All Music Department graduate students receive tuition scholarship and a 12-month stipend for the full five years of the program. Additional resources include a research budget (Bryan Fund), funding for summer language study, and subsidized private voice or instrumental studio instruction. After the five-year program, students are eligible to be nominated by the graduate school for sixth-year funding and may supplement their income with teaching as available.
We recognize that the decision to pursue graduate study requires a significant commitment of time, energy and resources. The Princeton University Graduate School website provides guidance for graduate students on tuition, costs and funding sources including fellowships, assistantships, external funding, travel grants, loans and assistance, and Federal Work Study.
Princeton guarantees funding for its regularly enrolled, degree-seeking Ph.D. candidates for all years of regular program enrollment, contingent upon satisfactory academic performance. Support for Ph.D. students to pursue scholarship and research may come in the form of fellowships, assistantships, external funding, travel grants, loans and assistance, and Federal Work Study.
Bryan Fund & Dean’s Fund
The Bryan Fund offers funding for travel and equipment needs of graduate students during their period of enrollment (Years 1-5 for Composition and Years 1-6 for Musicology). The Dean’s Fund for Scholarly Travel provides support (up to $800/year) to enrolled graduate students (Years 3 – DCE1) invited to present a scholarly research paper at a conference or meeting. A list of other available funding is available through the Graduate School.
Teaching Income
Assistantships are appointments in which graduate students are provided with a tuition and stipend contribution, paid as salary, for either
Studio Lesson Subsidies
Support is available to graduate students for private instruction in an instrument or voice.
Summer Language Program
The Graduate School offers intensive summer reading courses in selected foreign languages, which the Department subsidizes. Students pursuing other languages also qualify for Department subsidies, up to the cost of University courses. Subsidies are subject to the approval of the DGS.
Enrolled Ph.D. students who have not completed their degree within their department’s normal program period (either four or five years, as specified by the department and the Graduate School) may have the opportunity to be enrolled for up to two additional years in Dissertation Completion Enrollment (DCE) status. This status was instituted specifically for the purpose of helping a student complete the dissertation. Students in DCE status are not eligible to take courses.