Financial Aid

Departmental assistantships cover full tuition for fall and spring (18 credits) and include stipends for both semesters. In addition to the department stipend, Baylor's Graduate School awards enhancements to departmental stipends for highly-qualified students.

Departmental assistants work approximately 15 hours a week as research or teaching assistants in the department. Doctoral students are eligible for 5 years of financial aid (and 4 years if they have already received an MA degree before matriculation at Baylor). Students in the MAIR and MPPA programs are eligible for two years of financial aid. Financial aid awards are renewable, as long as the student is making satisfactory progress toward the degree. When funding permits, students in the PhD program who do not receive their PhD degree by the end of their fifth year will be awarded one more semester credit hour (usually the semester in which they graduate). See expectations for satisfactory progress.

Admission and financial aid for our PhD program are very competitive. The average GRE verbal score of all doctoral students is 96th.

Morrison Fellowship: The department awards Morrison fellowships to students interested in research and teaching involving the US Supreme Court and its interpretation of the Constitution. Fellows have usually completed at least one year of course work in Baylor’s Department of Political Science.

Although most assistantships are arranged through the individual graduate programs, other routes of support coordinated through the Graduate School or other offices are often available. Check out awards and funding opportunities on the Graduate School webpage.