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The Best Free PhD Programs. Fully funded PhD programs

Navigating the complexities of PhD programs, one term often dominates the discourse – “fully funded”.

It represents a golden opportunity wherein all tuition fees and living expenses are covered by the educational institution, allowing students to focus on their research and studies free from financial constraints.

In this blog post, we explore what fully funded really means, share the author’s personal journey of pursuing a PhD in Australia, delve into the policies of various countries offering free or nearly free PhD programs, and provide key tips for securing a fully funded PhD opportunity.

Whether you’re considering a domestic program or an international adventure, the insights and tips offered here could pave the way to an invaluable, financially stress-free academic journey.

What Does Fully Funded Mean?

In 2023, the concept of a “fully funded” PhD program signifies that the entirety of expenses related to the doctoral program is covered. This includes tuition fees, which are either waived or entirely paid for by the educational institution.

Beyond tuition, the program also encompasses a living stipend or allowance given to doctoral students. 

Fully funded PhD programs essentially function as a comprehensive scholarship, covering everything from tuition fees to books and other necessary supplies.

While the stipend amount can vary based on the institution, it is generally sufficient to cater to the basic living expenses of the students, covering rent, food, and transportation costs.

The main aim of providing this stipend to doctoral students is to facilitate a learning environment where they can focus entirely on their studies, research, and dissertation, without the distraction of financial pressures. 

Universities, including public ones, offer these fully funded doctoral programs with the intention to draw in the best students.

These students, in turn, are expected to contribute significantly to the advancement of research in their respective fields and derive a high-quality education from their doctorates.

It is important to note that eligibility for these scholarships or stipends requires proof of commitment to the doctoral degree. In my experience, this meant securing a top-class master’s degree. This reassured the university of my dedication to pursuing a PhD and furthering my education.

In recent years, there has been a rise in such fully funded programs online , offering a wider reach for prospective PhDs.

As we move further into 2023, students may increasingly opt for these online PhD programmes, making the pursuit of doctoral degrees more accessible than ever.

Countries with a free PhD / fully funded PhD

Sometimes doing a free PhD means going abroad and doing your PhD in another country.

Personally, I travelled to Australia to do my PhD for the adventure and lifestyle. I was able to get a fully funded placement and international student fee waiver for three years to finish my degree.

Here’s a summary of some of the best countries you could do you PhD in if you want to do it for free.

In the Czech Republic , public universities host a multitude of English-language PhD programs and these programs are free for all PhD students, irrespective of their nationality. However, additional costs may be incurred by international students which might include language courses, health insurance, or student services fees, depending on the university policies.

Sweden maintains a unique policy that not only eradicates PhD fees at public universities but also provides study grants to some PhD students, which serves as a financial aid for their living expenses during the tenure of their studies.

In Germany , public universities offer feeless PhD programs to all students. However, a nominal administration fee, approximately €300 per semester, is required. This fee usually covers student services and perks like public transportation and access to university facilities.

Austria ‘s policy benefits PhD students from within the EU and EEA who complete their doctorates within a stipulated time frame, offering free education at public research universities. International students, on the other hand, have to pay fees, which, nonetheless, are capped by the Austrian government to maintain affordability.

Norway , like its Nordic counterparts, offers free PhD education at public universities to all students, regardless of their origin. But a small semester fee, usually covering student services, is obligatory.

Denmark also practices a policy of free PhD education for EU, EEA, and Swiss students at public universities, but international students are required to pay fees, which are generally on the higher side compared to other European countries.

Finland doesn’t discriminate in terms of nationality and offers free PhD studies at public universities. However, international students are charged for their Masters programs.

Saudi Arabia stands out with its unique policy where all PhD students are awarded scholarships that automatically cover their education fees, as well as help them with living expenses.

In the Netherlands , PhD study isn’t universally free, but many institutions extend the offer of free PhD study to international postgraduates. Some universities consider the PhD students as university employees, offering them a waiver on fees and potentially a salary or benefits.

Switzerland , although not offering free PhD studies, keeps its fees low at around CHF 1500 per year at public universities. State-funded PhD positions are also available to EU, EEA, and Swiss students that come with no fees and a maintenance grant.

Top tips for finding a PhD for free.

Here are the top tips I would give you when Choosing a free PhD.

• Apply to STEM programs: Many PhD (and Master’s) programs, especially in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) fields, are fully funded in the US. Most state schools and Ivy League schools have fully funded programs for these fields.
• Prepare for stiff competition: Because these programs are fully funded, the competition is high. It’s not uncommon for hundreds or even thousands of students to apply to these programs each year, with only a small fraction being accepted.
• Consider assistantships: Fully-funded programs usually provide a stipend in the form of Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) or Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) positions. These roles involve either teaching or conducting research under a professor’s supervision.
• Be ready for some costs: Despite tuition being covered, you may still need to cover some school fees, student insurance, and other miscellaneous expenditures.
• Don’t consider unfunded programs: Many graduate programs do not fund students, but experts advise against attending these schools. The availability of funding indicates the health of the department in terms of research money and growth.
• Work on your application: The application process generally starts around September to December. Standardized tests such as GRE and TOEFL/IELTS are required, along with transcripts, recommendation letters, and a statement of purpose.
• Avoid programs that require you to pay: It’s a common sentiment among experts that if you’re paying to be a PhD student, there might be something wrong with the program.
• Apply for fellowships: There are graduate fellowships available for international students that cover tuition and offer a monthly stipend.

Fully funded online PhD programs in the US

Here are some examples of PhD programs in the states that are free and fully funded:

• Applicants to the Ph.D. in English program at UCLA are automatically considered for various funding options. A six-year funding package includes “a minimum of two years of full fellowship, four years of summer stipend support, and up to four years of teaching assistantships.” Beyond tuition, fees and health insurance are also covered.

Connecticut

• At Yale University, the School of Nursing offers full funding to its Ph.D. students. They receive a monthly stipend for four years in addition to paid tuition and health care.

District of Columbia

• Georgetown University offers scholarships and assistantships that cover full tuition and include a stipend and health insurance for the first five years to students in its PhD program in computer science.
• Students enrolled in the economics Ph.D. program at Emory University typically receive full funding. The stipend provided to students is $36,376 per year for five years, starting in fall 2023, and the full tuition scholarship is worth $70,200 per year. Funding for admitted students also includes a $4,370 annual subsidy that covers 100% of a student’s cost of health insurance. First-year students have no stipend-related work requirements.
• The University of Chicago provides funding for up to eight years of study for its anthropology PhD students. This includes a full-tuition scholarship, health insurance, and a living stipend of $33,000 for the 2022-2023 academic year. Students are also eligible to apply for external fellowships.
• University of Notre Dame doctoral students are guaranteed five years of funding. Funding includes a full scholarship, including tuition and fees, plus a stipend and health insurance.
• The Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa provides full funding to “virtually all admitted students.” This includes tuition and fees, a minimum nine-month stipend of about $20,000 with annual adjustments, and 90% coverage of comprehensive health insurance. Additional funding is also provided for research presentations at major conferences, summer fellowships, and paid time off for independent research.
• At the University of Maryland’s Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Ph.D. students without a master’s degree usually have five years of guaranteed funding. Those with a master’s degree usually are funded four years, with awards stemming from a mix of departmental fellowships and graduate teaching assistantships.

Massachusetts

• The T.H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University offers a PhD in biological sciences in public health, providing expertise in disease prevention and treatment. This program includes tuition, a stipend, and health insurance for five years, assuming students maintain satisfactory academic progress. Current research involves diseases such as AIDS, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, malaria, and tuberculosis.
• Students enrolled at the Sloan School of Management at MIT have the opportunity to study various fields, such as organization studies, accounting, and information technology. They receive a full-tuition scholarship, a monthly stipend of $4,267, medical insurance, new laptops at the start of their first and fourth years of study, and $4,500 over five years for conference travel expenses.
• Doctoral students studying English at Boston University receive a stipend plus full tuition, fees, and basic health insurance. This funding is guaranteed for at least five years, with two of those years typically free from teaching requirements. Funding can sometimes be extended up to seven years, but it’s not guaranteed. Students may also apply for various prizes, fellowships, and short-term research and travel grants.
• Doctoral students in engineering at the University of Michigan—Ann Arbor are guaranteed full funding, a monthly living stipend, and health insurance. The exact amount can vary and funding comes from a range of sources, including graduate student instructor positions and fellowships.
• Students admitted to the Ph.D. program to study psychology at the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities are guaranteed full funding for five years as long as they maintain satisfactory performance and degree progress. This funding includes full-time tuition, a nine-month stipend, and subsidized health insurance.
• PhD students in computer science or computer engineering at Washington University in St. Louis receive full tuition support, health insurance, a generous stipend for living expenses, and a new high-end Apple laptop computer. This support is guaranteed as long as students continue to make satisfactory progress towards their degree.
• Full-time NYU Steinhardt Ph.D. students are eligible for a funding package that includes an annual stipend – $32,000 for the 2022-2023 academic year – tuition coverage for required coursework and student health insurance for five years.
• All students admitted to the interdisciplinary management Ph.D. program at the Binghamton University—SUNY School of Management in New York receive a combination of a full-tuition scholarship and a teaching or research assistantship for each academic year, up to four years.
• Cornell University offers full funding to all students admitted to its PhD program in chemical engineering. This funding can come from a teaching assistantship, research assistantship, or fellowship, and full stipends are granted for nine months, with the likelihood of additional aid in the summer.
• Columbia University provides fully funded tuition and a $25,000 annual stipend for three years to students enrolled in its PhD program in clinical psychology. This stipend also carries into the student’s fourth year, during which they may be expected to serve as a graduate teaching or research assistant.

North Carolina

• Doctoral students at Duke University studying materials science and engineering generally receive full tuition, a stipend, and fee support for the first five years. Students also receive up to six years of health insurance if they are on the university’s student medical insurance plan.

Pennsylvania

• The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education provides full funding to Ph.D. students as part of a fellowship and research apprenticeship package. This funding includes a living stipend, health insurance and coverage of tuition and fees for up to four years if the student maintains full-time enrollment. Some students may also qualify for additional summer funding.
• Students admitted to Bryn Mawr College’s Ph.D. program in social work receive full tuition waivers and “substantial stipends” toward living expenses.

Rhode Island

• Brown University guarantees full financial support for five years to its PhD students in computer science. This includes tuition remission, a stipend, health services fees, and a subsidy for health insurance.
• Funding is guaranteed for all admitted doctoral students enrolled in the special education Ph.D. program at Vanderbilt University. This includes full tuition, a “competitive” monthly stipend, and health insurance for up to four years.
• Rice University offers full financial assistance to students admitted to the PhD program at the Jones Graduate School of Business. This includes a research or teaching assistantship, a tuition waiver, and a $40,000 annual stipend, contingent upon maintaining satisfactory academic progress and full-time student status.
• All students admitted to the University of Virginia’s Ph.D. in Nursing program are eligible for four years of scholarship funding to cover tuition, insurance, and fees, as well as annual stipends. To receive certain aid, students must work 10 hours per week as a graduate teaching assistant.

Washington D.C.

• American University offers doctoral students in its international relations program who do not have external funding a renewable four-year Dean’s Fellowship that is contingent on making satisfactory academic progress. The fellowship includes the cost of tuition, fees, and a stipend that must be earned via a part-time role as a teaching or research assistant.
• The University of Wisconsin—Madison guarantees full funding for the duration of the time doctoral students are expected to be on campus. This funding may come from financial aid, fellowships, assistantships, and/or traineeships. In addition, doctoral students receive a benefits package that includes health insurance.

Wrapping up

This comprehensive article delves into everything you need to know about free PhD programs, also known as fully funded PhD programs, including the essential details, benefits, and potential challenges that students may encounter.

The term “free PhD” generally refers to a fully funded program that covers tuition fees and provides a stipend for living expenses, allowing students to complete their PhD studies without financial burden.

It is crucial to understand why you should never enter a PhD program without proper funding. Hence, pursuing a free or fully funded PhD should be a priority for all PhD students, regardless of nationality or field of study.

These programs may be offered both online and on-campus by various top universities around the world.

Fully funded PhD programs cater to both international and local students, including those pursuing a traditional PhD, online doctorate, or an accelerated executive doctorate of education.

For instance, fully funded online PhD programs in fields like business administration, education policy, and social work in clinical practice are available for students who hold master’s or bachelor’s degrees.

The duration of these programs may range from 1 year for fast-track or shortest doctoral programs to several years for other disciplines. Moreover, many programs focus on specialization in subjects like higher education policy, laboratory research, and much more.

One of the perks of these programs is that many institutions provide a stipend to cover living expenses during the course of study, ensuring that students can focus entirely on their research without worrying about financial constraints.

Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you.

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2024 Fully Funded Online PhD Programs [Doctorate Guide]

If the cost of an advanced degree has discouraged you from furthering your education, fully funded online PhD programs may be the answer.

These doctoral programs provide students with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills in their field without paying high out-of-pocket expenses. They typically cover your tuition and may also pay for fees, living expenses, and course materials.

Editorial Listing ShortCode:

Schools offer affordable PhD programs in many specializations, so students can pursue their goals no matter their area of interest. Earning a free doctorate degree online could help you grow your career prospects and become an expert in your field.

Universities Offering Fully Funded PhD Degree Program Online

Methodology: The following school list is in alphabetical order. To be included, a college or university must be regionally accredited and offer fully funded PhD programs online or in a hybrid format.

Boston University

Boston University typically offers free tuition, a stipend, and a health insurance credit to eligible PhD students. Students have 5 years to complete a PhD program. Funding details are based on the specific program. Programs include Behavioral Neuroscience, Astronomy, and Theological Studies. Most programs are available online and on campus.

Boston University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

Brown University

PhD students at Brown University may be eligible for financial support, including free tuition, a stipend, and medical assistance. Brown requires participation in a teaching assistantship, fellowship, or research assistantship to be eligible for these benefits. These benefits are available for 5 to 6 years. Programs include Anthropology, Political Science, and Physics.

Brown University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University works with students to make getting a hybrid PhD more affordable. Those who have earned a master’s through Johns Hopkins may be eligible for free tuition and a stipend for 3 years, while transfer students may be eligible for 4 years. Programs include International Policy and Regions of the world.

Johns Hopkins University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

New York University

New York University PhD students may be eligible for funding, including full tuition, stipends, and health insurance credits. Aid is typically available for up to 5 years. NYU currently offers a PhD in Hebrew and Judaic Studies, with the option to add a History degree.

New York University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Northwestern University

PhD students at Northwestern University usually receive total funding for at least 5 years. Students who wish to earn more can take on teaching or research assistant roles. Courses are in quarter semesters and are offered 4 times each year. Northwestern offers over 60 PhDs, including Music and Linguistics.

Northwestern University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Temple University

Temple University offers full tuition remission and a stipend to all eligible PhD students. Programs require participation in research or teaching assistant projects for up to 20 hours each week to receive this funding. The funding is renewable for up to 5 years. Programs include Business Administration, Statistics, and Decision Neuroscience.

Temple University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

University at Buffalo

The University at Buffalo’s PhD Excellence Initiative helps highly qualified students earn a fully-funded PhD Students work as a research or teaching assistant in exchange for a yearly stipend. UB offers multiple PhD programs online including Nursing and Information Science. All courses are completed online with synchronous and asynchronous coursework.

The University at Buffalo is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan provides several opportunities to fun joint PhD programs in Social Work and Social Science. Students work as teaching or research assistants and receive tuition, a stipend, and healthcare. Students are eligible for up to 5 years and may not work over 10 hours per week outside of university commitments.

The University of Michigan is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt University offers the opportunity to earn a PhD in Nursing. The school offers full tuition and a stipend for up to 4 years of the program. Most of the program is online with a short residency required each semester. The program begins each fall and follows a semester schedule.

Vanderbilt University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

Yale University

PhD students at Yale University may have tuition covered along with a 12 month stipend. These services are available for up to 5 years. There is also the possibility of funding for an additional year. Programs include Environmental Science and Comparative Literature.

Yale University is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.

Fully Funded Online PhD Programs

Earning a fully funded PhD online sounds like it’s too good to be true, but it’s a realistic possibility if you’re prepared to invest time and effort into the application process and your studies.

Most colleges and universities require students to hold a minimum of a bachelor’s degree to enroll in a PhD program. Others will only accept students who have earned a master’s degree in a relevant field. Professional experience may also help strengthen your application.

If you’re admitted to a fully funded online PhD program, you’ll have the chance to earn your degree without taking out excessive loans. Many of these doctoral degree programs pay for most or all of the costs of attendance—including tuition, fees, and living expenses.

In exchange for this funding, some programs employ students as teaching or research assistants. In these roles, PhD candidates provide support to current faculty and balance this work with their own classes and research.

An online PhD may help prepare you for a career with desirable employers, such as:

• Colleges and universities
• Research labs
• Government agencies
• Private businesses
• Healthcare facilities

These organizations hire graduates of PhD programs to work in prominent roles, including analysts, researchers, policy developers, and engineers. If you’re currently working in your field of choice, a PhD may also help you advance into a position as an executive or administrator.

Many graduates of these programs also work in higher education as professors, academic deans, and presidents. A PhD helps you build a foundation of knowledge that allows you to conduct research and teach upcoming undergraduate and graduate students.

PhD Careers & Salaries

You can earn a PhD in a wide range of fields, and the degree you complete will determine what career paths are available. Many job paths for PhDs offer healthy salaries and opportunities for advancement.

Students often enroll in PhD programs because they want to enter academia. Universities typically require that college professors have a PhD and are capable of conducting advanced research and publishing articles and books related to their work.

A PhD is also an asset if you hope to build a career in science or technology. These specialized fields involve the sophisticated skills and technical knowledge that a PhD program typically provides.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , these are some of the most common careers for graduates of PhD programs, depending on their specialty.

In addition to paying above-average salaries, many of these careers are also expected to experience accelerated growth. For instance, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the projected growth rate for epidemiologists over the next ten years is 26%.

The growth rates for computer and information research scientists (21%), medical scientists (17%), and postsecondary teachers (12%) over this period are also much higher than the average rate for all occupations.

How to Get a Fully Funded PhD Program Online

Gaining admission to a fully funded PhD program can be more challenging than enrolling in bachelor’s or master’s degree programs. Here are some tips to consider:

• Consider STEM programs . PhDs in science, technology, engineering, and math often offer full funding to students. You may have more schools to choose from if you complete a STEM degree.
• Check accreditation status . It’s strategic to avoid any online PhD program that isn’t accredited. A lack of accreditation could indicate that the program is of low quality or will not properly prepare you for the professional world.
• Apply for fellowships or assistantships . International students may qualify for fellowships that pay for tuition and provide a stipend. Many fully funded programs require students to participate in an assistantship focused on teaching or research.
• Fine-tune your application . Most fully funded PhDs only accept a few students for each academic year, and they base their admissions on your application materials. It’s beneficial to look closely at each program’s requirements and adhere to them as closely as possible.

When you research fully funded PhDs, be wary of any program that makes exaggerated promises or cannot provide job placement or graduation data for recent students.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Fully Funded Online Doctoral Programs

Prospective PhD students may struggle to decide whether a fully funded program is the right path. Fully funded online doctoral programs offer a variety of benefits and drawbacks, including:

When deciding whether a fully funded online PhD is a good fit for you, you might consider your learning style, preferences, and goals.

Admissions Requirements

Fully funded PhD programs are usually selective, so it’s important to carefully follow their application process. Admissions requirements for online PhD programs for working professionals may include:

• Test scores . While it’s not always required, some schools have you submit current scores from the GRE or other standardized tests.
• Transcripts . Request official transcripts from schools you previously attended, including undergraduate and graduate programs.
• Statement of purpose . You can describe your motivation for pursuing a PhD, why you selected this particular program, and your specific research interests.
• Recommendations . You can ask former professors or supervisors to explain why you would excel in an online PhD program.
• CV . It’s beneficial to list all relevant professional, publishing, and volunteer experience.

Some universities also require students to participate in a virtual interview or provide a portfolio that demonstrates the strength of their past work.

Fully Funded PhD Programs Online Accreditation

When selecting an online PhD program, it’s vital to determine whether it has regional accreditation . Some online schools offer degrees with little to no academic value, but a regionally accredited institution must meet certain standards of excellence.

Attending a program that has met the high bar of a regional accrediting board usually provides you with a better educational experience that includes the most current practices and theories in the field. For this reason, most employers only accept PhDs from accredited schools.

If you end up changing programs before graduating, it’s generally easier to transfer credits from programs with regional accreditation.

How Much Does a PhD Cost?

The cost of PhD program tuition varies widely based on the school you attend. Rates generally range from $500 to $2,000 per credit hour. In addition, students often have to pay for materials and fees on top of their base tuition.

A PhD program could range between 60 and 120 required credits, so the total cost of tuition and fees could easily reach top dollar. A fully funded PhD reduces or removes much of this cost by allowing students to complete their degrees without paying tuition.

What Does Fully Funded Mean?

Fully funded means that a PhD student doesn’t pay any of the costs of attending a doctoral program. This generally includes all tuition and fees required for full-time enrollment in the program. In many cases, the university covers these costs. Students may also receive funding from private businesses or sponsors.

To ensure that students can focus solely on their studies during the program, a fully funded PhD may also include a stipend to cover living expenses and housing. Some colleges require students to complete teaching or research assistantships to receive their funding.

What Is Funded in Fully Funded Doctorate Programs?

A fully funded PhD program essentially covers the costs associated with attending school. This typically includes:

• Full-time tuition for the duration of the program
• Fees required by the university
• Living and housing expenses
• School-provided health insurance

This funding is usually only provided for 3 to 5 years of study. This helps ensure that students complete their programs in a timely manner. If a fully funded PhD doesn’t completely address the cost of a student’s degree, the school may also offer additional financial opportunities. Scholarships, grants, and loans are possible avenues to fill the gaps in funding.

What Can You Get a PhD in?

There are PhD programs available for practically every field. Popular doctoral specializations include:

• Educational administration and leadership
• Physical therapy
• Electrical engineering

Although there are PhD programs available for each of these disciplines, some may be more suitable for online study. A PhD program that involves hands-on learning or lab work may not be as ideal for an online format.

Some online PhD programs that require in-person components allow students to participate in fieldwork in their communities. Other disciplines that focus primarily on research and writing can more easily be completed online.

What Are Some of the Highest Paying PhDs?

Your future earnings ultimately depend on your employer, geographic location, and professional experience, but some PhDs tend to have better pay than others.

Many of the highest paying PhDs are related to science. For example, medical scientists earn median annual salaries of $95,310, physicists make a median of $152,430, and the median for computer and information research scientists is $131,490 (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Postsecondary education administrators also have competitive salaries, with median earnings of $96,910 per year.

Depending on their specific field and whether they have tenure, college professors may earn salaries above six figures. For example, $104,940 is the median salary for engineering professors.

What’s the Difference Between a Doctorate vs. PhD Degree?

People sometimes use the terms doctorate and PhD interchangeably, but there are differences between them.

All PhD programs are doctorates, but not all doctorates are PhDs.

Getting Your Fully Funded PhD Online

Earning a fully funded PhD online can open doors to new career opportunities that are professionally and personally rewarding, all without draining your financial resources.

This type of PhD may cover your tuition, fees, and expenses, allowing you to graduate with very little debt. Because they offer low-cost or no-cost degrees, universities with fully funded PhDs tend to enroll a small number of students with proven skills and experience in the field.

Once you decide that you want to earn a fully funded degree, you can begin by researching accredited universities that offer free PhD programs online.

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• Preparing For Grad School
• Student Life

The Top 9 Fully Funded PhD Programs

If you’re concerned about grad school costs, you’re not alone. Even with financial aid, many students find themselves taking on large amounts of debt. However, there are a number of options that can cover most – if not all – of your doctorate costs.

Table of Contents

What Is a Fully Funded PhD Program?

“Fully funded” means that the university offers sufficient funding to cover tuition fees and even a stipend to cover other grad school expenses . To cover gaps, many institutions offer additional support in the form of grants, scholarships, loans, and employment opportunities.

Though rare, some PhD programs offer full funding for all accepted students. Understandably, the admission process is highly competitive for fully funded PhD programs.

Students who don’t meet strict criteria – and aren’t offered full funding – will be expected to pay for their tuition and other study expenses. Most take some form of government funding to do so.

The Top 9 Fully Funded PhD Programs in the US

1. the university of chicago, the department of anthropology, phd in anthropology.

• Courses : Development of Social/Cultural Theory, Archeological Theory & method, and archeological data sets.
• Credits : 18 courses
• Delivery : On-campus
• Full funding : Full tuition, health insurance, and stipend (up to 9 years).
• Other support : Grants, fellowships, and teaching opportunities.
• Acceptance rate : 2.5%
• Location : Chicago, Illinois

With a culture that encourages independent thinking, the University of Chicago has produced more than 90 Nobel Prize winners and produced defining research in several fields. In this interdisciplinary PhD in Anthropology program, students can study with many of the university’s other departments, including: Political Science, History, and Comparative Human Development.

2. Harvard University, T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Phd program in biological sciences in public health  (bph).

• Courses : Biological sciences communications, principles of biostatistics & epidemiology, and computing environments for biology.
• Duration : Approximately 6 years
• Full funding : Stipend, tuition, and health insurance.
• Other support: Fellowships, awards, and grants.
• Acceptance rate: 6%
• Location:  Boston, Massachusetts

As the third-best university in the US , Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health has incredible prestige. With several specialized public health departments (e.g., Environmental Health, Health & Population, Epidemiology), this program also offers incredible flexibility. Students can courses from the Department of Public Health, Harvard Integrated Life Sciences (HILS), and even MIT.

3. Stanford University, Graduate School of Education

Phd in curriculum studies and teacher education  (cte).

• Courses: Introduction to statistical methods in education, research in curriculum & teacher education, and statistical analysis in education.
• Credits:  135 units
• Duration: 4-5 years
• Delivery:  On-campus
• Full funding : Tuition aid, assistantship salary, and fellowship stipend (for 5 years).
• Other support : Grants, travel fellowships, and emergency funds.
• Location: Stanford, California

Stanford University tops the list  of the best universities for Education Policy Studies, making this one of the best options if you want to earn a PhD in Education. This doctorate is one of the top fully funded PhD programs in education and offers six specializations, including elementary education, teacher education, and science & environmental education.

Note : In addition to this on-campus PhD program, many recognized institutions also offer free online PhD programs in education .

4. Duke University, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences

Phd in literature.

• Courses: Wide range of literary topics, including African American Studies, modern European short fiction, gender studies, and more.
• Duration: 6-7 years
• Delivery: On-campus
• Full funding  includes: Tuition, fees, stipend, and health insurance.
• Other support: Grants, loans, childcare subsidies, and financial hardship aid.
• Location:  Durham, North Carolina

As one of the country’s most renowned private research institutions, Duke University has ten Nobel Laureates under its belt. Their PhD in Literature program encourages students to pursue both independent studies and inter-institutional courses from other affiliated universities. Students are able to take as many programs outside literature as they wish. Typically, all PhD students receive a “stipend, tuition, and fees support, plus six years of full coverage for health and dental insurance premiums.”

5. Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

Phd in business.

• Courses:  Microeconomics, econometrics, theory, and dynamic optimization.
• Duration:  4 years +
• Full funding : Tuition waiver and $40,000 yearly stipend (earned as a research/teaching assistant).
• Other support:  Scholarships, grants, loans, and student employment.
• Location: Houston, Texas

Rice University is a well-known institution and is regularly recognized as one of the best business schools in the country. As part of its PhD in Business program, students can choose between one of four different concentrations: accounting, finance, organizational behavior, and strategic management.

Northwestern University, McCormick School of Engineering

Phd in biomedical engineering.

• Courses:  Experimental design & measurement, biological performance of materials, and advanced physical & applied optics.
• Duration: 5-6 years
• Full funding : Tuition scholarship and stipend.
• Other support: Fellowships, grants, assistantships, loans, and veteran benefits.
• Acceptance rate: 15%
• Location: Evanston, Illinois

Northwestern University is renowned for excellence across numerous disciplines, and its biomedical engineering (BME) program was among the first of its kind. The school offers a wide range of courses, from cell and molecular engineering, medical devices and instrumental, neural engineering, and more.

7. Columbia University, Teachers College

Phd in clinical psychology.

• Courses:  Brain & behavior, social problems for clinical psychologists, and personality & behavior change.
• Credits: 95
• Duration: 5 years (at least four years of residency)
• Full funding : Tuition, stipend, and health fees (up to 4 years).
• Other support:  Scholarships, grants, fellowships, federal work-study, assistantships, and loans.
• Acceptance rate:  7%
• Location:  New York City, New York

Columbia University offers a leading clinical psychology PhD program that focuses on the intersection between education, psychology, and health. Their fully funded, need-blind “Doctoral Fellowship” is given to incoming students for three years, in addition to financial aid in the fourth year (i.e., a $25,000 stipend). PhD students who receive this scholarship may be asked to work as research assistants or graduate teachers.

8. California Institute of Technology, Division of Engineering & Applied Science

Graduate degree in computer science.

• Courses:  Functional programming, computability theory, and advanced digital systems design.
• Credits: 54 units
• Duration: 3+ years of residence
• Full funding : Tuition charges and stipends.
• Other support: Grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study.
• Acceptance rate: 7%
• Location: Pasadena, California

Caltech is a huge name in technology education, with over fifty cutting-edge research centers and laboratories. This includes NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and astronomical observatories around the globe. To manage their rigorous course load, graduate students of the computer science program receive full tuition and a stipend of $45,000 .

9. Emory University, College of Arts and Sciences

Ph.D. in Economics

• Courses: Microeconomic theory, health economics, and market structure & imperfect competition.
• Credits: 55
• Duration: 4-6 years
• Full funding : Tuition, stipend, health insurance subsidy, and professional development support.
• Other support:  Grants, scholarships, loans, and student employment.
• Acceptance rate: 19%
• Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Emory University provides a liberal arts college’s atmosphere and opportunities combined with an urban research university’s facilities. This cross-registration program allows students to take classes at the university’s partner institutions, including Georgia Tech and Georgia State University, alongside their in-house courses.

Can I Earn a Free PhD Degree Online?

If you aren’t eligible for a fully funded program, that’s okay! We’ve written an article outlining the most affordable online PhD programs , the benefits, and how to apply to them!

Key Takeaways

Many US universities – including some of the country’s top institution – offer fully funded PhD programs and tuition-free online programs across various disciplines. You’ll just need to demonstrate that you’re eligible for the program through your academic performance and merit.

Once you qualify for full PhD funding, congratulate yourself on a job well done!

If you’re still weighing your options, did you know there are 1-year PhD programs online ?

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a phd be free.

Yes. Eligible students can obtain a doctorate for free if a university offers fully funded PhD programs.

How Do I Get a Fully Funded PhD?

To qualify for a fully funded PhD, you’ll be required to meet certain criteria and put together a strong application. You’ll also need to have an excellent undergraduate academic record, recommendation letters, persuasive personal essay, and graduate school entry exam scores .

Fully funded PhDs are incredibly competitive, so it’s important to plan ahead. As an undergraduate student, identify your dream school, and be sure to check the requirements and eligibility criteria. Next, work hard to meet these requirements – and set yourself apart – throughout your undergraduate studies.

Can I Study a PhD in the USA for Free?

Yes. Many US universities offer opportunities to obtain a PhD for free. For example, fully funded doctoral programs will cover your tuition and expenses. Free PhD programs don’t have tuition fees but students are responsible for covering their own expenses.

However, if you aren’t successful in securing a fully funded PhD and don’t like the free options, there are plenty of other ways to pay for grad school .

Lisa Marlin

Lisa is a full-time writer specializing in career advice, further education, and personal development. She works from all over the world, and when not writing you'll find her hiking, practicing yoga, or enjoying a glass of Malbec.

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Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Additional Information

• Download the Doctoral Viewbook
• Admissions & Aid

The Harvard Ph.D. in Education trains cutting-edge researchers who work across disciplines to generate knowledge and translate discoveries into transformative policy and practice.

Offered jointly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Ph.D. in Education provides you with full access to the extraordinary resources of Harvard University and prepares you to assume meaningful roles as university faculty, researchers, senior-level education leaders, and policymakers.

As a Ph.D. candidate, you will collaborate with scholars across all Harvard graduate schools on original interdisciplinary research. In the process, you will help forge new fields of inquiry that will impact the way we teach and learn. The program’s required coursework will develop your knowledge of education and your expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative methods needed to conduct high-quality research. Guided by the goal of making a transformative impact on education research, policy, and practice, you will focus on independent research in various domains, including human development, learning and teaching, policy analysis and evaluation, institutions and society, and instructional practice.   

Curriculum Information

The Ph.D. in Education requires five years of full-time study to complete. You will choose your individual coursework and design your original research in close consultation with your HGSE faculty adviser and dissertation committee. The requirements listed below include the three Ph.D. concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; and Human Development, Learning and Teaching . 

We invite you to review an example course list, which is provided in two formats — one as the full list by course number and one by broad course category . These lists are subject to modification. 

Ph.D. Concentrations and Examples

Summary of Ph.D. Program

Doctoral Colloquia  In year one and two you are required to attend. The colloquia convenes weekly and features presentations of work-in-progress and completed work by Harvard faculty, faculty and researchers from outside Harvard, and Harvard doctoral students. Ph.D. students present once in the colloquia over the course of their career.

Research Apprenticeship The Research Apprenticeship is designed to provide ongoing training and mentoring to develop your research skills throughout the entire program.

Teaching Fellowships The Teaching Fellowship is an opportunity to enhance students' teaching skills, promote learning consolidation, and provide opportunities to collaborate with faculty on pedagogical development.

Comprehensive Exams  The Written Exam (year 2, spring) tests you on both general and concentration-specific knowledge. The Oral Exam (year 3, fall/winter) tests your command of your chosen field of study and your ability to design, develop, and implement an original research project.

Dissertation  Based on your original research, the dissertation process consists of three parts: the Dissertation Proposal, the writing, and an oral defense before the members of your dissertation committee.

Culture, Institutions, and Society (CIS) Concentration

In CIS, you will examine the broader cultural, institutional, organizational, and social contexts relevant to education across the lifespan. What is the value and purpose of education? How do cultural, institutional, and social factors shape educational processes and outcomes? How effective are social movements and community action in education reform? How do we measure stratification and institutional inequality? In CIS, your work will be informed by theories and methods from sociology, history, political science, organizational behavior and management, philosophy, and anthropology. You can examine contexts as diverse as classrooms, families, neighborhoods, schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, and more.

Education Policy and Program Evaluation (EPPE) Concentration

In EPPE, you will research the design, implementation, and evaluation of education policy affecting early childhood, K–12, and postsecondary education in the U.S. and internationally. You will evaluate and assess individual programs and policies related to critical issues like access to education, teacher effectiveness, school finance, testing and accountability systems, school choice, financial aid, college enrollment and persistence, and more. Your work will be informed by theories and methods from economics, political science, public policy, and sociology, history, philosophy, and statistics. This concentration shares some themes with CIS, but your work with EPPE will focus on public policy and large-scale reforms.

Human Development, Learning and Teaching (HDLT) Concentration

In HDLT, you will work to advance the role of scientific research in education policy, reform, and practice. New discoveries in the science of learning and development — the integration of biological, cognitive, and social processes; the relationships between technology and learning; or the factors that influence individual variations in learning — are transforming the practice of teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings. Whether studying behavioral, cognitive, or social-emotional development in children or the design of learning technologies to maximize understanding, you will gain a strong background in human development, the science of learning, and sociocultural factors that explain variation in learning and developmental pathways. Your research will be informed by theories and methods from psychology, cognitive science, sociology and linguistics, philosophy, the biological sciences and mathematics, and organizational behavior.

Program Faculty

The most remarkable thing about the Ph.D. in Education is open access to faculty from all Harvard graduate and professional schools, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Learn about the full Ph.D. Faculty.

Jarvis R. Givens

Jarvis Givens studies the history of American education, African American history, and the relationship between race and power in schools.

Paul L. Harris

Paul Harris is interested in the early development of cognition, emotion, and imagination in children.

Meira Levinson

Meira Levinson is a normative political philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment, racial justice, and educational ethics. 

Luke W. Miratrix

Luke Miratrix is a statistician who explores how to best use modern statistical methods in applied social science contexts.

Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor studies the economics of education, with a particular interest in employer-employee interactions between schools and teachers — hiring and firing decisions, job design, training, and performance evaluation.

Paola Uccelli

Paola Ucelli studies socio-cultural and individual differences in the language development of multilingual and monolingual students.

View Ph.D. Faculty

Dissertations.

The following is a complete listing of successful Ph.D. in Education dissertations to-date. Dissertations from November 2014 onward are publicly available in the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) , the online repository for Harvard scholarship.

• 2022 Graduate Dissertations (265 KB pdf)
• 2021 Graduate Dissertations (177 KB pdf)
• 2020 Graduate Dissertations (121 KB pdf)
• 2019 Graduate Dissertations (68.3 KB pdf)

Student Directory

An opt-in listing of current Ph.D. students with information about their interests, research, personal web pages, and contact information:

Doctor of Philosophy in Education Student Directory

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Doctor of Philosophy in Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

Reshaping Teacher Licensure: Lessons from the Pandemic

Olivia Chi, Ed.M.'17, Ph.D.'20, discusses the ongoing efforts to ensure the quality and stability of the teaching workforce

Lost in Translation

New comparative study from Ph.D. candidate Maya Alkateb-Chami finds strong correlation between low literacy outcomes for children and schools teaching in different language from home

20 Amazing Websites and/or Resources For PhD Students

“The Web is full of essential as well as scrap websites and tools. The difficult task for students is to find the important one, without compromising their personal, professional and research information. I’m giving you a list of essential websites and resources for researchers and PhDs.” 

PhDs have comprehensive knowledge on a specific topic or field. Oftentimes, when they search for lucrative websites or resources; most of the time, they land on either scrap websites or nothing important.   

They want to make their PhD life easy using tools, websites or resources, but publishers trick them to see lists that are either for PhD programs , scholarship programs or something else. I personally find it difficult while doing research for this article. 

The second thing is, they lack knowledge about where they can find useful resources. However, there are certain websites that make your life easier if you know about it in your early life of PhD. 

You may have to search literature, find information, gain knowledge, write articles, publish papers, and prepare images, charts or interactives. For all such tasks, you have to use different websites or tools. 

I have divided this article into three parts. In this part, we will discuss only websites and resources while in the upcoming two parts, we will discuss important tools and apps. So here are 20 amazing websites or resources for PhD students.  

Google Scholar 

Google books , science direct, biomed central, microsoft academic, science.gov, pubmed central, digital commons network, diagrams.net.

• Wrapping up: 

20 Amazing Websites and/or Resources For PhD Students 

• Website link: https://scholar.google.com/
• Application: Find scholarly articles and connect with other scientists.

At the very beginning, researchers should know about Google Scholar. It’s a search engine dedicatedly prepared for research students and scientists. What can you do with it?

• You can find peer-reviewed articles
• Make your own profile 
• Upload your publications
• Save and share articles 
• Check your citations matrics 
• Connect with other scientists  

Google Scholar is Google’s product, safe to use and easy to navigate. I have already written an article on this topic, you can read: 7 Ways to Find Peer-Reviewed Articles On Google .

• Website link: https://books.google.com/
• Applications: To find peer-reviewed Books. 

Yet another impressive product from Google is Google Books. It comes up with a simpler and more impressive look, type a topic name on which you want a book in Google books and you get thousands of options. 

When you click the book, you get information like:

• ISBN number 
• Name of the publisher 
• Number of pages 
• Other editions
• Name of authors 
• Keywords 
• The availability of the book on other platforms

Most importantly, we can generate citations there and use them in our thesis or paper directly. I know there are many sources available to purchase books but Google Books is the most trusted, authentic and viable option for PhDs. 

• Website link: https://www.wikipedia.org/
• Application: To find resources and information. 

There’s a misconception among research students that Wikipedia isn’t a trusted source to find literature. Let me tell you that, it’s partially true, how? First, it is the best place where you can get any information regarding any topic. 

Wikipedia gives amazing background information regarding any topic and is too peer-reviewed. On the other hand, it’s difficult to understand basic concepts from research papers, directly. So, students have to start with Wikipedia.  

Search anything on the Wikipedia search engine, read it and understand the concept. From my personal experience, Wiki makes concepts easier to understand. 

• Website link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/
• Application: Find peer-reviewed resources across the web.

(We are almost going in sync). 

When you type any topic into Google you will get two topmost results, one is from Wikipedia and the second is from Science Direct, mostly. 

ScienceDirect is a great place to find peer-reviewed scientific literature. The best thing about this website is, when you open it, it shows results as a “compilation” of abstracts for a topic. You just have to quickly read it, click the paper you want and go there. 

It makes the reading task so easy. The target audience for this website is students from various fields of science as well as scientists. 

• Website link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
• Application: find resources, tools, data, and information for biotechnology. 

The full name of NCBI is National Centre for Biotechnology Information and is run by the NIH- National Library of Medicine. Any life science student should know about the NCBI from day one of their research. 

It’s a huge database for life science. It contains

• Resources 
• Methods 
• Portals to submit data.

Researchers can submit their data to NCBI and make them accessible to other scientists. Keep in mind that the data and other information present there on NCBI are sensitive. You can get information about any organism and anything associated with that organism. 

NCBI is a huge portal, students have to learn to use various tools and information present there. 

• Website: https://www.biomedcentral.com/
• Application: Search for scholarly literature. 

Biomed central is yet another website to find scholarly literature and peer-reviewed articles. It’s a part of Springer-Nature and provides high-quality journals, resources and literature for peers and scientists. 

Moreover, you can explore journals from various fields and get published there. Biomed Central is yet another resource like Science Direct.  

• Website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/academic/
• Application: Find resources related to your topic. 

Microsoft Academia is a search engine from Microsoft. It not only provides peer-reviewed articles but also news, blog posts, videos and even podcasts on one page. Meaning, you can remain updated with your subject or topic. 

Notedly, it’s not the platform to find scholarly articles, but you can get ‘around’ the information on your topic. So you can know what’s going on around your topic. 

• Website: https://www.science.gov/
• Application: Provides various forms of information. 

Before writing this article, I didn’t know about science.gov. It’s a kind of semi-search engine from the US government science information. Interestingly, it gives us information categorized into- text, multimedia, data and public access. 

I don’t know how you will use it, but it’s definitely helpful to research students. I will learn it, use it and come back to you; if it would be helpful. Give it a fair try. 

• Website: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
• Application: Search full-text article. 

PMC- PubMed Central is an important website for PhD students as it provides free full-text articles available on your topic. It has the largest number of article databases that students can explore. Not only that, students can download articles, generate citations and search related queries. 

PMC and NCBI are two websites that every science, biology and life science student has to know. 

• Website link: https://www.jstor.org/
• Application: find knowledge, resources and information.

JSTOR is a non-profitable organization that provides information in various fields. It’s also a type of search engine for scientific literature. Students can find primary resources, literature, images, journals and even books.

You can find information on your topic in one place, but the amazing feature that it has is the ‘images’. A dedicated images feature of JASTOR shows thousands of images for your topic from various resources which are sometimes not present on Google Images. 

• Website: https://network.bepress.com/
• Application: Find literature and resources. 

Yet another search engine to find various research is the Digital Commons Network. I didn’t find anything ‘out-of-the-box’ for this website. You can give it a try. 

Now besides finding literature, there are other things students also have to do during PhD, for example, preparing diagrams, generating citations or editing Pdfs. Here is a list of some more tools that help you with this.  

• Website: https://app.diagrams.net/
• Application: make diagrams, photos, flowcharts and images.

Diagrams.net is an online website that helps you in preparing diagrams, charts, flowcharts, images and other multimedia for your thesis or research. I am planning to prepare one tutorial for this. And if possible I will upload it here. So that you know how to use it. 

• Website: https://www.ilovepdf.com/
• Application: edit– pdf, doc or text. 

Ilovepdf is my personal favorite website. Let me tell you that we can do so many things that usually you can’t do. It’s a specialized website that can help you with your doc. You can convert your docs, for example, 

• Excel to pdf
• Html to pdf 
• And vice versa. 

You can compress doc or pdfs, split it, merge it and edit them. You can even edit your final thesis draft in the form of a pdf. You can even add a page or delete one or edit some part of the text. Isn’t it amazing! I strongly recommend using ilovepdf. 

• Website: https://www.freepik.com/
• Application: Download high-quality images for free.

Now, you need images, illustrations and gifs for your presentations and other work during your PhD. But finding copyright-free images is a hard task. Freepik is one such website, from where you can download images for free. 

The images in the freepik database are high-quality and freely available. You can use it and make your presentation more impressive. 

• Website: https://www.canva.com/
• Application: To prepare interactives. 

Yet another great place to prepare images, figures, tables, datasheets and many other interactives for your thesis is Canva.

Canva is super easy to use and has many templates for doing so many things. You can do 

• Presentation

And a lot more. I strongly recommend visiting Canva once. 

Wrapping up:  

I know these are not 20, but timely I will add more websites to this list and complete it. The reason is, I want to give a useful and beneficial list not a list with repetitive and unuseful things. One more thing I want to add, these websites are free to use. 

I hope this article will help you. Do share this content in your research group and bookmark the page. Still, then you can read this article to learn more: 7 Must-Have Thesis Writing Tools .  

Dr. Tushar Chauhan is a Scientist, Blogger and Scientific-writer. He has completed PhD in Genetics. Dr. Chauhan is a PhD coach and tutor.

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• Harvard Business School →
• Doctoral Programs →

PhD Programs

• Accounting & Management
• Business Economics
• Health Policy (Management)
• Organizational Behavior
• Technology & Operations Management

Students in our PhD programs are encouraged from day one to think of this experience as their first job in business academia—a training ground for a challenging and rewarding career generating rigorous, relevant research that influences practice.

Our doctoral students work with faculty and access resources throughout HBS and Harvard University. The PhD program curriculum requires coursework at HBS and other Harvard discipline departments, and with HBS and Harvard faculty on advisory committees. Faculty throughout Harvard guide the programs through their participation on advisory committees.

How do I know which program is right for me?

There are many paths, but we are one HBS. Our PhD students draw on diverse personal and professional backgrounds to pursue an ever-expanding range of research topics. Explore more here about each program’s requirements & curriculum, read student profiles for each discipline as well as student research , and placement information.

The PhD in Business Administration grounds students in the disciplinary theories and research methods that form the foundation of an academic career. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program has five areas of study: Accounting and Management , Management , Marketing , Strategy , and Technology and Operations Management . All areas of study involve roughly two years of coursework culminating in a field exam. The remaining years of the program are spent conducting independent research, working on co-authored publications, and writing the dissertation. Students join these programs from a wide range of backgrounds, from consulting to engineering. Many applicants possess liberal arts degrees, as there is not a requirement to possess a business degree before joining the program

The PhD in Business Economics provides students the opportunity to study in both Harvard’s world-class Economics Department and Harvard Business School. Throughout the program, coursework includes exploration of microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, probability and statistics, and econometrics. While some students join the Business Economics program directly from undergraduate or masters programs, others have worked in economic consulting firms or as research assistants at universities or intergovernmental organizations.

The PhD program in Health Policy (Management) is rooted in data-driven research on the managerial, operational, and strategic issues facing a wide range of organizations. Coursework includes the study of microeconomic theory, management, research methods, and statistics. The backgrounds of students in this program are quite varied, with some coming from public health or the healthcare industry, while others arrive at the program with a background in disciplinary research

The PhD program in Organizational Behavior offers two tracks: either a micro or macro approach. In the micro track, students focus on the study of interpersonal relationships within organizations and the effects that groups have on individuals. Students in the macro track use sociological methods to examine organizations, groups, and markets as a whole, including topics such as the influence of individuals on organizational change, or the relationship between social missions and financial objectives. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program includes core disciplinary training in sociology or psychology, as well as additional coursework in organizational behavior.

Accounting & Management  

Business economics  , health policy (management)  , management  , marketing  , organizational behavior  , strategy  , technology & operations management  .

Top Fully Funded PhD Programs in Education

As the highest degree level available, a Ph.D. in education denotes expertise in the field. Some colleges and universities extend free Ph.D. programs to learners, including those studying education.

Most postsecondary institutions, such as colleges, universities, and community colleges, prefer to hire professors with a Ph.D. in their field. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that postsecondary education teachers earn a median salary of $79,540. From 2019-2029, the BLS projects a 9% job growth rate for education professors.

Top 3 Fully Funded Ph.D. Programs in Education

Recommended doctorates in education, what is a ph.d. in education.

A Ph.D. in education typically leads to a career in academia or research. The degree focuses on theoretical approaches to education, and students spend much of their time researching a specific niche in education.

During a fully funded Ph.D. program, students can submit their research to academic journals. Many Ph.D. in education students are published multiple times while pursuing the degree. Learners may also attend conferences and workshops to learn more.

Why Get a Degree in Education?

Students pursue a Ph.D. in education for various reasons, including career advancement and personal interest. Some of the benefits of earning a Ph.D. in education include:

• Becoming a Professor: While not always required, most accredited institutions prefer to hire educators with a Ph.D. in their field. Education professors typically complete a Ph.D. in education.
• Expand Your Network: Ph.D. in education students attend conferences, work closely with existing professors, and publish their research in journals. Through these experiences learners form connections with individuals, schools, and organizations.
• Getting Published: Ph.D. programs commonly end with students publishing the results of their research. Doing so cements the student’s position as an expert in the field.
• Increasing Potential Salary: Higher levels of education often lead to higher-paying positions. Those with a Ph.D. in education could earn more than those with a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
• Personal Fulfillment: Those that love education and the theories of educating often find a Ph.D. challenging, enjoyable, and fulfilling.

Accreditation for a Ph.D. in Education

Prospective Ph.D. in education students looking for the best fully funded Ph.D. programs should always consider accreditation. When a school or program receives accreditation, it means that an accrediting organization reviewed and approved of the academic quality of the school or program. These accrediting organizations gain approval from the United State Department of Education, the Council of Higher Education Accreditation , or both.

Colleges and universities receive either national or regional accreditation. While both demonstrate quality, the best schools receive regional accreditation. Employers also prefer applicants to hold a Ph.D. from a regionally accredited institution, and studying at a non-regionally accredited school could impact your chances of securing financial aid.

Some college programs also receive programmatic accreditation. While not as important as regional accreditation, programmatic accreditation shows a minimum level of quality. Those looking at free Ph.D. programs online in education should search for Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation accreditation.

Courses for a Ph.D. in Education

Because Ph.D. in education programs require a minimum level of teaching experience, the coursework in a Ph.D. focuses less on teaching and more on the theories of education. During the 4-5 year Ph.D. program, learners take multiple courses related to analytics and research. Programs also discuss advanced teaching methods for postsecondary positions.

Some colleges and universities allow students to select a specialization, typically in a specific field like mathematics or economics. While not all Ph.D. programs require the same curriculum, prospective students can anticipate taking courses similar to these:

In this list we have compiled the Top 5 fully funded PhD programs found across the nation in the field. Fully funded means students have the chance to get a variety of aid options from grants, scholarships, residencies and more to fund their education while pursuing their PhD in Education.

Instructional Theory

Building off students’ course design skills, instructional theory introduces concepts behind creating courses, modules, and class designs. Learners discover ways to teach course design and instruction to undergraduate students, using principles of learning theories. Students also explore recent developments in the field, including innovations from cognitive science. Instructional theory teaches students some of the skills necessary to become a college-level education instructor.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research, sometimes known as quantitative research methods, introduces the process of conducting primary research in an academic and practical setting. Quantitative research covers the standards set by academic journals, ensuring that students’ research meets these standards. Students also learn to use statistics and analyses to find fact-based evidence to support theories. This course helps learners get published and gain recognition prior to graduation.

Differentiated Instruction

Each student learns differently, and educators must adjust course requirements and structure to suit student needs. Differentiated instruction teaches future professors to design different instructions based on varying student characteristics and abilities. Learners discover some of the different characteristics found in students of different ages and backgrounds. This course also teaches different strategies to address the academic needs of students. As current and future educators, students benefit from learning different instructional techniques.

Colloquium in Leadership

Students pursuing a Ph.D. in education often complete multiple colloquiums, including a colloquium in leadership. This course lets students learn from current experts in the field through speeches and presentations. Learners can connect with presenters, allowing them to ask questions and network. Many Ph.D. in education programs count the colloquium as a for-credit course, and the colloquium could cover various fields.

Dissertation

The main focus of the student’s Ph.D. program, the dissertation, likely takes up the most time of any course. Dissertations work like final papers, covering the independent research conducted by students during their Ph.D. After finishing their multi-chapter dissertation, students must defend their dissertation in front of a panel of education experts. Students select the content of their dissertation and often use the material to publish papers in academic journals.

How Much Do Education Majors Make?

The amount of money an education major makes depends on a number of factors, including level of education completed, where they completed their education, the position they earn, and where they live. Because a Ph.D. generally leads to careers in academic research, most Ph.D. in education learners become postsecondary teachers.

The BLS reports that postsecondary teachers earn $79,540 per year, though education teachers earn a median salary of just $65,510, among the lowest of all fields. Of course, real wages vary significantly, with the top 10% of all postsecondary educators earning more than $174,960 each year.

Some Ph.D. in education graduates find careers elsewhere, such as education administration. Careers as a principal, superintendent, or college administration could all become landing spots, and each career pays higher wages than teaching at a postsecondary institution.

Career and Salary Outlook for Education Majors

From educators to administration, Ph.D. in education graduates find positions across the country in both public and private organizations. Many Ph.D. in education students become postsecondary educators, and the BLS projects an 4% job growth rate for postsecondary educators and administrators from 2019-2029.

• Postsecondary Teacher : Postsecondary teachers, including college and community college professors, teach students beyond the high school level. Postsecondary teachers educate students, create instructional plans, and advise students on how to achieve their goals. These positions require at least a master’s degree, though most employers prefer a Ph.D.
• Elementary, Middle, and High School Principal : Elementary, middle, and high school principals oversee their school’s day-to-day operations. Duties include managing school staff, counseling students, and creating a set of academic standards. These professionals require at least a master’s degree and some teaching experience.
• Postsecondary Education Administrator : A postsecondary education administrator performs an array of duties for colleges and universities. Potential departments include admissions, registrar’s office, student affairs, or academics. Most positions deal with scheduling, analyzing data, and maintaining student records.
• High School Teacher : High school teachers perform similar tasks as postsecondary educators, only at the high school level. Daily duties include planning lessons, teaching students, and grading assignments. High school teachers prepare students for standardized exams, careers, and college, and often must change lessons to meet the needs of the classroom.

Source: BLS

Scholarships for a Ph.D. in Education

If would-be students cannot find a fully funded Ph.D. program, then scholarships are a great way to reduce educational cost. Some scholarships only accept those pursuing a doctoral degree or a degree in education. Some of the top scholarships for Ph.D. in education students include:

Mariam K. Chamberlain Award Who Can Apply : Named to honor the founder of the National Council for Research on Women, the Dr. Mariam K. Chamberlain Award helps first-generation doctoral students cover the costs of their education. Applicants must be working on a dissertation with a senior dissertation advisor and may study any field, including education. Amount : $8,500

The Gates Millennium Scholars Program Who Can Apply : Created to help minority students receive higher education, the Gates Millennium Scholars Program covers the entire cost of a student’s education. Applicants must be African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian Pacific Islander American, or Hispanic American. While the program does cover a graduate degree in education, applicants must be previous Gates Millennium Scholars. Amount : Full Tuition

Southern Regional Education Board Doctoral Award Who Can Apply : Created for Ph.D. students who plan on becoming university professors, the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Award provides a $20,000 annual stipend to current Ph.D. students. SREB offers both a one-year award and a 3-5 year award. Applicants must attend a member college or a college in a member state. Amount : $20,000

Harry Passow Classroom Teacher Scholarship Who Can Apply : The A. Harry Passow Classroom Teacher Scholarship helps offset the costs of continuing education for one K-12 teacher. Applicants must currently teach gifted students in one of many formats. Applicants must provide evidence of acceptance into a graduate-level program at an accredited college or university. Amount : $2,000

Esther Katz Rosen Fund Grants Who Can Apply : The Esther Katz Rosen Fund helps support the advancement of knowledge about gifted children, providing funding for those related to research in the field. Applicants for this grant must study toward a doctoral degree at an accredited university. The funding can help cover Ph.D. research costs. Amount : $1,000-$50,000

Best Fully Funded Ph.D. Programs in Education

1. the university of michigan school of education.

The University of Michigan School of Education encourages all PhD students to think rigorously and demonstrate an ability to make a difference in education. The fully funded PhD program produces leaders, policymakers, and researchers dedicated to improving the state of education country and worldwide. The School of Education offers a PhD in Educational Studies in a number of areas of focus: Educational Policy, Leadership and Innovation , Literacy, Language, and Culture , or Mathematics Education to name a few. There are also three additional PhD degrees in English and Education , Education and Psychology or Higher Education .

Funding packages with the Michigan School of Education are flexible and plenty. Doctoral students receive a minimum of four years of financial support which covers items like tuition, a stipend for living expenses, and health insurance. This insurance will even cover health and dental benefits for students’ family members, an invaluable benefit for many students when considering the rising costs of healthcare. All students who participate in the fully funded PhD program are assigned a 20-hour-per-week assignment. This might include filling roles as a research or staff assistant, or as an instructor.

2. Vanderbilt Peabody College

Vanderbilt University has long been a mecca for students striving to become the ‘best of the best’ in their fields, and located in Nashville, Tennessee, a thriving city and center for industries like healthcare and higher education, it’s easy to see why so many students excel through the university’s world-class programs. The Vanderbilt Peabody College offers a couple of fully funded PhD programs in Education through the Leadership, Policy and Organizations department. Two concentrations can be selected: K-12 Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP) , and  Higher Education Leadership and Policy (HELP) .

The PhD program is for students and educators who wish to build an academic career focused on the study of education and policy, and with the university’s unique mentor-apprentice model, students gain knowledge through researched based assistantships alongside esteemed faculty. All Peabody College PhD students receive full tuition funding . The funding is achieved through merit awards or University Tuition Scholarships. Typically, students will also benefit from health insurance coverage and may participate in University Fellowships, Graduate Teaching Assistantships, Graduate Research Assistantships, Traineeships, and Teacher Training Awards.

3. The Steinhardt School at New York University

Students at Steinhardt School at New York University can earn a free Ph.D. in education through the use of scholarships and tuition programs at the school. Those in the Ed. in leadership and innovation take 24 weeks to complete the program. They focus on coursework in applied research methods, change and innovation, and management and data ethics. Admission to the program requires that students answer why they want to attend Steinhardt, how their work experiences prepare them for a cohort learning environment, and what experience, if any, they have with online learning. Prospective students also need to include a resume, three letters of recommendation, and transcripts from previously attended postsecondary institutions.

Embrace the convenience of online learning and shape your own path to success.

Explore schools offering programs and courses tailored to your interests, and start your learning journey today.

10 research tools every PhD student needs

A PhD is the penultimate academic degree. With their research that looks into solving critical world issues, PhD graduates help everyone understand the world around them better; hence the important role of research tools that help them achieve this.

A PhD requires candidates to collect and gather data for their dissertation so they can make an informed analysis of whether their hypothesis is supported, as well as deduce future probabilities and trends. This is often a time-consuming process – one has to search from the library and internet for literature, conducting experiments, writing and publishing papers, on top of the tedious task of formatting these sources .

Since a dissertation can be upwards of 60,000 words, how then to efficiently collect and compile everything? Now that the world has become increasingly advanced in terms of technology, it makes sense to know how to use the many available online tools to help with the research process. 

The right tools can help save time, effort and energy, helping you produce more accessible and visually presentable as well. You can even enjoy a better work-life balance since these tools will ease the long-drawn research.

These research tools can help free up precious time to concentrate on your PhD dissertation-writing. Source: Marc Wattrelot/AFP

Helena Hartmann – currently obtaining her PhD at the Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit in Vienna, Austria – has compiled a useful list of research tools for PhD students. Many have found the list infinitely helpful (“superb,” “made my day”) and that is why these 10 top research tools that every PhD student needs are highlighted here in no particular order.

Research Tool 1: Journal Rater 

Have you ever struggled to choose a journal to send your research paper because when you are not sure which journal has good or bad reviews? The Journal Rater by @PhDVoice does that tiring guess-work for you.

This easily accessible database has ratings about the quality of the reviewers, the speed of the peer-review and publishing process and whether you should submit to a particular journal, among others. You can even include your comments and experiences, and choose to be anonymous as well; the best part is you know exactly which journals are great to submit.

Research Tool 2: Connected Papers

When you are doing a literature review and want to find connections between published papers, Connected Papers by @ConnectedPapers can help you do that. By entering a typical paper there, they will show a visual graph of similar papers in your field.

The more you explore, the more likely you can see trends, popular works and dynamics in your field. With more new papers published every day, Connected Papers helps you keep abreast of these important papers; you can also access their Prior Works to search for ancestor works in your field and Derivative Works for literature reviews of your field.

Research Tool 3: Citation Diversity Statement

Citation bias means having a tendency for a research investigation that shows benefit to be quoted more than those neutral or negative ones. Another definition is a scientist tending to cite research articles published in their preferred journals more frequently.

Checking and clearly indicating the proportion of male and female first and last-name authors can be a tiring. Using this citation diversity statement by Zurn et al is a helpful tool to reduce citation bias; you can easily append this simple and effective statement to your paper as well.

Research Tool 4: CRediT

CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) aims to recognise individual author contributions while reducing authorship disputes and enhancing collaboration. Through CRediT, authors can accurately show and describe their varied contributions to the published work.

Here’s how it works: the corresponding author should confirm the descriptions are accurate and that all the authors have agreed on this; the various roles are listed according to the categories. The CRediT statement should be given at the time of submission – this will then appear above the acknowledgement section of the published paper.

Research Tool 5: Unpaywall – OpenAccess

Unpaywall is an open database of 30,887,744 free scholarly articles from over 50,000 publishers and repositories. That means you can easily find, track and use this Open Access content; it is completely legal.

Unpaywall uses the DOI function to search for articles published in peer-reviewed journals; in fact Unpaywall has already been integrated into many worldwide library systems, search platforms and other information products. To use Unpaywall, go to any closed access article, click on the green button and you can get an Open Access version.

Research Tool 6: Create your own website

Any academic wanting their research and publications to be easily found should consider making a website. Hartmann found Dan Quintana’s Twitter thread tutorial on making websites easy and invaluable – see Hartmann’s website here.

In one hour, Quintana will show you how to make a website for free. All you need is a @github and @netlify account, and the downloaded @code – and your website with all your research and publications will be up and running in no time.

Research Tool 7: Excel Journal Database

If you want to have an easy compilation of your literature review sources, Stephen McQuilliam ’s Excel Journal Database Webinar can help you in this aspect . In this Youtube video, McQuilliam explains step by step how to build an Excel database to organise your notes and bring them together for your writing.

Research Tool 8: APA Word Template

For researchers, having to format their papers in APA can be an arduous process. Fortunately, Nicolás F. Narvaez Linares’ tip may make many researchers sigh with relief.

In Microsoft Word, just type APA in the New Document Tab, and the APA template automatically pops up. A word of caution: this template uses the 6th edition of the APA so you may have to make some changes since the APA has now released its 7th edition.

Research Tool 9: Notion

If you have many applications and want to keep them all in one place, Hartmann considers Notion as the best one. Basically Notion acts as an all-in-one workspace – you can keep your notes, tasks, wikis and databases there in Notion.

Research Tool 10: Canva  

Finally, this design website is excellent if you have to prepare slides and figures for your presentations. The free, professional and nice designs can make your presentations more visually appealing.

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What’s Included: Research Proposal Template

Our free dissertation/thesis proposal template covers the core essential ingredients for a strong research proposal. It includes clear explanations of what you need to address in each section, as well as straightforward examples and links to further resources.

The research proposal template covers the following core elements:

• Introduction & background (including the research problem)
• Literature review
• Research design / methodology
• Project plan , resource requirements and risk management

The cleanly-formatted Google Doc can be downloaded as a fully editable MS Word Document (DOCX format), so you can use it as-is or convert it to LaTeX.

PS – if you’d like a high-level template for the entire thesis, you can we’ve got that too .

Research Proposal Template FAQS

What types of research proposals can this template be used for.

The proposal template follows the standard format for academic research projects, which means it will be suitable for the vast majority of dissertations and theses (especially those within the sciences), whether they are qualitative or quantitative in terms of design.

Keep in mind that the exact requirements for the introduction chapter/section will vary between universities and degree programs. These are typically minor, but it’s always a good idea to double-check your university’s requirements before you finalise your structure.

Is this template for an undergrad, Master or PhD-level proposal?

This template can be used for a research project at any level of study. Doctoral-level projects typically require the research proposal to be more extensive/comprehensive, but the structure will typically remain the same.

How long should my research proposal be?

The length of a research proposal varies by institution and subject, but as a ballpark, it’s usually between 1,500 and 3,000 words.

To be safe, it’s best to check with your university if they have any preferences or requirements in terms of minimum and maximum word count for the research propsal.

How detailed should the methodology of the proposal be?

You don’t need to go into the fine details of your methodology, but this section should be detailed enough to demonstrate that your research approach is feasible and will address your research questions effectively. Be sure to include your intended methods for data collection and analysis.

Can I include preliminary data or pilot study results in my proposal?

Generally, yes. This can strengthen your proposal by demonstrating the feasibility of your research. However, make sure that your pilot study is approved by your university before collecting any data.

Can I share this template with my friends/colleagues?

Yes, you’re welcome to share this template in its original format (no editing allowed). If you want to post about it on your blog or social media, we kindly request that you reference this page as your source.

What format is the template (DOC, PDF, PPT, etc.)?

The research proposal template is provided as a Google Doc. You can download it in MS Word format or make a copy to your Google Drive. You’re also welcome to convert it to whatever format works best for you, such as LaTeX or PDF.

Do you have templates for the other chapters?

Yes, we do. We are constantly developing our collection of free resources to help students complete their dissertations and theses. You can view all of our template resources here .

Can Grad Coach help me with my dissertation/thesis?

Yes, you’re welcome to get in touch with us to discuss our private coaching services .

Further Resources: Proposal Writing

The template provides step-by-step guidance for each section of your research proposal, but if you’d like to learn more about how to write up a high-quality research proposal, check out the rest of our free proposal-related resources:

• Research Proposal 101
• Examples of research proposals
• How To Find A Research Topic
• How To Find A Research Gap
• Developing Your Golden Thread
• How To Write A Research Proposal
• 8 Common Proposal Writing Mistakes

You can also visit the Grad Coach blog for more proposal-related resources.

If you’d prefer 1-on-1 support with your research proposal, have a look at our private coaching service , where we hold your hand through the research process, step by step.

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20 Free PhD Programs Online

Are you aware that there are free PhD programs online? Even though it cost a lot to earn an online PhD degree, there are still few online universities that offer tuition-free programs and fully funded scholarships for PhD programs.

Earning a PhD is no joke. To achieve this academic level, you will have to be ready to devote enough time, dedication, and money. However, there are easy doctoral programs that requires less time and no dissertation.

We realized that a lot of students wish to obtain a PhD but are discouraged because of the cost of pursuing a PhD program. This is why we decided to share with you some of the free PhD program online.

Let’s briefly discuss about the meaning of PhD, and how you earn a PhD for free.

Table of Contents

What is a PhD?

PhD is the abbreviation for Doctor of Philosophy. A Doctor of Philosophy is the most common degree at the highest academic level, earned after completing the required credit hours and dissertation. It is also the most common research doctorate.

A PhD program can be completed within three to eight years. After obtaining a PhD degree, you will have the opportunity to earn higher or get high paying jobs.

How to Earn a PhD degree Online for Free

• Enroll in Tuition-free Online PhD Programs

Online universities hardly offer tuition-free PhD programs but there are still few universities that have tuition-free online PhD programs. Although, most tuition-free online PhD programs are not accredited. IICSE University is one of the few universities that offer free online PhD programs, but the PhD programs are not accredited.

• Apply for Scholarships

Some online universities offer scholarships to online students. In most cases, the scholarships can only cover a part of the tuition. You may be lucky to get a fully funded scholarships for online PhD programs but it is very rare and have strict eligibility requirements.

• Get help from your Employer

Some companies fund their workers education, if it will benefit them and their companies. All you have to do is convince your employer that obtaining a new degree will benefit the company.

• Apply for FAFSA

Students can apply for federal grants, work-study, and loans with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Federal Student Aid is the largest provider of financial aid for Colleges in the US. Even though, FAFSA is common with traditional programs, there are still online universities that accepts FAFSA.

Below are some of the free PhD programs online categorized in: tuition-free online PhD programs and online PhD programs funded with scholarships

Tuition-free Online PhD Programs

Below is a list of tuition-free online PhD programs:

• PhD in Business Administration
• PhD in International Relations
• PhD in English Language and Literature
• PhD in Sociology
• PhD in Accounting and Finance
• PhD in Applied Statistics
• PhD in Nursing
• PhD in Economics
• PhD in Higher Education
• PhD in Healthcare Administration .

1. PhD in Business Administration

Institution: IICSE University Accreditation Status: Not Accredited

The PhD in Business Administration consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

To quality for this online PhD program, candidates must have obtained a MBA or master’s degree in a business field.

2. PhD in International Relations

The PhD in International Relations consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

To quality for this online PhD program, candidates must have obtained a master’s degree.

3. PhD in English Language and Literature

The PhD in English Language and Literature consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

4. PhD in Sociology

The PhD in Sociology consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

5. PhD in Accounting and Finance

Institution: IICSE University Accreditation Status: Not Accredited

The PhD in Accounting and Finance consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

6. PhD in Applied Statistics

The PhD in Applied Statistics consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

7. PhD in Nursing

The PhD in Nursing consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

8. PhD in Economics

The PhD in Economics consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

9. PhD in Higher Education

The PhD in Higher Education consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

10. PhD in Healthcare Administration

The PhD in Healthcare Administration consists of 90 total credits, including Research Thesis. This online PhD program can be completed within 3 years.

Online PhD Programs Funded by Scholarships

Here is a list of online PhD programs that can be funded with scholarships:

• PhD in History
• PhD in Public Policy
• PhD in Criminal Justice
• PhD in Psychology
• PhD in Education
• PhD in Bible Exposition
• PhD in Psychology (General Psychology)
• PhD in Psychology (Developmental Psychology)
• PhD in Business Management (Accounting)
• PhD in Business Management (General Business Management) .

11. PhD in History

Institution: Liberty University Accreditation Status: Accredited

Liberty University’s PhD in History is a 72 credit hours program, that can completed within 4 years.

The PhD in History prepares students to pursue a variety of career opportunities in: education, research, politics, archeology, or management of national landmarks and museums.

This program can be funded by Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (SBCV) Scholarship. The SBCV is awarded annually and it covers tuition only. It is awarded to SBCV church members.

12. PhD in Public Policy

Liberty University’s PhD in Public Policy is a 60 credit hours program, that can completed within 3 years.

With this program, you can gain the skills and knowledge you need to research and transform two world of public policy.

13. PhD in Criminal Justice

Liberty University’s PhD in Criminal Justice is a 60 credit hours program, that can completed within 3 years.

The PhD in Criminal Justice is designed for law enforcement professional. It prepares students for senior leadership roles in criminal justice organizations at all levels of government.

14. PhD in Psychology

Liberty University’s PhD in Psychology is a 60 credit hours program, that can completed within 3 years.

The PhD in Psychology is designed to prepare students to evaluate research and to understand the truth about human behavior for a biblical worldview.

15. PhD in Education

Liberty University’s PhD in Education is a 60 credit hours program, that can completed within 3 years.

The PhD in Education can prepare you for careers in various schools and administrative settings within the field of education.

16. PhD in Bible Exposition

Liberty University’s PhD in Bible Exposition is a 60 credit hours program, that can completed within 3 years.

The purpose of biblical exposition is to help you comprehend the Bible and equip you for a lifetime of study and application of God’s Word.

17. PhD in Psychology (General Psychology)

Institution: Capella University Accreditation Status: Accredited

The PhD in Psychology with a concentration in General Psychology consists of 89 total credits, including dissertation.

With this program, you can gain a deep understanding of the many facets of psychology and expand your opportunities for making a difference in people’s lives.

This program can be funded with 20k Capella Progress Rewards. Capella Progress Rewards are scholarships for new students and are not need-based. Students are awarded with $20,000 to cover part of the tuition.

18. PhD in Psychology (Development Psychology)

The PhD in Psychology with a specialization in Developmental Psychology consists of 101 total credits, including dissertation.

The program is designed to give a deep understanding of how people grow and change.

This PhD in Psychology program can also be funded with the 20k Capella Progress Reward.

19. PhD in Business Management (Accounting)

The PhD in Business Management with a specialization in Accounting consists of 75 total credits, including dissertation.

With this program, students will gain a deeper understanding of interrelated issues, processes, and functions with business organizations.

The PhD in Business Management, Accounting can be funded with the 20k Capella Progress Reward.

20. PhD in Business Management (General Business Management)

The PhD in Business Management with a specialization in General Business Management consists of 75 total credits, including dissertation.

With this program, you will master critical concepts through specialized courses and intensive in-person learning experiences in areas such as strategic management, marketing, accounting, and finance.

The PhD in Business Management, General Business Management can also be funded with the 20k Capella Progress Reward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can i earn a phd degree for free.

It is rare but it is possible to earn a PhD degree for free. There are several scholarships awarded to PhD students.

Why should I earn a PhD?

Most people pursue PhD programs to increase salary, get new job opportunities, and increase knowledge and experience.

Which Country offer free PhD programs?

PhD may be free in any country but there are several European countries that offer free education to both domestic and international students. Countries like Germany, Sweden or Norway charges little or no amount for PhD programs. But, most of the PhD programs are offered on campus.

How long does it take to earn a PhD degree?

A PhD program can be completed within 3 years to 8 years. However, there may be PhD programs that can be completed within 1 or 2 years.

What are the requirements for PhD programs?

Requirements for PhD programs usually includes: master's degree along with a bachelor's degree, GMAT or GRE Scores, Work experience, Proof of language proficiency, and letters of recommendation.

We also Recommend:

• Cheapest Online PhD programs in the World
• 2 years Online Degrees that Pay well
• PhD Scholarships in Nigeria
• Accelerated Online Degree Programs for Working Adults .

Earning a PhD is no joke, it requires a lot of time and money.

With free online PhD programs, you will no longer have to worry about the cost of pursuing a PhD program online. We have now come to end of this article, it was a lot of effort!! if you have any question, do well to ask in the Comment Section.

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5 Countries That Offer Free or Very Cheap PhD Programmes

• Updated on  
• May 11, 2023

Do you currently hold a degree or a master’s degree and desire to advance your education by pursuing a PhD abroad? The good news is that those with graduate degrees, like master’s or doctoral degrees, had the best salaries and lowest unemployment rates in several countries. Is that terrible news? A PhD program overseas might be quite expensive. When studying overseas, you would have to take tuition, living fees, and other extra costs into account. However, there is a solution to this. The next step would be researching the nations with the most affordable PhD programs. Fortunately, there are quite a few nations where the cost of attending a PhD program is either zero or extremely low. This enables you to enrol in a prestigious university overseas and learn what it’s like to live in a foreign nation and adjust to other customs. You can concentrate on your studies and any other personal or professional goals when you study for a PhD abroad with little concern for your financial situation. Having said that, the following are the 5 countries that offer free or very cheap PhD programmes in the world.

This Blog Includes:

Swedish doctoral degrees, fees and funding, admissions requirements, norwegian phd fees, admission requirements, entry requirements, types of phd in germany, phd programmes, programme length, phd fees .

A Ph.D. in Economics normally includes coursework in both macroeconomics and microeconomics. However, if you intend to teach or conduct formal research in economic subjects, this is a beneficial degree. Once the proposal is approved and the oral exam is passed, the final years of enrollment are devoted to dissertation research, writing, and defence.

Sweden is the greatest option if you want to pursue a PhD in renewable energy or a field that is closely related to it. According to data, about 56 per cent of the energy utilized in Sweden in 2019 originates from renewable sources. What is the nicest thing about obtaining a PhD in Sweden? Everyone can use it for free, even students from other countries. (Note that students seeking bachelor’s or master’s degrees who are not EU/EEA citizens are not eligible for free tuition.)

Seven of Sweden’s universities are included in the top 350 universities in the world according to the QS World University Rankings 2023, making it the home to some of the most highly regarded universities in the world. The KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Lund University, the two top universities in Sweden, are 89th and 95th, respectively.

Key details-

For students in Swedish universities, a PhD signifies the pinnacle of academic success. Similar to other nations, the focus is on your independent study leading to an original thesis that adds new knowledge to the topic.

Must Read: Best Countries for PhD

In Sweden, a doctoral study might take one of two forms:

A typical Ph.D. confers a full doctorate (together with the crucial title of “doctor”) after a minimum of four years of full-time work (240 ECTS credits).

As an alternative, you might decide to pursue a licentiate degree. Typically, this only necessitates two years of full-time work toward a more condensed and modest thesis (equivalent to 120 ECTS credits). Some students first enroll for the Swedish licentiate before upgrading to full Ph.D. candidates since it is comparable to the Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree provided in the UK or other countries.

In Sweden, there are two teaching terms (August to January and January to June), which are separated by summer and winter breaks. You will often have more flexibility throughout the year as a PhD student, but some additional courses and other activities can be connected to particular teaching periods.

There are no tuition fees for PhD study at state-funded Swedish universities (note that this does not apply to Master’s or Bachelor’s degrees). Doctoral programs are free for students from the EU, EEA, and other countries.

The same is true of application costs; there are none to be paid for a PhD in Sweden.

Although you will need to pay for your housing and living expenses, your university might be able to provide assistance.

Universities in Sweden are permitted to establish their own admittance standards for PhD programs. A bachelor’s degree in an applicable area is typically the required minimum, but a master’s degree is also preferable, especially if you’re asking for funding.

Your capacity to exhibit prior research experience will be as crucial as your previous qualifications. It is crucial that you can demonstrate some preparation for the independent research you will conduct on your PhD, even if this is just the dissertation project for one or both of your previous degrees.

Also Read: PhD in USA

Norway is another Nordic nation that ranks among the 5 countries that offer free or very cheap PhD programs. All students, regardless of nationality, are not charged tuition at Norway’s public universities. Norway’s cost of living is comparable to that of Sweden, therefore you may want to look into ways to reduce your out-of-pocket spending. Other than that, you will just need to pay a nominal semester student union charge to cover expenses like tests or sports facilities, which would only cost you between 300 and 600 Norwegian kroner (approximately INR 2353.24 to INR 4706.49). You can try your luck by submitting an application to the University of Oslo , the top-ranked institution in Norway, which is currently placed 101st in the most recent QS World University Rankings.

Following the Bologna approach, Norwegian PhD programs are third-cycle degrees. As a result, conducting research and creating a PhD thesis will be needed for you.

In Norway, PhDs frequently adhere to a standardized format. Before beginning your PhD research and thesis writing, this usually entails a training component. You might also be regarded as an employee of the university, complete with benefits. In this situation, you will need to uphold your teaching and administrative duties.

The fact that all PhD students in Norway get free tuition is a significant and alluring feature of the program. The cost of living is high in the nation. As a result, maintenance financing of some kind is typically required.

Universities in Norway do not charge tuition for their PhD programs. However, in order to join and receive a student card at many Norwegian universities, you must pay a charge of INR 4149.5 to INR 8299 to the student union each semester.

In Norway, candidates for a PhD are required to hold a master’s degree in a related field. You can check your qualifications’ eligibility at the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education. A similar degree may be approved (NOKUT).

Each research organization has a different set of conditions for applications. Always double-check with your desired university.

Typically, PhD candidates must submit a strong research proposal or project description together with the necessary application materials. Other standard materials for PhD applications may also be requested from you. These are some extra materials that might be needed:

• certified copies of all the documents that are pertinent to your education
• a strategy for financing your studies (for the full 3-4 years of full-time study, plus information about the funding source and type)
• An explanation of any significant scholarly or material resource needs
• a minimum of one proposed academic supervisor’s name (unless stipulated otherwise)

Also Read: PhD in Netherlands

Another Nordic nation, Finland , is at the top of our list of 5 countries that offer free or very cheap PhD programs. In Finland, pursuing a PhD is entirely free, even for those who are not citizens, similar to Norway and Sweden. According to QS, Finland is home to two of the top 150 institutions. This includes the 106th-ranked University of Helsinki and the 116th-ranked Aalto University . It is distinguished as a top-tier study destination by more than just its educational features. Helsinki, the capital of Finland, is ranked 66th in the most recent QS study of “Best Student Cities.” The midnight sun and the Northern lights (aurora borealis), which fill the sky with a breathtaking vista for anywhere between 10 and 20 nights a year, are only two of the most magnificent natural phenomena that can be seen in Finland’s vast, open areas.

Finland is a very economical alternative for your PhD study abroad because of its generous higher education policy. Any student, regardless of country, is not now required to pay doctoral fees.

In contrast, fees are often charged to non-EU students for Finnish Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

A master’s degree (or its equivalent) from a recognized institution is necessary for admission to a PhD program in Finland.

Other prerequisites will be determined by the area of study you are applying for and the particular procedures followed by your university. If unsure, consult your department.

Germany is famous for having a top-notch educational system and for being an innovative nation. According to QS, three of its universities are among the top 100. This includes Heidelberg University, which is ranked 65th, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, which is ranked 59th, and the Technical University of Munich , which is ranked 49th. According to the most recent Best Student Cities rankings by QS, two of its cities, Munich and Berlin, are among the top 10.

Germans invented the doctoral degree, which is based on independent study leading to the submission and review of a thesis. Most colleges continue to offer this style, although some others provide more “organized” programs:

The traditional PhD requires you to choose a research project and conduct it on your own under the supervision of a qualified supervisor (Doktorvater/Doktomutter). The candidate selects the setting for their research, whether it be in a university, non-university organization, or German corporation.

Structured doctoral programs are conducted mostly in English and are focused on the global market. Along with writing your thesis, you will complete extra training, which may entail partnerships and job placements with outside research organizations.

Doctoral degrees are typically free in Germany for all students, regardless of nationality, due to the generous governmental investment in education. You might, however, have to pay additional costs while you are a student.

All public institutions in Germany offer free tuition for doctoral-level studies for up to three years (six semesters). For any additional time beyond the term of your PhD, you might have to pay tuition.

Despite not having to pay tuition, you will still need to pay a semester contribution (Semesterbeitrag), which typically ranges from INR 8k to INR 29k. This pays for office expenses, student government, and student services (Studentenwerk).

In general, you must have completed at least eight semesters of college work before enrolling in a PhD program in Germany. Your final certification must be on par with a German master’s degree.

Additionally, the Dean’s Office (Dekanat) or Board of Examiners (Promotionsausschuss) at your university must acknowledge your prior higher education degree(s).

International students with exceptional qualifications may be admitted to a PhD program with a Bachelor’s degree (fast-track program), albeit you will normally need to pass an entrance exam.

France , which has four universities ranked among the top 100 by QS, is another nation that makes it to our list of 5 countries that offer free or very cheap PhD programmes. French institutions demand comparatively little tuition. A typical annual cost at a public university, for instance, is around 380 euros (INR 31k at the time of writing). Three French cities—Lyon, Toulouse, and of course, the nation’s capital Paris, which is placed ninth by QS—are included in the top 100 Best Student Cities list as a result of their high academic standing and affordable tuition.

The bulk of PhDs is completed as part of a program inside doctoral schools, although French universities occasionally do offer specific doctoral research programs.

The number is 266 in total. In order to provide doctorate training for PhD candidates and foster the growth of early career researchers, they are affiliated with universities and work in partnership with related research laboratories and other centres.

For a typical three-year PhD, a “doctorate” consists of six semesters, yielding two teachings (or research) semesters annually:

• late September to early January, with a break between Christmas and New Year
• early February to early June, with a spring break at Easter for several colleges

Exams are normally held at the conclusion of each semester, and institutions take a three-month summer break from July to September. As a full-time student, you will typically complete your PhD in France in 3–4 years.

The current French PhD tuition is the same for all students, regardless of nationality. But costs can differ greatly depending on whether you attend a public or private school (such a Grandes École).

Must Read: PhD in Switzerland

Public institutions charge substantially lower tuition since the State invests an average of INR 11,62,147.82 per student, per year.

The following fees may apply depending on your institution:

• Fees for PhD students at public institutions are €380 annually.
• Private institutions – Tuition at private institutions, particularly business schools, range from INR 2.49 Lakh to INR 8.30 Lakh per year.
• Administrative fees (frais de dossier), which universities may impose, are normally modest—a few tens of euros.

In France, each institution is permitted to establish its own standards and conduct personalized evaluations. However, in order to enroll as a PhD student, you will normally need to hold a Master’s degree (or equivalent) in a suitable field.

If you are pursuing your master’s degree and expect to graduate before the PhD program begins, you may apply.

Additionally, you could be accepted based on your performance on entrance tests and in pre-college courses like the ‘Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles’ (CPGE), which is a frequent practice among French Grandes Écoles.

Pursuing PhD in Finland is entirely free.

The average cost of PhD in the UK is GBP 40,000 (INR 40.67 Lakh)

One of the top countries to pursue an MBA abroad is the United States of America.

Hope now you know 5 countries that offer free or very cheap PhD programmes. Not sure which country to choose for your PhD? Don’t worry! Our Leverage Edu experts will provide you with end-to-end assistance starting from your university application to the time you reach your university and commence your studies. Call us at 1800 57 2000 to book a FREE 30-minute counselling session today.

Nikita Puri

Nikita is a creative writer and editor, who is always ready to learn new skills. She has great knowledge about study abroad universities, researching and writing blogs about them. Being a perfectionist, she has a habit of keeping her tasks complete on time before the OCD hits her. When Nikita is not busy working, you can find her eating while binge-watching The office. Also, she breathes music. She has done her bachelor's from Delhi University and her master's from Jamia Millia Islamia.

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The problem with making all academic research free

T here has been an earthquake in my corner of academia that will affect who teaches in prestigious universities and what ideas circulate among educated people around the world.

And it all happened because a concept rooted in good intentions — that academic research should be “open access,” free for everyone to read — has started to go too far.

The premise of open-access publishing is simple and attractive. It can cost libraries thousands of dollars a year to subscribe to academic journals, which sometimes means only academics affiliated with wealthy colleges and universities may access that research. But under open-access publishing, nearly anyone with an internet connection can find and read those articles for free. Authors win, because they find more readers. Academics around the world benefit, because they can access the latest scholarship. And the world wins, because scientific and intellectual progress is facilitated by the free exchange of ideas.

By now this model has taken hold in the natural sciences, especially in biology and biomedicine; during the pandemic many publishers removed paywalls from articles about vaccines and treatments. The Biden administration requires federally funded scholarly publications to be made freely available without any delay.

However, there is no such thing as a free academic article. Even with digital distribution, the expenses of running a journal are considerable. These costs include hosting the websites where people submit, peer-review, and edit articles; copyediting; advertising; preserving journal archives; and maintaining continuity as editors come and go.

As a result, unless journals have a source of revenue other than subscription fees, any move toward open access raises the question of who will cover the costs of publication.

One answer is that the money will come from authors themselves or their academic institutions or other backers. This works well enough in the natural sciences, because those researchers are often funded by grants, and some of that money can be set aside to cover a journal’s fees for publishing scientific articles. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation demands that all research funded by the foundation, including the underlying data, be published open access.

According to an MIT study , however, only a small fraction of scholars in the humanities publish their articles on an open-access basis. Unlike biologists and biomedical engineers, humanities scholars such as philosophers and historians do not get grants that can cover the publishing costs.

This means that if open access is to take hold in those fields as well — as many publishers and academics are advocating — the costs will have to be covered by some foundation or other sponsor, by the scholars’ institutions, or even by the scholars themselves. And all these models have serious downsides.

I’m a political philosopher. The earthquake in my field that I mentioned earlier shook one of our most prominent journals: the Journal of Political Philosophy.

Publishing an article in this journal has long made the difference between whether a candidate gets hired, tenured, or promoted at an elite institution of higher education. The high quality has stemmed in large part from the rigorous approach of the founding editor, Robert Goodin.

At the end of 2023, the publisher, Wiley, terminated its contract with Goodin. The reasons were not immediately clear, and over 1,000 academics, including me, signed a petition stating that we would not serve on the editorial board or write or review for the journal until Wiley reinstates Goodin. I recently attended a panel at an American Philosophical Association conference where philosophers voiced their anger and puzzlement about the situation.

One source of the problem appears to be that Wiley now charges the authors of an article or their institutions $3,840 to get published open access in the journal.

The Journal of Political Philosophy is actually hybrid open access, which means it waives the article processing charges for authors who permit their work to appear behind a subscription-only paywall. Nonetheless, Goodin and Anna Stilz , a Princeton professor and Journal of Political Philosophy editorial board member, point out that publishers like Wiley now have a strong incentive to favor open-access articles.

In the old model, in which university libraries subscribed to journals, editors were mainly incentivized to publish first-rate material that would increase subscriptions. In the open-access model, however, now that authors or their universities must cover the costs of processing articles, publishers of humanities journals seem to be incentivized to boost revenue by accepting as many articles as possible. According to Goodin , open access has “been the death knell of quality academic publishing.” The reason that Goodin lost his job, Goodin and Stilz imply, is that Wiley pressured Goodin to accept more articles to increase Wiley’s profits, and he said no. (Wiley representatives say that lines of communication had collapsed with Goodin.)

Early this year, Goodin cofounded a new journal titled simply Political Philosophy . The journal will be published by the Open Library of Humanities, which is subsidized by libraries and institutions around the world. But this version of open-access publishing does not have the financial stability of the old subscription model. Scholars affiliated with the Open Library of Humanities have pointed out that the project has substantial overhead costs, and it relied on a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that has already ended. The Open Library of Humanities is an experiment, and I hope that it works, but as of now it publishes only 30 journals , compared with the 1,600 journals that Wiley publishes.

The fact remains that no one has satisfactorily explained how open access could work in the humanities and social sciences.

In his 2023 book “ Athena Unbound : Why and How Scholarly Knowledge Should Be Free for All,” UCLA history professor Peter Baldwin attempts an answer. He points to Latin America, where some national governments cover all expenses of academic publishing. But this proposal ignores the fact that the governments of the United States and other nations probably do not want to pay for humanities and social sciences journals.

Baldwin also floats the idea of preprint depositories where academics could share documents on the cloud before they have undergone the (somewhat expensive) process of peer review. But this means that academics would lose the benefits that come from getting double-blind feedback from one’s peers. This idea would reduce the costs of publishing a journal article, but it would turn much academic writing into fancy blogging.

Ultimately, Baldwin’s solution is that authors might “have to participate directly, giving them skin in the game and helping contain costs.” This means academics might ask their employers to pay the article processing charges, ask a journal for the processing fees to be waived, or dig into their own pockets to pay to publish.

And it might mean less gets published overall. The journal Government and Opposition, published by Cambridge University Press, is entirely open access and charges $3,450 for an article to be published. I’d have to apply for a discount or a waiver to publish there. Or I could do what political philosophers in Japan and Bosnia and Herzegovina have told me they do: avoid submitting to open-access journals. Their universities will not cover their article processing charges except maybe in the top journals, and even the reduced fees can run into hundreds of dollars that these professors do not have.

In “Athena Unbound,” Baldwin notes that Harvard subscribes to 10 times as many periodicals as India’s Institute of Science. One can bemoan this fact, but one may also appreciate that Harvard’s largesse spread enough subscription revenue around to reputable journals to enable academics to avoid paying to publish in them, no matter whether they teach at regional state schools, non-elite private schools, or institutions of higher education in poor countries. For all its flaws, the old model meant that when rich alumni donated to their alma maters, it increased library budgets and thereby made it possible for scholars of poetry and state politics to run and publish in academic journals.

Until we have more evidence that open-access journals in the humanities and social sciences can thrive in the long run, academics need to appreciate the advantages of the subscription model.

Nicholas Tampio is a professor of political science at Fordham University in New York City.

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24 Best Free Plagiarism Checkers in 2024

Check this Best free online plagiarism checkers 2024 for your Thesis, Research paper, assignments, and Research articles.

Plagiarism is a serious offense that can hurt your academic or professional career. To avoid accusations of plagiarism, it’s important to use a plagiarism checker to ensure that your work is original. Many plagiarism checkers are available, so it can be difficult to choose the right one. In this article, ilovephd explains the best free plagiarism checkers of 2024 and helps you choose the one that’s right for you.

Plagiarism is not happening with intention. most of the time, it appears by mistake in your thesis. Even a single inaccurate citation also considered being plagiarism. To identify plagiarism, there are many free plagiarism checkers available online.

Why Plagiarism Checkers?

Identifying unoriginal content, reducing similarity, and improving the quality of your thesis with some effective free plagiarism checker tools are very important before submitting your thesis.

In this article, ilovephd provides the 10 free plagiarism checker tools available online for your thesis correction.

Risk Factors of Free Plagiarism Software

When it comes to free plagiarism software, the first thing that comes to your mind is content theft .

There are hundreds of free plagiarism-checking software available online but still, it would be difficult to recommend a free tool to check plagiarism. Let’s see some of the major reasons why researchers refuse to use free plagiarism software.

5 important questions to ensure before giving your content to a free plagiarism checker

• How are plagiarism-checking tools earning?
• Does that plagiarism checker store and sell your content?
• How effective that plagiarism checker is?
• Is the end report accurate?

By finding the answer to these questions, you can go further to take a plagiarism report in the free tools. With these important questions, we analyzed more than 50 free tools and shortlisted 10.

Google Adsense earns most of the tools given in the list and also ensures the data protection of unpublished scientific thesis content.

24 Best Plagiarism Checkers Free for Thesis, Research Paper, Research Articles and Assignments

1. duplichecker.com.

Duplichecker is a free online plagiarism-checking software developed for proofreading, editing online content, and plagiarism chinking for students and academic writers. this site gives the best accuracy of output with a statistical report by using their tools.

2. Plagiarismsoftware.net

Plagiarism software is one of the famous free plagiarism checkers online . This tool was designed in a way to help academic writers analyze their text documents. This free plagiarism checker performance is accurate and gives all possible details about the document.

3. Plagiarism CheckerX

This software is designed to detect duplicate content against your given documents/text/thesis which helps students, teachers, universities, colleges, and academic writers to check the originality of their content over plagiarized material.

Plagiarism CheckerX software’s trial version is FREE to download but has some limitations. But still, it performs better in the free version for small chunks of the document.

4. PlagScan.com

PlagScan is another leading plagiarism checker tool with strong privacy and legal compliance. PlagScan ensures the uploaded documents will never be shared with unauthorized third parties.

5. Plagramme.com

Plagramme plagiarism checking software works deeply to check the citations, online content, and academic documents. program reports if traces of repeated paraphrasing and copied content are found in your thesis.

6. Smallseotools.com – Free plagiarism checker

Small SEO Tools offers a Best Free Plagiarism detector which gives deep insights of the document with respective copied URLs. This free plagiarism tool helps millions of students and writers to check the plagiarism every day.

7. Plagiarisma.net

Plagiarism is a free plagiarism checker tool which also available for Android devices. This easy and free plagiarism tool helps you to check plagiarism effectively.

8. Quetext.com

  Quetext is a leading plagiarism-detection software, providing services to over 2 million teachers, students, and professionals worldwide. Quetext is to empower writers with a sense of security in their work.

9. Easybib.com

EasyBib Plus plagiarism tool provides all-in-one support to cover all your bases. The premium version of the software covers more futures.

With a single scan, you’ll receive personalized feedback to help identify potentially missing citations and help improve your sentence structure, punctuation, grammar, and more.

10. Noplag.com

Noplag provides a detailed plagiarism report that you can send and share. So don’t let plagiarism issues slow you down anymore, deal with them in the fastest and most effective. it offers various services such as plagiarism checkers for universities, colleges, schools, students, teachers, and academics.

11. Viper Plagiarism Checker

Viper Plagiarism Checker is an online plagiarism detection software that scans documents for potential plagiarism. It is used by students, teachers, and professionals to check for plagiarism in written work. It compares the content of a document to a vast database of online sources, including websites, journals, and other documents, to detect any potential plagiarism.

12. Copyleaks Plagiarism Checker

Copyleaks Plagiarism Checker is an online tool that helps you detect plagiarism in your content. It scans your content for plagiarism against billions of online sources and provides you with an instant report. It also helps you identify the sources of plagiarism and provides you with a detailed report on the plagiarism check. Copyleaks Plagiarism Checker can be used to check academic papers, articles, blog posts, and other types of content.

2 Best Paid Plagiarism Checkers for Thesis, Research Paper, and Assignment (Recommended Versions)

13. turnitin.com.

Turnitin.com provides a premium version of services to students and institutions with 10 types of plagiarism based on findings worldwide.

Each type has been given an easy-to-remember moniker to help students and instructors better identify and discuss the ramifications of plagiarism in student writing.

14. Ithenticate.com

Plagiarism checkers are software programs that scan your text against a massive database. Free options are available for basic checks, but for enhanced accuracy, consider paid services like iThenticate. This industry leader is specifically designed for professional use by scholarly publishers and research institutions. It boasts a staggering database of over 60 billion web pages and 155 million content items, including 49 million works from a network of 800 scholarly publishers. This vast reach significantly improves plagiarism detection, ensuring the originality of research before publication.

iThenticate helps editors and authors prevent misconduct by comparing manuscripts against its database of over 60 billion web pages and 155 million content items, including 49 million works from 800 scholarly publisher participants.

Bonus: 10 Best Free Plagiarism Checkers Online – Overall List

Here are some of the best free plagiarism checkers available online:

1 5. Grammarly

Grammarly offers a free plagiarism checker that scans your text for duplicate content and provides a similarity percentage. It’s user-friendly and integrates well with your writing process.

16. Copyscape

Copyscape is a dedicated plagiarism checker that can be used for free to find duplicate content online. It’s especially useful for verifying if others have copied your content.

17. DupliChecker

DupliChecker provides a free and user-friendly plagiarism checker that scans your content or similarities and generates a plagiarism report.

18. SmallSEOTools

SmallSEOTools offers a comprehensive suite of SEO and content-related tools, including a free plagiarism checker. It’s simple to use and provides detailed reports.

19. Plagscan

Plagscan offers a limited number of free checks per month. It’s known for its accuracy and is commonly used in academic and research settings.

20. Quetext

Quetext offers a free plagiarism checker with a simple interface and the ability to upload documents for scanning. It provides a similarity percentage and highlights potential issues.

21. PaperRater

In addition to grammar and spell checking, PaperRater offers a free plagiarism checker that provides an originality score and identifies potential sources of plagiarism.

22. Prepostseo

Prepostseo offers a free plagiarism checker that allows you to upload documents or check text directly on their website. It provides a similarity percentage and highlights duplicate content.

23. Plagiarisma

Plagiarism is an online plagiarism checker that supports multiple languages and checks content against a wide range of sources on the web.

24. PlagScan (Free Trial)

While PlagScan offers a paid service , it also provides a free trial version that allows you to check a limited number of documents for plagiarism

How to Choose the Best Plagiarism Checker s

When choosing a plagiarism checker, there are a few things you’ll want to consider:

• Price:  Plagiarism checkers can range in price from free to hundreds of dollars per year. Choose a plagiarism checker that fits your budget.
• Features:  Some plagiarism checkers offer more features than others. Make sure the plagiarism checker you choose has the features you need, such as a plagiarism report and a grammar checker.
• Ease of use:  Plagiarism checkers should be easy to use. Choose a plagiarism checker that’s easy to understand and navigate.
• Reliability:  Plagiarism checkers should be reliable. Choose a plagiarism checker that has a good reputation and that’s been used by others.

How to Check for Plagiarism: Ensuring Your Work is Original

Plagiarism is a serious issue, both in academic and professional settings. It involves using someone else’s ideas or words without properly citing them. Fortunately, there are several tools and techniques available to help you check your work for plagiarism before you submit it.

Here’s a guide to navigating plagiarism checkers and ensuring your writing is original:

Understanding Plagiarism Checkers:

• What they do: Plagiarism checkers are software programs that scan your text against a massive database of web pages, articles, and academic journals. They identify any significant matches, highlighting potential plagiarism.
• Peace of mind: Knowing your work is original reduces stress and avoids accusations of plagiarism.
• Catching unintentional mistakes: Even paraphrasing without proper citation can be flagged, prompting you to double-check your references.
• Not perfect: Plagiarism checkers are powerful, but they can’t catch everything. For instance, they may miss paraphrased content that retains the original meaning.
• Limited databases: Free checkers might have smaller databases, potentially missing less common sources.

Using a Plagiarism Checker:

There are several free and paid plagiarism checkers available online. Here’s a general process for using them:

• Choose a checker: Consider factors like features, database size, and cost. Free options are great for basic checks, while paid services might offer more in-depth analysis.
• Upload your text: Most checkers allow you to copy and paste your text or upload a document file.
• Run the scan: Initiate the plagiarism check and wait for the results.
• Analyze the report: The report will highlight any matches. Review each flagged section carefully.

Beyond the Checker: Avoiding Plagiarism

• Proper citation: Always cite your sources correctly, following the appropriate style guide (e.g., MLA, APA).
• Paraphrase effectively: Don’t simply copy and change a few words. Rephrase the information in your own words, but still cite the source.
• Focus on understanding: The goal of research is to learn and develop your own ideas. Don’t rely solely on copying others’ work.

Plagiarism is a serious offense that can hurt your academic or professional career. To avoid accusations of plagiarism, it’s important to use a plagiarism checker to ensure that your work is original.

Ensuring the originality of your content is essential, and the best plagiarism checkers mentioned above can assist you in avoiding the severe consequences associated with plagiarism.

By considering factors such as content database size, user interface, additional features, and pricing plans, you can select the most suitable plagiarism checker to meet your specific needs. Invest in these reliable tools to enhance your writing integrity and achieve peace of mind.

Many plagiarism checkers are available, so it’s important to choose the right one for your needs. In this article, we’ve compared the best plagiarism checkers of 2024 and helped you choose the one that’s right for you.

We hope this article helps you to choose the right plagiarism tool to check your thesis, research manuscript, and assignments.

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Breaking Boundaries with Dr. Stacy Sims, PhD: Shockwave therapy, Physiology changes over the Lifecycle, Resistance Training, Injury Risk, Running, Males V Females Differences in the Clinical Setting, Menstruation Cycle Training - 104 Sports Medicine Project

Send us a Text Message. https://www.drstacysims.com/ Dr. Stacy T. Sims is an internationally recognized exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist. Her research focuses on female athlete health and performance, challenging existing dogma and improving research on women.Dr. Sims authored the book "ROAR," which explores sex differences in training and nutrition across the lifespan.She has been named one of the top 50 visionaries of the running industry and one of the top 40 women changing the paradigm of her field by Outside Magazine.Dr. Sims has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers, authored books, and is a sought-after speaker at professional and academic conferences.Currently, she serves as a Senior Research Associate at SPRINZ- AUT University, supervising PhD students and advising cutting-edge companies.Dr. Sims operates her own business, providing online learning material focused on women's training with their physiology across the lifespan.She resides in Mt. Maunganui, New Zealand, with her husband and young daughter, continuing her mission to revolutionize exercise nutrition and performance for women.Clinical content to help you day to day: https://patreon.com/SportsMedicineProject?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Sign up for a free weekly Research review about topics related to Sports Medicine straight to your email: https://gmail.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=c3dca95db0740390c605a128e&id=b41f1293ca Read through our already written blogs: https://achievepodiatry.com.au

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