ANDP Survey - Financial Support

6. Financial Support

Table 6a - Stipend Sources - First Year Graduate Students

Almost all predoctoral trainees in the neural sciences receive stipend support. First-year graduate students receive two-thirds of this support from University funds, often in the form of teaching assistantships. The balance of their stipend is derived from a combination of training grants, research grants, and fellowships, in roughly equal amounts. These numbers have changed little during the past 15 years.

Survey Year	86	91	98	00*
	Percent of Total
Teaching assistantship	34	29	29	31
Other university funds	30	38	41	38
Training grants	9	10	10	12
Research grants	16	14	9	12
Fellowships	10	8	11	7

* Survey question #17

Table 6b - Stipend Sources - Advanced Graduate Students

Predoctoral trainees advanced beyond their first year receive only 30% of their support from the university, an amount much lower than was reported in the 1986 survey and less than half of the university's support of first-year students. To compensate for this change, research grants have provided increasing support of these advanced graduate students; indeed, in the 2000 survey this source amounted to the single largest portion (39%) of the pool of funds.

Survey Year	86	91	98	00*
	Percent of Total
Teaching assistantship	31	27	29	19
Other university funds	21	21	12	11
Training grants	12	9	6	13
Research grants	24	33	37	39
Fellowships	13	10	6	15

* Survey question #17

Table 6c - Stipend Sources - Postdoctoral Trainees

Research grants have been the major source of support for postdoctoral trainees during the past 15 years, amounting to 65% in the 1998 survey. In previous surveys, the support of all postdoctoral trainees was considered collectively. In the 2000 survey, however, U.S. and non-U.S. citizens were considered separately. The recent results indicate an even greater dependence than in previous years on research grants to support postdoctoral trainees, especially those who are not U.S. citizens (86% of the support). Training grants and fellowships, once the source of ~50% of the total support, now provide less than 25% of the funds (much less for trainees who are not U.S. citizens), and universities now provide little support at all.

Survey Year	86	91	98	00* (U.S.)	00* (Non-U.S.)
	Percent of Total
University funds	8	12	9	0	1
Training grants	22	16	12	19	3
Research grants	38	50	65	68	86
Fellowships	30	22	12	13	10

* Survey question #25

February 22, 2007