Guidelines regarding financial support required for graduate students admitted to research degree programs in the Field of Natural Resources and the Environment
Background
The Code of Legislation from the Cornell Graduate School states that:
To attract, retain, and support timely degree completion of the highest quality Ph.D. students, graduate fields must offer financial support to the student for a significant portion of the expected Ph.D. program at the time of admission, subject to the student making satisfactory academic progress, to include stipend, tuition, and health insurance.
The Graduate School does not have specific guidelines regarding the required duration of funding for admitted M.S. students; M.S. students can be self-funded. However, M.S. /Ph.D. and Ph.D. students can not be admitted as self-funded students.
Field of Natural Resources and the Environment Guidelines:
The Field of Natural Resources and the Environment seeks to guarantee at least one-year funding commitment for M.S. students and five years for Ph.D. students (including M.S. /Ph.D. candidates). Our average Time-to-degree (TTD) is five years, and we strongly encourage five years of funding for PhD students where possible. This funding is generally a combination of fellowships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships.
** International students who are candidates for the M.S. program and who receive a visa sponsorship will require a commitment of at least two years of funding. International students who are candidates for the Ph.D. program (Including the M.S. / Ph.D. program) and who require a visa sponsorship will require a commitment of at least three years of funding.
Prospective students with financial support from sources external to Cornell will be required to provide written documentation of the funding source sufficient to cover tuition, insurance and stipend. Applicants can be admitted, conditional on funding becoming available, if the student has a pending application for external funding.
If requesting a recruitment fellowship or recruitment TA the expectation is that the committee chair will provide at least one year of funding support from his/her funding sources to support the prospective graduate student.