As long as you remain enrolled in full-time, residential student status and actively working on research with your faculty advisor in good academic standing, you will be given full support—in the form of either a research assistantship (RA) or a teaching assistantship (TA)—for a minimum of 5 years. It is a CS PhD program requirement that full-time, resident PhD students are funded on either a research assistantship, teaching assistantship, or fellowship during an academic semester (Fall/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, dental, and vision 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)

Note that all JHU students, faculty, and staff on payroll are legally subject to the same U.S. taxation and international employment licensing practices. If you intend to travel outside the U.S. or get stuck outside of the U.S. due to immigration issues and continue working as an RA for a period of time that exceeds 4 weeks, an assessment of your circumstances must be completed by Export Control to determine if you can continue to be paid. Please reach out to the Academic Program Manager prior to your extended travel or if you find yourself in these unplanned circumstances.

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.