Financial Support

All students entering the Walter S. and Lucienne Driskill Graduate Training Program in Life Sciences, including foreign nationals, are initially supported by a Northwestern University fellowship that provides a living stipend and full tuition support. For 2024-2025, the stipend will be $45,000. Additional provisions include:

• Paid coverage in the Northwestern student health service insurance plan
• Paid coverage for the available dental and vision insurance plan
• A one-time allowance of $1,000 to help offset moving expenses

Students who come to the program with an outside fellowship or receive an outside fellowship while enrolled will receive a bonus equal to 10 percent of the fellowship's first year stipend. 

Students are guaranteed continued support throughout their graduate career as long as they continue to make satisfactory progress toward the PhD degree. Typically, entering students are provided full tuition and a stipend for the first six quarters from predoctoral fellowships provided by the Feinberg School of Medicine.

As graduate education continues, all students in good academic standing continue to receive full tuition support, stipends for living expenses and insurance coverage for their entire residency at Northwestern. After the first six quarters, students are supported from a variety of sources, including faculty research grants, National Institutes of Health–funded training grants, outside scholarships or special graduate fellowships.