The Graduate School Northern Illinois University offers graduate programs in over 70 academic majors, in more than 110 areas of study, for master's, doctoral, and other advanced degrees. Through the Graduate School, graduate courses and degrees are available from 38 departments in six colleges. The typical scholarship support for graduate students is graduate fellowships. The availability of fellowships makes the university more competitive in recruiting from among the most talented and most promising students, and it opens the door to many who otherwise would not be able to participate in advanced higher education.
Graduate fellowships provide financial support to some of our most promising graduate students.
Such funding also supports the research needs of graduate students, which often include equipment, computer software, laboratory materials, travel to research sites, and travel to make presentations at professional conferences. Many faculty and staff of Northern Illinois University have brought significant funding to the university through grants and contracts obtained from federal, state, corporate, and foundation sources. Recently, the Graduate School initiated a program to acknowledge faculty and staff who are particularly successful in attracting external grant funding to the university. This acknowledgment, in the form of a financial award, was granted to those whose grant records over time have been unusually strong for their discipline, whose external funding has materially benefited others, and whose funding successes are expected to continue to serve as models for their colleagues. The use of graduate students as teaching assistants is a long-standing practice in American higher education.