The Jefferson Scholars Foundation announced there will be major enhancements to its graduate fellowship program, starting with the 2007 fellowship class.
"Our fellowship program is still relatively young, but we wanted it to be as significant as others in the country. Increasing the stipend and research component would almost guarantee that anybody we offered the fellowship to would have to consider it," said James Wright, president of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation.
With the new enhancements, winners of the Jefferson Fellowship will receive a $30,000 annual stipend for up to five years. Previously, the stipend was $18,000 annually for the humanities and $25,000 for the sciences. Additional enhancements include increases in the research funding caps. Jefferson Fellows will be able to apply for up to $7,500 for research, with the previous research fund capped at $3,000.
"The research funds aren't very common among other institutions," said Doug Trout, director of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation graduate program.
The $30,000 stipend is in addition to tuition, which is already covered in most cases, Trout said.
"One of the changes we've made was that we made it available to any program within the College of Arts & Sciences that offers a Ph.D.," Trout said, "We also have fellowships available to Darden and the Law School."
The funding enhancements have been made possible due to the University endowment, particularly from private contributions, Wright said.
"Increasing the stipend and research component would almost guarantee that anybody we offered the fellowship to would have to consider it," Wright said.
"We believe that this is as significant an offer as anywhere else in this country," Trout said. "We wanted to make a financial incentive that was unmatched."
"This fellowship is larger than any other Ivy League institution is offering," he said. "Our previous fellowship was adequate but not competitive with Harvard, Columbia or Stanford. We're offering the most substantial funding package in the country."
This increase is part of the University's larger efforts to attract the highest caliber graduate fellows in the country, Trout said.
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