Effective October 2024, students who receive an external fellowship are required to notify the Harris Ph.D. Program Director. Students will receive a top-up from Harris to the Harris minimum stipend should the external fellowship amount be below the Harris minimum funding level as well as receiving a bonus from Harris for receiving an external fellowship (note: bonus is 30% of the Harris minimum annualized funding level). If the external fellowship award is below the bonus amount the student receives no bonus and keeps their Harris fellowship; if the external fellowship is above the Harris minimum funding level, the student receives the external fellowship and the bonus from Harris. Top-ups and bonuses only apply for the year in which the student receives an external fellowship.

For example, if the external funding is

• Below the bonus amount: Student keeps external fellowship and receives full funding from Harris. No bonus is paid. (Example: student gets a $5,000 external fellowship + $45,000 from Harris = $50,000)
• Between the bonus amount and Harris’s minimum funding rate: Student receives “top-up” so that external fellowship plus “top-up” equals Harris minimum funding rate AND also receives the bonus. (Example: student gets a $30,000 external fellowship + $15,000 top up + $13,500 bonus = $58,500)
• Above Harris’s guaranteed minimum funding rate: UChicago only pays bonus. (Example: student gets a $50,000 external fellowship + $13,500 bonus = $63,500)

Acceptance of an award constitutes permission for the School to furnish reports of academic progress to the donor of the fund from which the award was made. A student receiving an award from a source outside the University must notify the DGS and the Ph.D. Program Director of that fact. In such a case the School reserves the right to make an appropriate adjustment in its own offer of award, including withdrawal of its offer if the outside award is substantial. The student’s total financial aid will not be lowered by the receipt of outside funds.