Funding for PhD programs at Catholic Colleges?

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Do any Catholic Colleges offer PhD programs? Do any offer scholarships or fellowships for Catholics?

I would be interested in finding out since I am a Catholic who is thinking about getting a PhD.
 
Have you checked with the university you want to attend? At the grad level there is quite often assistance available if they want you as a TA or RA.
 
I have not. I need to find a Catholic College that offers the degree I want. I am just in the very early stages of looking and planning.
 
Sure, Catholic colleges have different financial aid situations available for students both Catholic or non-catholic. Just like other schools.

Also, a lot of 3rd parties can offer scholarships for such study.

Depending on what your course of study is, your employer might be willing to help you out.

But just being a Catholic- even a devout Catholic- usually isn’t worth anything as far as financial benefit.
 
It all depends on field, just like any other college.

For fields for which there is commercial demand (Engineering, hard science, economics) there are typically assistantships which will fully pay your way in return for 20 hours a week.

For fields with minimal commercial demand (english, sociology, gender studies) it is common for assistantship to not pay minimum wage–but they still may be necessary to get employed after graduation.

hawk
 
I have my graduate degree in Public Relations. For my PhD I am thinking about possibly something similar or Interdisciplinary Studies which would include Psychology, Sociology, Public Administration, Business Administration, and Business Administration. I would like to end up doing studies on how to help the local economy in struggling areas.
 
MP_Kid said:
Do any Catholic Colleges offer PhD programs?
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Dozens do. If you are serious about a Ph.D. program you should spend time talking about them with a faculty mentor in your undergraduate institution. Doctoral studies are time consuming, money consuming (even with a fellowship), and will change your life in ways you can’t possibly predict. You will need to go into one armed with all information possible, and you will soon find that even that isn’t enough.
MP_Kid said:
Do any offer scholarships or fellowships for Catholics?
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Any Ph.D. program worth considering will fully fund its students. If a program doesn’t fully fund you DO NOT GO. Unless you are personally wealthy, you can’t break this rule.

On the same hand, no program worth considering will take your religion into account regarding funding. If a program even asks you about your religion, you should look into another institution. Ph.D.'s (regardless of the discipline) are not about creed, but about following evidentiary lines through research.
MP_Kid said:
I would be interested in finding out since I am a Catholic who is thinking about getting a PhD.
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I, and probably many others here, would be happy to help. You need to start by determining your discipline. No advice more specific than I have given here is useful without your discipline.

You can take a look at the forums for the Chronicle of Higher Education for some more information. They can be found at www.chronicle.com.

A Ph.D. program is both the most exciting time of an academic career, and the most brutally demoralizing. You live with both extremes for all 4, 5, 6, 7, 8… years.
 
MP_Kid said:
Demoralizing?
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Yes. A Ph.D. is a research degree. Regardless of your discipline, your research will have lots of failure involved.

I will never forget when I was writing my dissertation and I spent weeks working on one particular line of inquiry. It consumed me. My then girlfriend, now wife, (don’t forget I said “exciting” too) couldn’t stand to hear about it anymore. Then I figured out I left out a fundamental piece of evidence that rendered the entire thing moot. I was crushed. It happens to everyone. You have to learn to deal with it, but it still hurts.

To me, it was all worth it. But I have to be very honest. 50% of students in the US who begin Ph.D. programs do not finish them. And that number played out in my cohort. There were four of us. Only two finished.
 
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MP_Kid said:
What field did you get yours in?
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History.

The programs you are interested in would be more scientifically based than mine, so I can’t give too much specific advice on the disciplines. But many of the big picture things will be the same. They all have fellowships, grants, publishing, students, etc.
 
MP_Kid said:
They are all social sciences, but I see how they are related.
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And getting more so everyday. Interdisciplinary programs are definitely getting more popular with students. Faculty sometimes struggle with them (because departments are rarely interdisciplinary, the programs sometimes put faculty in odd situations), but they typically serve students well. Especially those heading into non-academic jobs.
 
@billsherman speaks the truth here. PhD’s are a long, hard slog. It can be incredibly rewarding but tough. You need to find a (very narrow) topic you really love, then try and find a supervisor in a similar area who can help you research that area. Remember you will be studying this for 7ish years.
Getting funding for a PhD in your area of interest will be tough. A friend of mine in the UK did a PhD in something vaguely similar- 200 applications for 1 position. In the physical sciences it is easier.
PhD Comics looks at some of the (humorous) hardships of a PhD.
 
If you have the smarts, are driven to excellence, and love learning a Ph.D. might be a good goal. I have one, have had a long and successful academic career, and wouldn’t change a thing.
However, I’d offer a couple words of advice. 1) there’s no advantage at all to getting a Ph.D. at a Catholic university vs, say, a good state university. I went to a state university and the Newman center there was far more vibrant than the Catholic education at the the Catholic university I knew. You can find a Catholic group/sacraments/etc. anywhere you go. 2) these are difficult times for jobs, and you don’t want to be overqualified. Make sure to thoroughly investigate what specific careers the Ph.D. you want will lead to, the job placement success of the university, etc.
 
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