Grant-in-Aid
Fall Application Deadline: Monday, October 7, 2024
Spring Application Deadline: Monday, February 3, 2025
Grant-in-Aid (GIA) awards provide Bloomington M.F.A. students and doctoral candidates funding for unusual expenses incurred in connection with M.F.A. projects or doctoral dissertation research.
The maximum award is $1,000. The amount awarded will be determined by a combination of available funding and the judged significance of the proposed work.
Instances where the total budget is either partially funded or exceeds the maximum award amount, the applicant or department will be responsible for the additional funds.
Eligibility
Doctoral Applicants
Must be:
-formally admitted to Ph.D. candidacy by the application deadline (NTC Form required)
-enrolled full-time on the Bloomington campus during the semester the application is submitted
Ed.D. and D.M. students are eligible to apply
Master's of Fine Arts Applicants
Must be:
- formally admitted to an M.F.A. program by the application deadline
- enrolled full-time on the Bloomington campus during the semester the application is submitted
Allowable Expenses
Doctoral applicants. Unusual expenses incurred in connection with doctoral dissertation research, such as travel to special libraries or laboratories, payments to consultants, specialized equipment, and duplication of vital materials needed for writing the dissertation.
M.F.A. applicants. Unusual expense incurred in connection with M.F.A. projects, such as travel to special libraries, materials, photocopies, electronics, and specialized equipment.
Expenses not supported include normal living expenses, tuition, routine laboratory supplies, and computers.
In the case of requests for equipment, the Director of Graduate Studies must verify that neither the equipment requested nor the total funds are available for its purchase. If an application is funded for an amount less than that necessary to purchase the equipment, the department will be responsible for supplying the additional funds. At the completion of the project, the equipment must remain with the department and be made available for future research projects by other graduate students. (Note: student-purchased equipment remains with the student)
Application/Nomination Process
Students must contact their department for the internal deadline, which precedes the University Graduate School deadline. All nominations must be submitted by the nominee's department to the graduate school. We will not accept any self-nominations.
Grant-in-Aid Nomination Form
The department must complete and submit the form linked above.
The Grant-in-Aid application form includes:
- Nominating department information, including
- Note: the completed form must be approved by a DGS, Chair, or a department representative assigned by the DGS/Chair. You must list an approver on the form and they must approve the form in order for it to route to the Graduate School for review.
- Student personal information
- Upload a list of current sources of financial support
- Upload a detailed budget detail and rationale for the proposed project
- Upload an abstract of the dissertation proposal (100 words) or project prospectus (maximum one single-spaced page)
- Upload the nominee's curriculum vitae/résumé
- Upload one (1) letter of recommendation: a letter of support from the Dissertation Director or another individual knowledgeable about the proposed research. The letter should evaluate the merit of the research/project, the reasonableness of the proposed expenses, and the student's progress to date. The letter should also address the availability of other funds to support the project and explain the nature of the unusual expense.
Note: Eligible students may apply for both the Fall and Spring competitions but may only receive a total of $1,000 per academic year.
