As long as you remain in full-time student status, you will be given full support—in the form of either a research assistantship (RA) or a teaching assistantship (TA)—for the duration of your CS PhD career. It is a CS PhD program requirement that full-time, resident PhD students are funded by an RA, TA, or fellowship during an academic semester (i.e., fall or spring). Exceptions to this requirement may be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Full support includes:

  • Full tuition coverage, funded by both the Johns Hopkins University’s Dean’s Office and the CS Department (for TAs) or your faculty advisor (for RAs)
  • Health insurance coverage, funded by the department or your faculty advisor
  • A monthly living stipend provided during the fall and spring academic semesters (9 months) and possibly for the summer (i.e., June, July, and August) should you continue working with your advisor and remain researching as a full-time student with the university (as opposed to doing an external internship or study-away program)

Performance & Probation

No matter how brilliant your research is, the department can’t give you teaching assistantship funding if you don’t fulfill the degree requirement to teach, and your advisor can’t legally give you research assistantship funding from a federal grant unless a reasonable amount of your work is related to the grant topic. Please be sure you have reviewed the Homewood Schools Policy for Graduate Student Probation, Funding Withdrawal, and Dismissal. Students may be placed on academic probation if their advisor determines research progress to be unsatisfactory. We encourage advisors to address concerns in the annual PhD progress review. If you are placed on probation and subsequently fail to fulfill the corrective measures outlined in your official probation letter, your program standing could be affected.

Here are some ways to earn money aside from teaching or research assistantship:

  • You may be able to win your own funding from some sort of fellowship. For example, if you are a U.S. citizen and have completed less than 12 months of full-time graduate study, you can apply for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
  • If you can find a summer job doing computer science research in industry, that can be good experience and pay well. (Although it might interrupt your progress toward graduation.) Of course, you cannot receive summer research assistantship funding if you are also working a full-time job elsewhere.

In general, you should discuss your plans with your advisor.