A Comparison of Stipends, Health Insurance, and Tuition Remission Policies at Fisheries and Wildlife Graduate Programs throughout the U.S

Many factors should be considered before selecting a graduate program to attend. Graduate education can be expensive, so financial and health care benefits offered by a department or college should be weighed when selecting a graduate program. A majority of fisheries graduate students recently surveyed believed financial aspects should be an important consideration in selecting a graduate program. Therefore, our objective was to estimate the range of stipends, tuition remission, and health care benefits provided to students in graduate programs that provide training in wildlife and fisheries disciplines across the U.S.  A total of 31 of 70 schools (44%) polled from across the U.S. responded to our online survey. Doctoral and Master’s student stipends were highly variable among programs and appointments (research v. teaching assistants). Over half of universities offered full tuition remission (67%), and of those that did not, most (97 %) offered at least partial tuition remission. On-campus health care was the most common health care benefit offered to graduate students. While traditional factors for selecting a graduate school such as desirability of research topic/question, program reputation, and suitability of advisor may override financial considerations, financial benefits may be a critical component when choosing a graduate program.