Category: admissions
Last updated: 2026-10-09
A Vietnamese reader meets four English words for one idea. Vietnamese has a single word, học bổng, and a funding advert in English may use any of the four. They are not four names for the same thing. I read the graduate-school pages of Stanford, Oregon State and Missouri, and the UKRI pages for the UK, on 9 October 2026, and found that each word points at something different.
Direct answer: The four words name what the money is tied to. A US fellowship is tied to the person and carries no service. An assistantship is tied to a job. A UK studentship is a funded place that a university offers. A scholarship is the vaguest of the four, so read the award terms, not the label.
The reading in this guide is MAAS's own, based on published definitions, not a ranking of which type is better. The question of who decides which place is funded is covered in Who decides whether a PhD studentship is offered to you?, so this guide stays on the vocabulary.
Is an assistantship the same as a fellowship?
Direct answer: No. Stanford's Graduate Financial Support glossary says fellowships “provide financial aid, not salary” and that “No service is expected in return for a fellowship” (Stanford University, n.d.). It describes an assistantship as graduate student employment, paid as salary plus a tuition allowance for teaching or research services (Stanford University, n.d.).
Oregon State puts the same split in numbers. A fellowship has no service requirement in hours or work, although a sponsor may still require deliverables, while an assistantship has specified hours and a work requirement within 13-week intervals (Oregon State University Graduate School, n.d.). Oregon State also says fellows are not employees, whereas assistants fall under a collective bargaining agreement.
Missouri's catalog gives the working figure for the job side: graduate assistantships generally entail 20 hours of work per week, or 0.50 full-time equivalent (University of Missouri, n.d.). Read together, the fellowship is money for studying and the assistantship is pay for work that also happens to train you. The two can be held together, and Missouri adds that the work requirement then applies only to the assistantship part.
What is a studentship, and how is it not a scholarship?
Direct answer: In UK usage a studentship is a funded place, not a prize awarded to a person. UKRI says it does not fund doctoral students directly and that you cannot apply directly to it, because each place a research organisation offers using its funding is called a studentship (UKRI, n.d.-a).
UKRI's training-grant terms define a studentship as the funding award made by a research organisation to a student for postgraduate training (UKRI, n.d.-e). The money sits with the university first. For ESRC, prospective students must apply directly to a doctoral training partnership or centre, and studentships can only be held on accredited pathways within one (UKRI, n.d.-b).
Because the university holds the award, UKRI can set floor figures for it. UKRI's minimum stipend for 2026 to 2027 is £21,805, with a fee level of £5,238, and funding for full-time studentships usually lasts between three and four years (UKRI, n.d.-c; UKRI, n.d.-a). The nearby question, whether a Dutch PhD is a job or a scholarship, is in Netherlands PhD: employee or scholarship status.
Does "fellowship" mean the same thing in the UK and the US?
Direct answer: Not always. In US graduate policy a fellowship is student aid with no service. In UKRI usage the word can name a stage after the doctorate: Future Leaders Fellowships support researchers ready to lead their own programme for four years, and ESRC runs a Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (UKRI, n.d.-d; UKRI, n.d.-b).
The trap for anyone searching "fellowships for PhD". A UK page headed fellowships may describe a job for someone who already holds the degree, while a US page with the same word may describe money for a student still enrolled. Check the eligibility line first. If it asks for a doctorate by the start date, it is not a way to enter one.
Is a scholarship the same as either of them?
Direct answer: No, and it is the least reliable of the four. Missouri's catalog separates fellowships, which carry no service or employment requirement, from scholarships, noting that a scholarship can require service responsibilities or other deliverables (University of Missouri, n.d.). The word alone does not tell you whether you owe work.
For money described as a scholarship, ask the question the other three words answer for you: is there an hour requirement, who pays it, and what ends it. A related question, how the funder's conditions describe the funder's duties and not your strengths, is in What do PhD scholarship eligibility rules describe?.
What should you check before accepting any of the four?
Direct answer: Check three lines in the award document: whether any hours of work are stated, who holds the money, and what ends it. UKRI's terms bar teaching or demonstration pay from being taken out of the studentship stipend, because such duties count as employment (UKRI, n.d.-e).
The UKRI teaching rule shows why the label matters. If a UK department asks a studentship holder to teach, the teaching must be paid separately from the stipend. An assistantship works the other way round, since the salary is the payment for the hours. In MAAS's reading, a document that mixes the two, for example a "scholarship" with weekly lab hours and no separate pay, deserves a written question before you sign.
MAAS reads award letters with candidates and helps arrange the questions to send; the candidate decides, signs and replies personally. See PhD Application Strategy and Execution for what the service covers.
Frequently asked questions
Is an assistantship the same as a fellowship?
No. Stanford describes a fellowship as financial aid with no service expected and an assistantship as employment paid as salary plus a tuition allowance (Stanford University, n.d.).
What is a studentship versus a scholarship?
A UK studentship is a funded place a research organisation offers from funding it holds, and UKRI says you cannot apply directly to UKRI for it. A scholarship may or may not carry service (UKRI, n.d.-a; University of Missouri, n.d.).
What does a PhD assistantship mean?
A paid teaching or research job held while you study. At Missouri it generally means about 20 hours a week, or 0.50 full-time equivalent (University of Missouri, n.d.).
How much is the minimum UK studentship stipend?
UKRI's minimum for 2026 to 2027 is £21,805, with a fee level of £5,238 (UKRI, n.d.-c).
Is a fellowship the same as a scholarship or a grant?
Not in policy wording. A US fellowship is student aid without service, a scholarship can carry duties, and ESRC's Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme targets researchers immediately after the doctorate (Stanford University, n.d.; University of Missouri, n.d.; UKRI, n.d.-b).
Related MAAS guides
- Who decides whether a PhD studentship is offered to you?
- Netherlands PhD: employee or scholarship status
- What do PhD scholarship eligibility rules describe?
- PhD funding decisions in US admissions
- PhD application resources
- PhD Application Strategy and Execution
References
Oregon State University Graduate School. (n.d.). How are fellowships different from assistantships? Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://graduate.oregonstate.edu/finance/graduate-fellowships-and-scholarships/how-are-fellowships-different-assistantships
Stanford University. (n.d.). Glossary. Graduate Financial Support. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://gfs.stanford.edu/glossary
UKRI. (n.d.-a). UKRI-funded studentships. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/ukri-funded-studentships/
UKRI. (n.d.-b). Early career researchers: ESRC. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/developing-people-and-skills/career-support-in-research/early-career-researchers/
UKRI. (n.d.-c). Guidance for training grant holders. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/studentship-guidance/guidance-for-training-grant-holders/
UKRI. (n.d.-d). Future Leaders Fellowships. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/our-fellowship-opportunities/future-leaders-fellowships/
UKRI. (n.d.-e). UKRI training grants: Standard terms and conditions of training grant. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://www.ukri.org/publications/terms-and-conditions-for-training-funding/ukri-training-grants-standard-terms-and-conditions-of-training-grant/
University of Missouri. (n.d.). Graduate assistantships and fellowships. Academic Catalog. Retrieved October 9, 2026, from https://catalog.missouri.edu/academicpolicies/graduateassistantsandfellows/
Tools & resources
- Stanford Graduate Financial Support glossary: https://gfs.stanford.edu/glossary
- UKRI studentship guidance: https://www.ukri.org/manage-your-award/studentship-guidance/