialize in a particular language area should consider applying for this fellowship. Eligible applicants should make sure to apply for the FLAS at the time of their application to the department. More information can be obtained by contacting one of the area and language-studies centers that offer courses relevant to your interests. Stipend: $20,000 for one academic year plus tuition.

• The South Asia Institute supports the study of modern South Asian languages taught at UT-Austin (e.g., Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Urdu). Please visit their web site for more information and to obtain an on-line application.
• The Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies can fund language study in the following: Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Romani, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Uzbek, and Yiddish. Study of other languages requires petitioning to the Department of Education. Please visit their web site for more information and to obtain an on-line application.
• The Institute of Latin American Studies can fund language study in Portuguese and Quechua, and possibly other languages by special arrangement. Please visit their web site for more information and to obtain an on-line application.
• The Center for Middle Eastern Studies can fund language study in modern Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish. Please visit their web site for more complete information.

Externally Funded Fellowships

The department of Anthropology strongly encourages and helps graduate students to obtain outside fellowships and grants. Many of our students have won prestigious awards such as Ford Foundation grants, Fulbright-Hays grants, National Science Foundation research grants, Social Science Research Council fellowships, and Wenner-Gren grants, among others. It is essential that you submit applications for graduate funding as you apply for admission to graduate programs. Information about many fellowships can be found on the Graduate School web site.

Student Employment

Campus Employment is an effective alternative for those not receiving financial awards or wishing to subsidize any aid they do receive. You can find information on campus employment via the university's Human Resource Services website.

Federal Aid 

For a list of financial aid programs, scholarship sources, student loan information, and student employment opportunities, visit the website of the UT-Austin Office of Student Financial Services (512-475-6282).