The department's policy is to provide this support to doctoral students for the first two years of study, after which virtually every student retains financial support by working with a faculty adviser on a sponsored research project or by teaching. The following few examples indicate some of the financial aid opportunities. John A. Parker Fellowship, funded by the John A. Parker Trust, was created by alumni and friends of the department in honor of its founder and first chairman, John A. Parker. An award is made to a second-year student with high potential for contribution to the department. Transportation Management Internships, jointly sponsored by the North Carolina State Department of Transportation and local transportation operators, provides work and learning opportunities.
Interns receive a stipend for the academic year and a salary for summer work.
Under this program, students are expected to work in a planning or planning-related agency that administers Community Development Block Grants or Urban Development Action Grants. To be eligible students must come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and have experience working with economically disadvantaged groups. Recipients must be full-time students pursuing doctoral degrees at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A number of governmental agencies and nonprofit organizations provide internships for planning students during the academic year and summer. An example of such an award is the Downtown Housing Improvement Corporation of Raleigh, N.C., which provides an internship during the academic year and summer employment with the corporation working on nonprofit housing programs and projects.