| Support Type | # Units | Institutional Funds | External Funds | Total | Avg. per Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 99 | 7,649.3 | 73.1 | 7,722.4 | 78.0 |
| Research Assistants | 103 | 3,898.3 | 5,733.0 | 9,631.3 | 93.5 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 14 | 114.0 | 16.0 | 130.0 | 9.3 |
| Full Support Fellows | 65 | 801.2 | 409.5 | 1,210.8 | 18.6 |
| Total | 108 | 12,462.8 | 6,231.6 | 18,694.5 | 173.1 |
Graduate Support
Summary
Across units that provided data on doctoral support in the Taulbee 2025 survey:
- The largest single source of doctoral support was research assistantships, and the funding source for doctoral students varied by type. Across US units in 2025, Teaching Assistants (TAs) were 99% institutionally funded (7,395 of 7,468 reported TAs) while Research Assistants (RAs) were only 40% institutionally funded (3,706 of 9,207), with a majority of RAs paid from external grants (Table G1.a).
- Fellowships provided the highest stipend for doctoral students out of all types of doctoral support. At US CS units in 2025-2026, the median full-support fellowship paid $34,000, vs. roughly $27,000 for an RA and $26,500 for a TA (Figure G2.b, Table G2.b).
- Private CS units offered more competitive salaries for TAs and RAs compared to Public CS units. At Private CS units, median TA stipends were $40,778 and median RA stipends were $39,050; at Public CS units those numbers fell to $25,511 and $26,000 (Table G2.e, Table G2.f).
Doctoral Student Support
This subsection reports the total number of doctoral students supported under each assistantship type, broken out by whether the funding comes from institutional or external sources. The headline takeaway is the funding split noted in the summary above: units that responded to Taulbee in 2025 funded their TAs almost entirely from institutional funds and their RAs from external funds.
| Support Type | # Units | Institutional Funds | External Funds | Total | Avg. per Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 82 | 6,981.8 | 64.0 | 7,045.8 | 85.9 |
| Research Assistants | 87 | 3,508.8 | 5,085.8 | 8,594.6 | 98.8 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 12 | 83.0 | 3.0 | 86.0 | 7.2 |
| Full Support Fellows | 57 | 761.8 | 392.0 | 1,153.8 | 20.2 |
| Total | 91 | 11,335.3 | 5,544.8 | 16,880.1 | 185.5 |
Not enough data to report.
| Support Type | # Units | Institutional Funds | External Funds | Total | Avg. per Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 11 | 277.6 | 8.1 | 285.8 | 26.0 |
| Research Assistants | 10 | 41.5 | 136.5 | 178.0 | 17.8 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 1 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Full Support Fellows | 6 | 29.5 | 15.5 | 45.0 | 7.5 |
| Total | 11 | 349.6 | 160.1 | 509.8 | 46.3 |
| Support Type | # Units | Institutional Funds | External Funds | Total | Avg. per Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 4 | 253.9 | 1.0 | 254.9 | 63.7 |
| Research Assistants | 4 | 192.0 | 232.7 | 424.7 | 106.2 |
| Full Support Fellows | 2 | 10.0 | 2.0 | 12.0 | 6.0 |
| Total | 4 | 455.9 | 235.7 | 691.6 | 172.9 |
| Support Type | # Units | Institutional Funds | External Funds | Total | Avg. per Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 79 | 6,995.5 | 7.1 | 7,002.6 | 88.6 |
| Research Assistants | 77 | 2,431.7 | 4,454.6 | 6,886.3 | 89.4 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 12 | 102.0 | 16.0 | 118.0 | 9.8 |
| Full Support Fellows | 44 | 333.8 | 178.5 | 512.2 | 11.6 |
| Total | 81 | 9,862.9 | 4,656.2 | 14,519.1 | 179.2 |
| Support Type | # Units | Institutional Funds | External Funds | Total | Avg. per Unit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 20 | 653.8 | 66.0 | 719.8 | 36.0 |
| Research Assistants | 26 | 1,466.6 | 1,278.4 | 2,745.0 | 105.6 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 2 | 12.0 | 0.0 | 12.0 | 6.0 |
| Full Support Fellows | 21 | 467.5 | 231.0 | 698.5 | 33.3 |
| Total | 27 | 2,599.9 | 1,575.4 | 4,175.3 | 154.6 |
Doctoral Student Stipends
This section details the 9-month stipend amounts provided to graduate students across different assistantship types. The chart below provides a side-by-side comparison of the distributions, while the table provides specific percentile breakdowns. At US CS units in 2025-2026, the median Fellowship stipend ($34,000) sits roughly $7,000-$8,000 above the median TA and RA stipends ($26,500 and $27,400 respectively).
| Type | Units Reporting | 10th % | 25th % | Median | 75th % | 90th % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 103 | $13,294 | $21,596 | $26,496 | $34,297 | $41,308 |
| Research Assistants | 105 | $14,459 | $22,000 | $27,450 | $35,000 | $41,659 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 9 | — | $11,700 | $20,646 | $33,525 | — |
| Full Support Fellows | 49 | $22,808 | $28,800 | $34,000 | $38,131 | $45,000 |
| Type | Units Reporting | 10th % | 25th % | Median | 75th % | 90th % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 91 | $12,936 | $21,596 | $26,500 | $34,047 | $41,543 |
| Research Assistants | 94 | $13,682 | $22,000 | $27,438 | $34,944 | $42,099 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 8 | — | $10,985 | $24,723 | $33,976 | — |
| Full Support Fellows | 41 | $22,000 | $27,747 | $34,000 | $38,131 | $45,000 |
Not enough data to report.
| Type | Units Reporting | 10th % | 25th % | Median | 75th % | 90th % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 11 | $16,000 | $20,000 | $24,750 | $33,686 | $40,000 |
| Research Assistants | 10 | $17,715 | $24,750 | $29,186 | $34,365 | $40,131 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Full Support Fellows | 8 | — | $31,780 | $33,940 | $37,750 | — |
Not enough data to report.
| Type | Units Reporting | 10th % | 25th % | Median | 75th % | 90th % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 86 | $12,054 | $18,225 | $25,148 | $30,960 | $35,360 |
| Research Assistants | 82 | $10,436 | $20,149 | $26,000 | $32,232 | $35,323 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 8 | — | $10,985 | $19,323 | $29,981 | — |
| Full Support Fellows | 35 | $21,785 | $24,998 | $32,880 | $35,180 | $38,155 |
| Type | Units Reporting | 10th % | 25th % | Median | 75th % | 90th % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 19 | $26,300 | $32,310 | $40,014 | $45,750 | $50,250 |
| Research Assistants | 25 | $25,900 | $32,175 | $38,399 | $43,780 | $49,977 |
| Graduate Assistants for Computer Systems Support | 2 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Full Support Fellows | 17 | $30,811 | $32,445 | $40,500 | $45,000 | $50,311 |