Merit-based University fellowships and scholarships are available on a competitive basis to graduate students. Fellowships and scholarships do not require the student to perform services for the University and are awarded without regard to financial need.  Application for fellowship and scholarship awards (except where otherwise specified) is made simply by checking the appropriate box on the first page of the application for admission. Applicants to the PhD program are given priority for fellowships; ordinarily, applicants to the MA program will not be eligible for financial aid. To be assured of receiving full consideration for University fellowships and scholarships, applicants should be sure that their applications and supporting documents (transcripts, letters of recommendation, and Graduate Record Examination scores) are received by the deadline, usually in mid-December. Applicants are urged to file their applications and supporting material as early as possible to allow time for the most careful consideration.  Since awards are made for the purpose of accelerating study toward advanced degrees, all fellows must register for full-time programs (i.e., four course units per term for credit) unless they have already completed the courses necessary for their degrees, in which case the awardee registers for dissertation tuition. All award holders must maintain good academic standing according to the standards set by the individual graduate group.  In all cases, the amount of an award is subject to possible adjustment in the event that the recipient also receives another fellowship award. Further information on University fellowships is available from the Graduate Catalogue of the School of Arts and Sciences (PDF) .

Dissertation research (which usually begins in the fourth year) is conducted with support from many fellowship sources.  The Graduate Group is responsible for nominating students for University fellowships and for certain external fellowships, most notably those of the Kress Foundation and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery, Washington.  Students who wish to put their names forward for such nominations are advised to contact the Graduate Chair as soon as the deadlines are announced.  The Graduate Group and the office of the Graduate Division also work hard to assemble information concerning the many fellowships that do not require official nomination.

Penn students' success rate in external fellowship competitions is very high; recent doctoral students have received support from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (National Gallery), the Social Sciences Research Council, the Luce Foundation, the Fulbright Fellowship program, the Delmas Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, Rotary International, the British Council, the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kress Foundation, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Information on fellowships for which Penn students frequently apply is available here.

Small summer travel grants are awarded by the Graduate Group, with preference given to those who must travel in order to prepare dissertation proposals.  The Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences also maintains a fund to subsidize the travel of students who have been invited to present papers at scholarly conferences.

Information concerning student loans can be obtained from the Office of Student Financial Services, 100 Franklin Building.