URS Assistantship Grants

URS cannot provide assistantship grants to hire hourly workers working outside of North Carolina, because our office is not set up to be in compliance with other states’ non-exempt payroll and tax laws.

URS Assistantships provide wages to a student who are being mentored by a faculty on a research project. Funding is available for all disciplines.

Applications are open to Duke undergraduates for summer, fall and spring funding. The student must be a currently enrolled Duke student to be eligible for the URS Assistantship.

URS Assistantships can only be awarded if the research project is completely separate from a course or course credit.

Students are encouraged to explore using work-study to pay their wages to conduct research.  URS Assistantships can be used to cover the wages for the employer that is not covered by the work-study program.  For more information, please see the resources here. 

URS Assistantships provide wages to a student to assist Duke faculty on a research project. The amount of this award will vary for each student. Students may use this award to fill the gap in wages not covered by a Work Study award or it may be used to help offset the cost of a full Assistantship offered by a mentor. 

MOST DUKE STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR WORK-STUDY simply by submitting a FAFSA form, regardless of family income.  Combined with the URS Assistantship, students are eligible to earn up to $1100/semester (fall or spring) at no cost to their mentor. 

To apply for work study, students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Once Duke receives your FAFSA results, they will be able to offer you Federal Work Study eligibility if you qualify for that. If you don't qualify for Federal Work Study, they will offer Duke Work Study eligibility. (Note: students seeking need-based institutional aid must also file the CSS Profile and complete the full aid application process). 
 

Fall and Spring Academic Semesters:

The amount of an assistantship will vary according to the student's individual situation.  For students using work-study for wages, the URS Assistantship will cover the gap in funding that is not covered for the employer by the work study program, typically $275-550/semester in the fall and spring.  A student is typically eligible to earn up to $1100 in wages with a combination of work-study and the URS Assistantship. 

If a student is not eligible for work-study because they have not submitted a FAFSA form, the URS office encourages students to submit the FAFSA form BEFORE applying for a URS Assistantship.  The max amount of a URS Assistantship for a student who would be eligible for work-study but hasn't submitted the FAFSA form will be $400. 

If a student is truly not eligible for work-study (a small number of students) and the mentor does not have a source of funding for wages, the student is still eligible for an assistantship and the URS office will work with you directly to understand your wage needs.  This amount can be up to the equivalent award of work-study of $1100/semester fall or spring. 

Summer Terms I and II:

For students who are enrolled in courses during a particular summer session, they may be eligible for work-study.  In these cases, the URS Assistantship will cover the gap in funding that is not covered for the employer by the work study program (25-50% of the wages up to the work-study award amount).  This amount will vary for the summer term for each student.  Students should work with financial aid to understand their summer work-study awards. 

For students who are not enrolled in courses during a particular summer session, they are eligible to apply for a URS Assistantship of $400 for the summer.  This is meant to help offset the cost of wages for the mentor or whichever funding source is being used to pay the student.  For a full fellowship for the summer, students should apply to the Deans’ Summer Research Fellowship.

Note for All URS Assistantships:

URS Assistantships are wages for employment: they are not academic fellowships.  The department is responsible for hiring the student and setting up payroll. 

Updated 8/28/23