Funding priorities for the Graduate School include:
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Increasing merit and performance-based fellowships for financial support to be competitive in recruiting the best and brightest graduate students.
Funding Creativity - 2018-19 graduate fellowship winners were treated to lunch and praise Oct. 19 during the Graduate School Fellowship Luncheon. Among the participants in the event were (from left) Katelyn Erickson, Nanoscale Science, Daniel Yonto, Geography, and David Burlinson, Computing and Information Systems, all recipients of the Giles Fellowship. The Giles award focuses on STEM programs and provides a $20,000 stipend plus travel and insurance, full tuition and fees for doctoral students in their final year.
- Increasing the number of financial awards for exceptional teaching and research among our graduate students, and to recognize students for outstanding achievements and service to their profession and the community.
- Creating assistantships specifically for returning veterans seeking to pursue a master’s or doctoral graduate degree as they transition into a civilian career.
- Supporting a new Corporate Skills professional development program being launched in Fall 2015 at our Center for Graduate Life. This program will help students identify and improve their leadership skills. Additional courses will include team building skills and understanding the corporate workplace.
- Providing support to graduate students and graduate faculty for research projects, travel for presentations, community service, study abroad, and to sponsor networking and mentoring activities.
You may designate your gift to any one of the above priorities if you wish.
“I chose to attend UNC Charlotte for the highly specialized optics doctoral program, with its cutting edge research and growing presence within the international scientific community.”-Christopher Wilson, recipient of the 2015-2016 Lucille P. and Edward C. Giles Dissertation-Year Graduate Fellowship
Donors contributing major gifts of $25,000 and above have the option to name a program, assistantship or fellowship in memory or in honor of someone. Donors may also create an endowed fund with a major gift of $25,000 and above, with a portion of the earnings being awarded each year and the principle being invested in perpetuity. For more information contact the Graduate School's Major Gift Officer Mark Colone.
In 2014, UNC Charlotte provided more than $21.4 million in financial support to over 3,500 graduate students in need-based and merit-based funding. This reflects a 9% increase from the previous year. This total includes more than $13 million in research assistantships or teaching assistantships to nearly 2,000 graduate students.
According to the Council of Graduate Schools, jobs that require a master’s degree are expected to grow nearly 22% through 2020, faster than the growth at any other education level. That’s nearly 2.6 million jobs expected to be created from 2010 to 2020.
At UNC Charlotte, the Graduate School has experienced increases in our graduate degree enrollment from 2010-2015.
Graduate education promotes the creation of new knowledge and is crucial to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems. As a research university, the synergy of outstanding graduate degree programs, internationally renowned faculty, and exceptional graduate students are the key to creating research initiatives and education programs that foster innovative solutions.
One of the biggest challenges graduate schools face is helping more people earn advanced degrees without incurring burdensome debt loads or dropping out before completion due to financial constraints.