Do most Phd programs pay your tuition?

[jaydnul]

Someone told me that if you get "accepted" into a Phd program but have to pay your tuition and don't receive a stipend then that is the university politely rejecting you. My question is this, if i was truly accepted into a Phd program at a university in the states, will they most likely pay my tuition? Even if it was a lesser university like ASU or ISU

 

[jaydnul]

I should add that it would be applied or theoretical physics. I am a 2nd year physics undergrad at the moment...

 

[Lavabug]

Yes.

ASU is by no means a "lesser university" as far as graduate school is concerned, btw.

In my experience, in the US you don't receive a real offer for a ph.d program unless you get full tuition + a stipend, unless you explicitly stated you will be receiving external funding of some sort. I've also seen a comparatively subpar offer in one case where the student was required to TA for at least 6 semesters.

 

[ZapperZ]

Someone told me that if you get "accepted" into a Phd program but have to pay your tuition and don't receive a stipend then that is the university politely rejecting you. My question is this, if i was truly accepted into a Phd program at a university in the states, will they most likely pay my tuition? Even if it was a lesser university like ASU or ISU

It depends on the institution. A few universities, especially those with huge endowments, accepts incoming graduate students in Physics and automatically give them some form of assistantships. However, this is not true in all cases, and I would say, it is not true in general. In many schools, your admission does not guarantee any form of assistantships.

Note also that, if you are an international student, your visa application may require that you show that you can financially support yourself for a period of time, and this may be independent of any assistantships from your school.

Zz.