2026 Graduate Funding Benchmarks: Stipends and Living Costs

This full benchmark report analyzes stipend levels, tuition waiver coverage, assistantship structures, cost-of-living adequacy, and funding sources across U.S. doctoral and master's programs using national surveys, institutional policies, and federal benchmarks current through May 2026.

Choosing a graduate research program is one of the most consequential financial decisions a student will make, yet funding offers are rarely presented in a standardized, comparable way. The purpose of this report is to make those offers easier to evaluate on terms that matter in practice: annual pay, appointment duration, tuition coverage, field-specific norms, and real local affordability.

Key Statistics at a Glance

Metric	Value	Source
National median stipend	$36,000	GAO-26-107757, indirect compensation for STEM graduate researchers in AY 2025
Average baseline increase for FY 2026	11%	University of Kentucky Graduate Stipend and Benefits Committee
Programs at or above local living wage	2%	Nature (2022), 178 U.S. doctoral programs
Ohio State minimum, 9-month, 0.5 FTE	$26,073	Ohio State Graduate School, January 2026

Overview of the Funding Landscape in 2026

Graduate student compensation is undergoing one of its fastest periods of revision in decades. Unionization campaigns, inflation pressure, and institutional competition for doctoral talent have pushed universities to raise stipend floors across multiple cycles. Even so, the baseline problem has not disappeared.

The central finding of this benchmark report is that nominal stipend growth has outpaced neither tuition complexity nor local living costs. A headline figure can look competitive and still leave a student below a basic living-wage threshold once city-specific costs, mandatory fees, summer funding gaps, and waiver phase-outs are accounted for.

At USC, the average graduate stipend was $15,047 against average basic-needs costs of $21,515, leaving a $6,468 annual shortfall. At Stanford, one of the strongest nominal packages in the dataset at $48,216 still falls $7,644 short of Santa Clara County's estimated living wage.

"The average baseline stipend increase across departments is 11% for fiscal year 2026 - the third consecutive year of benchmark-driven floor increases."

University of Kentucky Graduate Stipend and Benefits Committee, April 2025

Benchmark Stipend Amounts

Graduate stipend floors are rising from very different starting points. The Oklahoma State University Graduate Stipend Survey remains one of the most widely used benchmarking anchors for research universities, especially across SEC and peer institutions.

Institution	Stipend	Basis	FTE / structure	Change or note	Source
Ohio State University	$26,073 (9-month) / $34,764 (12-month)	Minimum floor, graduate associate	50%	+8%	Ohio State Graduate School, Jan 2026
Cornell University	Up to $52,026	Academic-year maximum from university-held funds	Varies	CBA-set	Cornell Graduate School, Aug 2025
Colorado State University	$1,922 per month, about $17,298 for 9 months	Minimum GA rate	50%	+1%	CSU Graduate School, 2025-26
Michigan State University	Varies; $9,085 per semester SI charge	GA tuition + health structure	50%	SI +5%	MSU HR Stipend Ranges, 2026-27
Stanford University	$48,216	NIH-aligned benchmark high	50%	NIH NRSA-linked	Stanford ORA / NIH NOT-OD-25-105
Georgia Tech	$37,500	College of Sciences floor	GRA	Among highest in sample	GradPilot / Georgia Tech, Oct 2025
Arizona State University	$26,544 minimum	Institutional minimum	50%	Benchmark cited in 2025-26 reporting	GradPilot / ASU, Oct 2025
NIH NRSA zero-level cap	$62,232	Federal support ceiling	Full	Upper benchmark, not a typical PhD stipend	NIH NOT-OD-25-105

The institutional spread is wide. Elite research universities sit near the top, but higher nominal pay does not automatically imply stronger real compensation. Institutional prestige, federal grant intensity, and labor-market pressure all shape stipend floors, but affordability still depends on geography and appointment terms.

The growth trend is real. Ohio State's floor climbed from $19,800 in 2022-23 to a projected $26,073 in 2026-27, while the national median line rose from $30,000 to $36,000 over the same period. That is meaningful progress, but the adequacy problem remains because living costs and funding structure continue to absorb those increases.

Tuition Waiver Status

Tuition waivers remain one of the most under-discussed components of graduate funding. For funded PhD students at research-intensive institutions, full waivers are common. For master's students, waiver access is significantly more limited and often conditional on assistantship status, enrollment status, or field.

Program stage	Semesters	Waiver coverage	Effective cost
Residency cohort	1-6	100%	$0 out of pocket
Post-residency, full	7-10	100%	$0 out of pocket
Post-residency, partial	11-14	50%	About $932 per semester out of pocket
Post-residency, minimal	15-16	25%	About $1,398 per semester out of pocket
Beyond standard timeline	17+	0%	About $1,864 per semester out of pocket

This pattern matters because many doctoral students assume a full waiver is static across the degree. In practice, some institutions protect early years and reduce support later, especially after students move beyond normal program timelines.

The cross-program picture is even less uniform. STEM PhD students in the benchmark data are much more likely to receive full waivers than master's students. Humanities master's and MBA cohorts show much lower full-waiver rates and much higher no-waiver rates.

Two structural caveats matter here:

• At Michigan State, engineering students face higher SI charges than non-engineering students, showing that field-specific differentials can persist even within the same university.
• Out-of-state tuition waivers are often tied to full-time degree status plus assistantship eligibility; dropped courses, provisional enrollment, or part-time status can narrow or eliminate coverage.

Assistantship Type and Appointment Structure

Graduate funding is not just about amount. It is also about how that amount is earned and what obligations come with it.

Assistantship type	Estimated share	Primary fields	Typical funding source
Research assistantships (RA/GRA)	About 54%	STEM-dominant	PI grant budgets, including NIH, NSF, DoD, and DoE
Teaching assistantships (TA/GTA)	About 30%	All fields	University instructional budgets
Fellowships / stipend-only support	About 12%	Cross-field, competitive	NSF GRFP, NIH NRSA, DoD NDSEG, institutional awards
Graduate associates, non-academic	About 4%	Cross-disciplinary	Administrative, library, outreach, and support units

Research assistantships dominate funded doctoral training in science and engineering because grant-funded labs absorb a large share of student labor. Teaching assistantships remain more central in humanities and social sciences, which shifts both workload and time-to-research.

The field split is stark. Engineering, life sciences, physical sciences, and computer science skew heavily toward research assistantships, while humanities and many social sciences lean much more heavily on teaching.

The type of funding also changes pay. In the benchmark dataset, DoD NDSEG-level fellowship support sits near $40,000, NSF GRFP around $37,000, and STEM GRAs around $36,000, while humanities GTAs sit much lower around $20,000.

At Georgia Tech, approximately 80% of doctoral students receive GRA or GTA assistantships, while only about 21% of master's students in ECE access GRA funding.

That gap matters for international master's students in particular, because assistantship access often determines both tuition relief and whether the stipend is financially meaningful.

9-Month vs. 12-Month Funding

The distinction between 9-month and 12-month funding is one of the most important and most commonly overlooked parts of graduate compensation.

Institution / appointment	9-month stipend	12-month equivalent	FTE	Source
Ohio State, 0.5 FTE	$26,073	$34,764	50%	Ohio State Graduate School, Jan 2026
Ohio State, 0.25 FTE	$13,037	$17,382	25%	Ohio State Graduate School, Jan 2026
Cornell, estimated average	$38,000	$49,740	50%	Cornell Graduate School, Aug 2025
Colorado State, 0.5 FTE	$17,298	$23,064	50%	CSU Graduate School, 2025-26

An academic-year stipend can look competitive until it is converted into a full-year equivalent. Ohio State's 9-month floor rises by roughly one-third when annualized, which changes how students should compare it against programs with explicit summer support.

The Kentucky baseline methodology makes this explicit by dividing 9- or 10-month appointments by 0.818 to estimate a 12-month equivalent. That methodology matters because duration, not just nominal amount, drives real budget stability.

Funding by Field or Department

Field is one of the strongest predictors of stipend level and overall adequacy. Grant-rich STEM disciplines usually outperform humanities and many social sciences on both pay and waiver coverage.

Field / discipline	Typical range	Typical waiver	Primary appointment	Living-wage adequacy
Computer science / engineering	$28,000-$45,000	Full, often above 90%	GRA, PI-funded	Partial in high-cost metros
Biomedical / life sciences	$24,000-$38,000	Full, often above 85%	GRA, NIH-linked	Often below in expensive metros
Physical sciences / chemistry	$22,000-$36,000	Full, often above 80%	GRA / GTA mix	Below in most expensive regions
Agricultural economics	About $18,167	Full, conditional	GRA / GTA	Below living wage
Social sciences	$16,000-$28,000	Partial to full	GTA-dominant	Below in most regions
English / humanities	$14,000-$26,000	Full if funded	GTA-dominant	Severely below in many cases
Art and visual studies	About $12,620	Partial	GTA / instructor	Far below living wage
Business PhD programs	$25,000-$40,000	Often full at top programs	RA / fellowship	Moderate gap

Field-level differences are not marginal. They shape both the probability of full funding and the probability that funding actually clears local cost thresholds. Humanities and arts students face the weakest position on both counts in this dataset.

Geography and Cost-of-Living Adequacy

Geography is the second most important determinant of funding adequacy after field. The same nominal stipend can support a student adequately in one city and leave them deeply below subsistence in another.

Institution / metro	Annual stipend	Living wage benchmark	Gap / surplus
Wright State, Dayton	$13,000	$31,737	-$18,737
University of Florida, Gainesville	$18,650	$34,650	-$16,000
University of Maryland, College Park	$29,592	$46,403	-$16,811
USC, average	$15,047	$21,515 basic-needs estimate	-$6,468
National median	$36,000	About $46,000	-$10,000
Rice, Houston	$36,000	$31,200	+$4,800
Ohio State, Columbus	$26,073	$38,500	-$12,427
Georgia Tech, Atlanta	$37,500	$40,800	-$3,300
Cornell, Ithaca	$42,000	$34,000	+$8,000
Stanford, San Jose	$48,216	$55,860	-$7,644

The affordability point is straightforward: higher nominal stipends in expensive metros often still fail to close the local cost gap. Conversely, moderately lower stipends in lower-cost regions can generate real surpluses.

Institution	Annual stipend	Living wage	LW ratio	Status
Wright State	$13,000	$31,737	0.41x	Far below
University of Florida	$18,650	$34,650	0.54x	Below
University of Maryland	$29,592	$46,403	0.64x	Below
USC, average	$15,047	$21,515	0.70x	Below
National median	$36,000	About $46,000	0.78x	Below
Ohio State	$26,073	$38,500	0.68x	Below
Georgia Tech	$37,500	$40,800	0.92x	Near parity
Stanford	$48,216	$55,860	0.86x	Below
Rice, Houston	$36,000	$31,200	1.15x	At or above living wage
Cornell, Ithaca	$42,000	$34,000	1.24x	At or above living wage

The Living Wage Ratio is one of the most useful ways to normalize offers across cities. A ratio of 1.0 means the stipend exactly matches the local living wage. In this benchmark set, most institutions remain below that threshold.

Nature's 2022 analysis found that only 2 out of 178 doctoral institutions guaranteed stipends above local living wage, and at 6% of surveyed schools students earned less than half their county's living wage. That remains one of the clearest benchmarks for how severe the adequacy problem is nationally.

Recommended comparison tools:

• Living Wage Ratio normalization using gross stipend divided by local living wage
• MIT Living Wage Calculator for county-level estimates
• C2ER-style cross-city purchasing-power comparisons where available

Funding Sources and Faculty-Level Signals

Funding mechanism affects more than pay. It shapes tuition coverage, service obligations, research autonomy, and sometimes intellectual property terms.

Funding source	Estimated share	Source base
Federal research grants, RA / GRA	About 42%	NSF GSS 2023; GAO-26-107757
Institutional / university support	About 31%	NSF GSS 2023; Survey of Earned Doctorates
Direct federal fellowships	About 12%	NSF GRFP, NIH NRSA, DoD NDSEG, SED
Industry / private sponsorship	About 8%	GAO-26-107757; institutional reporting
Self-funded / loans	About 7%	USC GSA; SED funding-source reporting

Federal research support remains the backbone of STEM doctoral funding, with NIH and NSF carrying the largest shares. That matters because PI-funded research assistantships are only as stable as the underlying grant environment. If an offer depends heavily on a single grant or a single lab, applicants should evaluate that concentration risk directly.

Source / mechanism	Typical stipend	Tuition treatment	Service obligation
NIH research grant, R01-linked	Up to $62,232 ceiling benchmark	Usually full	Research labor
NSF research grant	$25,000-$40,000	Often full	Research
NSF GRFP fellowship	$37,000	$16,000 cost-of-education allowance	None
NIH NRSA F31	$28,224-$37,000	Partial	None
DoD NDSEG / SMART	$40,000+	Full tuition	None, though SMART includes service commitments
Institutional fellowship	$20,000-$35,000	Often full for early years	None or limited TA load
Departmental TA	$16,000-$28,000	Often full if enrolled	Teaching, often about 20 hours per week
Industry-sponsored RA	$28,000-$50,000	Varies	Research, often with IP terms

For applicants trying to evaluate PI-dependent support, this is the same underlying problem addressed in our guide to checking whether a potential PhD advisor has stable funding.

Practical Implications for Students Comparing Offers

The practical lesson from the benchmark report is that no single number is enough. A strong package usually combines:

• Competitive pay for the field
• Clarity on whether funding is 9 months or 12 months
• Full or near-full tuition remission
• Sustainable workload expectations
• Clear renewal conditions
• A realistic path to staying above local living-cost thresholds

The most important questions to ask before accepting an offer are simple:

• Is summer funding guaranteed or merely possible?
• Does tuition remission change after residency or candidacy?
• Is the package tied to one lab, one PI, or a broader departmental guarantee?
• How much remains out of pocket after fees, insurance, and local rent?
• What happens if the expected assistantship disappears or the project changes?

"Fully funded" is often treated as a binary category. This report shows why that framing is too blunt. The better question is whether the package is financially durable across the whole degree.

Selected Data Sources and Citations

1. U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-26-107757. STEM compensation benchmarks for graduate researchers and postdoctoral scholars, April 8, 2026.
2. Oklahoma State University Graduate Stipend Survey and associated institutional benchmarking references used by peer universities including Ohio State and Kentucky.
3. University of Kentucky FY 2026 Baseline Stipends, April 9, 2025.
4. Ohio State minimum graduate associate and fellowship stipend increase announcement, January 23, 2026.
5. Cornell Graduate School stipend rates, accessed May 2026.
6. NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in S&E, NSF 25-317.
7. Nature, "PhD students face cash crisis with wages that don't cover living costs", May 23, 2022.
8. phdstipends.com results, used for living-wage ratio comparisons.
9. MIT Living Wage Calculator methodology.
10. MLA English PhD stipends statistical report.
11. Rice University cost-of-living analysis for PhD stipends.
12. USC Graduate Student Association stipend and cost-of-living report.
13. GradPilot report on TA, RA, and GA funding access for international MS students.
14. Colorado State University graduate assistant stipend page.
15. NIH notice NOT-OD-25-105 and related grants policy guidance on graduate support levels.
16. Brandeis GSAS tuition waiver policies.
17. Survey of Earned Doctorates.
18. Supporting institutional and program references used in the original benchmark compilation, including Florida, Maryland, Stanford, and Georgia Tech materials cited in the source report.

Disclaimer

This report synthesizes publicly available institutional, federal, and survey data as of May 2026. Stipend amounts, waiver structures, and program policies change frequently. Readers should verify current numbers with the official graduate school, department, and funding pages of each institution before making enrollment decisions. This report is informational and should not be treated as a substitute for official financial aid counseling.