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Graduate Assistantships and Cost of Study

Several graduate student assistantships within the IAS are made available each year to qualified students in the Atmospheric Sciences and related topic areas. These assistantships are funded through grants and/or contracts held by IAS investigators. The annual student stipends for these assistantships are currently (for the academic year beginning in Fall 2007) set at approximately $21,000 for MS students and $22,398 for PhD students. Assistantship stipends are projected to increase by about five percent per year. These research assistantships also include partial payment toward tuition. All tuition and fees in excess of those provided in the assistantship are the responsibility of the student.

Most graduate assistantships are based on half-time commitment (20 hours/week) during the school year, and full time commitment for three months (40 hours/week) during the summer. Activities to be carried out by a research assistant are assigned and monitored by the principal investigator. In order to qualify for the partial tuition payment, students must carry 9 credit hours during the school year and 6 credit hours during the summer. This requirement is reduced after a student has fulfilled all coursework requirements.

Full-time students pay campus fees1 which average about $1160.00 per semester (based on 9 credit hours). Graduate research assistants pay those fees and, in addition, are assessed tuition at the special rate of $41.75 per credit hour. Any graduate research assistant earning more than $2,406.00 or more per semester and full-time (normally 9 or more credit hours) qualifies for this special tuition rate. Students who are not graduate research assistants must pay the regular graduate course tuition rate of $125.25 per credit hour for residents of South Dakota or $369.30 per credit hour for non-resident students.

The Atmospheric Sciences Master of Science Program is included in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP). Students who are residents from any of the cooperating states (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming) may enroll in the SDSM&T Atmospheric Sciences program at in-state rates ($125.25 per credit hour).

Download and search the current SDSM&T catalog  for tuition and fees information (FY07 rates). 

For additional information, you may contact:
Chairman, Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
501 East Saint Joseph Street
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701-3995
Phone: (605)394-2291
FAX: (605)394-6061
Email: Connie.Crandall@ias.sdsmt.edu

1The fees and tuition rates quoted are for the fiscal year 2008 and are subject to change. The stipends quoted are effective 15 May 2007. Please check the link above for updated information.

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