Home » Structure » Funding Home Director Intro Structure Timeline Med 1 & 2 Grad School Med 3 & 4 Funding Directors/Administrators Committees Research Training Programs Faculty By Name Faculty By Program Resources History Campus Resources Students Research Highlights Students by Name Students by Year Resources Alumni By Name By Degree By Year Publications Admissions Procedure Application Living in Madison Housing Dining Campus Tour City Current Events Seminar Symposium Retreat Contact Us Funding Throughout The Program Students are guaranteed funding throughout their training, which includes an annual stipend and tuition costs. Funding comes from a variety of sources: the UW School of Medicine and Public Health; a Wisconsin Distinguished Rath Graduate Fellowship, which is a fund provided by a private donor and matched by the Graduate School; our NIH MSTP training grant; student-initiated extramural grants; or support from a student's research mentor, graduate training program or department. The stipend level is at the NIH level for a pre-doctoral trainee, currently $20,772. The low cost-of-living in Madison compared to large metropolitan areas enables students to live in comfort without additional supplementation. However, students doing their graduate training in programs that have a higher stipend level are usually supplemented by the research mentor to the higher stipend level while in the graduate phase. Students are expected to apply for independent funding at the time that they achieve dissertator status. A variety of governmental and philanthropic sources are likely to be interested in their thesis research. Our students feel that they have learned much in preparing such applications and have had good success in applications. The funding is important for our program. We stress, however, that an individual's stipend is never dependent on obtaining extramural funding.