URS Assistantship Grants

You can earn wages as a research assistant using your work-study award! Awards are typically $1100 per semester, but the amount awarded can vary on a case-by-case basis. 

It's important to note that financial aid does not cover 100% of your work-study award for your employer/research mentor. The remaining percentage is usually expected to be covered by your employer, but this isn’t always financially feasible for some research mentors. That's where our office steps in. At URS, we believe that wages for employment as research assistants are a vital way we can enhance undergraduate research engagement. When a research mentor can't cover the gap that financial aid doesn't provide for work-study awards, our grants help cover the cost. This allows you to use your full work-study award, ensuring your research mentor can keep you on payroll without any cost to them. 

We prioritize sending funding to research mentors that lack the funding to cover this gap. Please continue applying for assistantship grants whether your lab is well-funded or not — our job is to work with your mentors to ensure you receive the full amount you deserve.

NOTE: 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.

Step-by-Step Guide: Applying for a URS Assistantship Grant

1.  Identify a faculty mentor doing research of interest that agrees to put you on payroll for the semester. This can be through MUSER, direct emails, or any other way you may be able to identify a research mentor.  
2. Fill out a FAFSA Form, regardless of family income. MOST DUKE STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE FOR WORK-STUDY simply by submitting a FAFSA form. Combined with the URS Assistantship, students are eligible to earn up to $1100/semester (fall and spring) at no cost to their mentor. 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. Research mentors may or may not be able to fund wages beyond the $400.  
3. To apply for work study, students must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) every year.  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). 

4. Submit the application for a URS Assistantship to help fund your work-study award.  This means there will be $0 cost to a faculty mentor to put you on payroll and let you earn wages.  

   The amount of an assistantship will vary according to the student's individual situation.  Usually, a student is eligible to earn up to $1100 in wages with a combination of work-study and the URS Assistantship. 

   If a student is truly not eligible for work-study (a small number of students, including international 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.  The max amount of a URS Assistantship for a US Citizen who would be eligible for work-study but hasn't submitted the FAFSA form will be $400. Research mentors may or may not be able to fund wages beyond the $400. 

5. When you submit the application for the URS Assistantship, you will be asked to enter the name and email address of your faculty mentor.  Your submission will trigger an email to them with a form for them to fill out, confirming that you will be a research assistant under their mentorship.  You and your mentor will both receive a copy of your URS Assistantship application. 
6. The faculty mentor will fill out the form and submit it.  You will receive a confirmation email letting you know that they have submitted the form on your behalf.  
7. Please be patient, as it takes time to review applications.  You can expect to hear back within 2 weeks of a completed application. 
8. We will send you and your mentor and the payroll representative for your department the award letter and further instructions for putting you on payroll.  You will work with the payroll representative to fill out all necessary paperwork so that you can be hired.  
9. We will send your URS Assistantship funding to the department that they can use it to pay your wages.  
    

More Information:

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 help fund the amount of the work-study award.  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. 

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 help to fund the work-study award, typically contributing $275-550/semester in the fall and spring.  Usually, a student is eligible to earn up to $1100 in wages for their work-study award and the URS assistantship contributes to this amount. 

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.  Again, most students who submit a FAFSA form, regardless of family assets and income will be eligible to earn up to $1100/semester through work-study because there is Federal work-study and Duke work-study.  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.  Research mentors may or may not be able to fund wages beyond the $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.

 APPLY HERE

Updated 9/10/24