Funding
Funding Opportunities for Doctoral Economics Students
A variety of fellowships and assistantships are available on a competitive basis for full-time PhD students. Assistantships generally require 20 hours of work per week. Amounts generally range between $10,000 and $23,000, with most of these awards providing for partial or full waiver of tuition. These awards are available both through the Department of Economics and through the affiliated Mercatus Center. Part-time teaching opportunities are also available for advanced PhD students.
Department-provided funding for doctoral students is contingent upon satisfactory performance in the program and continued funding is awarded under the expectation that students will be full-time students who will complete the degree in four years. Performance that interferes with satisfactory progress can lead to a revocation of an assistantship. Unsatisfactory performance is defined as:
- Poor academic performance as evidenced by a cumulative GPA below 3.0 (some awards require maintenance of a GPA of at least 3.5) will lead to a revocation of an assistantship or lectureship. Any recent unsatisfactory grades (C, F, IN) will lead to a revocation of an assistantship or lectureship. Recent is defined as the last completed semester.
- Failure to attempt and pass both the core exams in micro and macro theory after the first year in the program.
- Failure to attempt and pass two field exams after the second year in the program.
Funding Opportunities for Master's Economics Students
Review our MA Overview page for the latest information on funding opportunities.
The Economics MA Fellowship is an opportunity available to incoming on-campus students who are pursuing their MA in economics.
The department will be granting recognition awards for exceptional MA applicants. Bachelor’s Accelerated Master’s students are also eligible for these awards in their transition term to the MA program. The awards aim at distinguishing exemplary candidates. The fellowship is a one-time award, disbursed over two years (one year for Accelerated Master’s students). It has no work component and is intended to help mitigate the costs of pursuing graduate studies.
How to Apply to the Economics MA Fellowship
To be considered for a recognition award, candidates must submit a brief statement (not more than 400 words) highlighting a major achievement.
Applicants should send statements to the department at econgrad@gmu.edu as an email attachment at the time they submit their MA Economics on-campus admission application to the University.
Statements may be forwarded as Word documents or PDF files. The applicant’s name and email address (same as used in the admissions application) should be included in the document header.
Fellowship application statements will be reviewed after the MA admission decision is made. Award decisions are competitive and will be made on the basis of these statements as well as the overall strength of the MA application package. Those offered this award will be notified by the department via email.
Applying for the Economics MA Fellowship does not preclude students from applying to the Mercatus Graduate Scholars Program.
The James Buchanan Fellowship is no longer available for incoming MA Economics students. The final award was made in Fall 2022. Reach the Graduate Studies Office at econgrad@gmu.edu with any questions.
For those interested in current funding, please see information on the new Economics MA Fellowship.
The Graduate Scholars Program is a new award available for graduate students in any discipline at George Mason University who are interested in learning more about political economy. Find details and application requirements on the program webpage: https://www.mercatus.org/students/graduate-scholars-program.
Other Mercatus Center Fellowship programs
Check-out all Mercatus Fellowship programs at: https://www.mercatus.org/students/fellowships.
Scroll to the bottom of that website to sign up for emails on all Mercatus Center student fellowship programs, including alerts when applications open.
Please direct all questions regarding Mercatus Center funding awards to their team.