Graduate School funds are used to provide fellowships to as many worthy students as possible. Fellows are required to make good faith efforts to apply for external awards; see the External Fellowships section in the left-hand menu on the web page of the Financial Aid Office for links to information about various external fellowships. All fellows who receive funds from an outside source, e.g., an NSF or Javits Fellowship, are required to accept that award.

Because the Graduate School considers funding to be a cooperative venture between students, departments and the Graduate School, fellows are expected to take advantage of all opportunities to obtain funding from external sources such as private foundations and government agencies. As part of an application for renewal of a multi-year GSAS fellowship, every fellow in the Arts and Sciences Ph.D. programs is required to submit evidence to the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) of their department of at least one good-faith effort to obtain funding from a funding source external to the University. Students should consult with the DGS to determine what constitutes such an effort for a particular field and stage in the program. The DGS supplies this information to the Dean of the Graduate School.

GSAS offers two options for students who receive external awards during the years when they receive fellowships from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences have two options: extending their GSAS funding or supplementing (topping-off) their external award with funds from the Graduate School. Because individual Ph.D. programs have their own external funding policies: students should check the list of departments on the web page of the Financial Aid office for options in their specific program. Students receiving an external award should use the Statement of Understanding form to communicate to GSAS their choice of the two options. It is the responsibility of the fellow to report outside awards to the Graduate School.

The External Fellowship Policy on the Financial Aid Office web page includes a full description of each departments policies related to outside fellowships and the calculation for determining the cap.