An SAS fellowship is intended to enable the recipient to devote a full-time effort toward completing the requirements of a PhD degree. Therefore, students may be permitted to accept employment only if it is determined that employment will not interfere with continued progress toward the degree at a full-time rate.
Students must receive the approval of the Graduate Group Chair before accepting employment in order to ensure that duties are compatible with coursework, research, teaching, writing, and/or engagement with the intellectual community. Employment should never impede timely degree completion or other activities essential to student progress.
In general, students on fellowship may be allowed to accept employment that requires less than ten hours of work per week (e.g., as a grader, tutor, or hourly research assistant). Except in rare circumstances, such employment should not comprise work as a sole instructor, leader of a research team, or any other role that requires unpredictable or extensive time commitments and responsibilities. Advanced students beyond their service years may be permitted to engage in such activities while receiving fellowship support, subject to the approval of the Graduate Chair and the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies.
SAS imposes no restrictions on employment hours or payments during months when a student does not receive a fellowship stipend. Nevertheless, even students who are not receiving a fellowship stipend or other program funding are required to discuss potential employment with their advisors to ensure it would be compatible with timely progress toward degree completion. Any student considering discontinuing a fellowship or waiving stipend income for a brief period for the purpose of accepting employment must first seek and obtain approval from their advisors before accepting such employment.
To help enforce these restrictions and to promote a more egalitarian distribution of funding opportunities, monthly payments from all other University sources to students on fellowship may not exceed 30% of the student's stipend.