Each year Graduate Research Assistants (GRA) and Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTA) are appointed to assist with the education and research goals of the Department. The students must be on qualified or approved status to be eligible for assistantships. Selection of these appointees is competitive and is made on the basis of academic excellence, promise as a graduate student and the student’s ability to help the department. The General Graduate Record Examination (GRE) must be taken if a student wishes to be considered for funding. Students interested in obtaining an assistantship must contact the Chair of the Department or their faculty advisor before the deadlines for application. Note that only full time campus students are eligible for assistantships.

GRA and GTA funds come from a variety of sources including departmental funds, NASA Space Grant, the UND Graduate School, and faculty grants. Graduate assistantships include a stipend and a tuition waiver. Assistants are required to work 20 hours each week for a ½ time position and 8-10 hours each week for a ¼ time position under the guidance of a Space Studies faculty member. The work expected for GRAs and GTAs is arranged between the advisor and the student, but is typically to help the advisor in research or teaching. Work goals and expectations will be arranged with the advisor and progress will be monitored continuously. Half time and quarter time assistants must carry a minimum of six credits per semester (3 credits for summer). Funded students will be assessed at the end of each academic semester for continued funding. Typically, a maximum of 2 years funding (4 semesters) is available for students.


Tuition waivers provide for a waiver of tuition to students who are commencing or continuing work toward a graduate degree. Awards are made on the basis of academic achievement and promise. Several tuition waivers are available to Space Studies graduate students who are on approved or qualified status, on a per-semester basis. The following conditions apply for granting a tuition waiver:

1. The General Graduate Record Examination (GRE) must be taken if a student wishes to be considered.
2. Tuition waivers will not be available for courses taken to fulfill admission requirements.
3. Your chances for securing a tuition wavier are improved by having an approved program of study on file.
4. Waivers will not be granted beyond the limit of 24 credits unless an approved program of study is on file with the Graduate School.
5. Tuition waivers will not be available for courses taken beyond the required number of credits to graduate.
6. Tuition waivers will not be available for retaking failed courses, dropped courses for which a waiver was once given, and in lieu of unused waivers.
7. Tuition waivers are not available for students in a combined degree program.
8. To be eligible for tuition waivers, the students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 or above.
9. Other Graduate School policies will apply.

Students interested in obtaining a tuition waiver must submit an application form to the Director of Graduate Studies by March 31st for the following academic year. The deadlines for tuition waiver applications are as follows: March 31st for the Fall Semester, October 15th for the Spring Semester, and February 28th for the Summer Semester. Note that most of the available tuition waiver funds are awarded to students during the latter half of the Spring Semester for all semesters in the subsequent academic year. Therefore, students are strongly encouraged to submit their requests for tuition waivers for the following year by the March 31st deadline. While students may request a tuition waiver for subsequent semesters past the March 31st deadline, the chances for having those requests granted are greatly diminished since most of the departmental tuition waiver funds will have already been allocated.

The Graduate School lists financial aid resources at their webpage. These resources include Federal financial aid, Graduate School scholarships and tuition waivers, graduate research assistantships and others.

Please visit the UND Financial Aid website for more information for graduate students and for applying for Federal financial aid.

The North Dakota NASA Space Grant Consortium also has funding opportunities available for eligible graduate and undergraduate students.