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Postdoctoral Financial Aid
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Article on Postdoctoral Financial Aid
Postdoctoral employment, once viewed as a stepping-stone to tenured and more secured positions, are becoming more permanent with an increase in PhDs. Finding aid for these positions is, therefore, becoming quite a competitive and focused process. Unlike funding for undergraduate or graduate financial aid, which is comprised of federal loans and grants, postdoctoral financial aid originates from very specific grants and fellowships. These funds come from various sources including federal agencies, private institutions, and nonprofit agencies. The application processes and eligibility requirements, thus, vary dramatically from program to program.
School database
The best place to start your search for postdoctoral financial aid is your school’s career counseling center. Contact your career advisor early on to see if a pursuing a postdoctoral (postdoc) experience is a necessary expense for your chosen career path. If so, your advisor and the career resource center at your school will have the most experience soliciting support from the various funding options. This will include information about postgraduate research assistantships, university fellowships, and individual research grants.
Sources of Funding
Most postdoctoral research happens in the fields of science and engineering, although the subject area has significantly broadened with private financial support. The primary source of postdoctoral financial aid for research in the fields of science and engineering comes from federal government agencies. Other sources of available funds include university fellowship programs, private institutions, and nonprofit agencies. If, however, no funding can be found, private loans are always an option. These are issued by private lending institutions and often require a credit check and occasionally a cosigner.
Federal Funding: NSF and NIH
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are the largest two federal agencies providing postdoctoral financial aid. Fellowships from the NSF include options for individual research as well as a list of current projects in need of assistants. Fellowships from the NIH are found in biology, polar region research, science, technology, mathematics, engineering, and some funds are available for minority students. Application requirements and deadlines vary by program within both agencies.
Private & Non-profit agencies
Nonprofit agencies that financially support postdoc experiences vary greatly in subject matter, financial support, and application processes. These include small grants based on personal merit or financial need to multiple year research fellowships. A few examples of nonprofits funding postdocs are the American Psychological Association, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Earth Institute, the Human Frontier Science Program, and many others. The career center inside your school should have an updated list of these opportunities and requirements.
Postdoctoral financial aid is used to cover all research and living expenses of the recipient for the duration of their research. Funding, therefore, must often be sought out from many different sources. For this reason, the search for funding should commence early and with the help of the career resource center and doctorate advisors at your school. This early start will allow time to find and apply for the most appropriate federal or private funding available for your field of research and exploration.
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