Supplementing NIH Stipends for PhD Students at SPH.

Some funding mechanisms that we use to support PhD students cap the stipend amount at a level that is lower than the SPH stipend ($46,350 as of September 1, 2025). For example, the NIH pre-doctoral stipend (a standard amount that is set annually by NIH) is currently $28,788 per year. This poses a challenge because the stipend levels of our PhD students should be consistent, regardless of funding source. Therefore, we must determine the best approach for supplementing the capped stipends, bringing the total up to the same standard amount.

Examples of NIH funding mechanisms that use these capped stipends are T32s, F31s, and R36’s. In all three cases, trainees are required to commit 100% of their effort to the award such that it is not allowable for any portion of their stipend to be charged to other external sources (which would require an additional commitment of effort, exceeding the 100% maximum). For this reason, the funds used to supplement the capped stipend must be provided by the institution, which could include school-level funds, department discretionary funds, and/or faculty discretionary funds.

The School will provide supplemental funding in accordance with the following provisions:

• All PhD students at SPH receive a commitment of 4 or 5 years of full funding in their offer letter (including stipends, tuition, health insurance, and fees), provided the student remains in good standing. Stipends are largely covered via external funding sources such as research grants, training grants, individual fellowships, or dissertation awards.
• SPH will use central funds to supplement an externally funded stipend up the standard SPH stipend under the following conditions: (a) if the PhD student is funded on a grant that caps the stipend at a level less than the SPH stipend (e.g. T32, F31, R36), AND (b) if the funding mechanism requires that 100% of the student’s effort be committed to the grant (which prohibits the student from committed effort to another external award), AND (c) the student is in good standing during the first 5 years of the program.
• If a student is to be funded via one of these mechanisms beyond the first 5 years of the program, any supplemental support must be covered by discretionary funds from the mentor and/or the student’s department.
• If a PhD student is beyond the period of full funding committed in their offer letter (i.e., in their first 4 or 5 years of the program), in good standing, and does not have external funding available to support their stipend, then the full SPH stipend must be covered by discretionary funds from the mentor and/or the student’s department.
• It is the program director’s responsibility to ensure these financial commitments are met. To that end, program directors must ensure that funding plans for all continuing students are confirmed before making plans to recruit new PhD students.
• Generally, when a faculty member agrees to mentor a PhD student on their dissertation, the faculty member accepts financial responsibility for the student. However, understanding that there may sometimes be reasons to deviate from this convention, it is up to each program/department to set guidelines clarifying whether the faculty mentor or the program/department bears financial responsibility in different scenarios.