In an April 23, 2024 Guide notice, NIH announced Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) stipend levels for fiscal year (FY) 2024.
Effective for all NRSA awards made on or after October 1, 2023, the following annual stipend levels apply to all individuals receiving support through institutional research training (T) grants or individual fellowship (F) awards.
They are as follows:
| Career Level (Years of Experience) | 12 Months | 1 Month |
| Predoctoral | $28,224 | $2,352 |
| Postdoctoral 0 | $61,008 | $5,084 |
| Postdoctoral 1 | $61,428 | $5,119 |
| Postdoctoral 2 | $61,884 | $5,157 |
| Postdoctoral 3 | $64,356 | $5,363 |
| Postdoctoral 4 | $66,492 | $5,541 |
| Postdoctoral 5 | $68,964 | $5,747 |
| Postdoctoral 6 | $71,532 | $5,961 |
| Postdoc 7 or more | $74,088 | $6,174 |
NIAID will revise NRSA awards already made in FY 2024 to reflect the updated stipend levels. For awards made before FY 2024, the increased stipend levels do not apply and are not permitted.
The corresponding institutional allowances also increased:
- Predoctoral—$4,750 per year at non-federal public, private, and non-profit institutions (domestic and foreign) and $3,650 per year for federal and for-profit institutions.
- Postdoctoral—$12,400 per year at non-federal public, private, and non-profit institutions (domestic and foreign) and $11,300 per year for federal and for-profit institutions.
The amounts provided for Tuition and Fees are unchanged from FY 2023.
NIAID maintains an up-to-date list of stipend levels on our page Salary Cap, Stipends, & Training Funds. Refer to What Do Training Funds Pay For? and What Do Fellowships Pay For? to learn more about NRSA support.
In Pursuit of Further Increases
Last year, NIH’s Advisory Committee to the Director Working Group on Re-Envisioning NIH-Supported Postdoctoral Training recommended that NIH raise stipends for postdocs to a baseline of $70,000. While the FY 2024 stipend levels fall short of that target, they nonetheless amount to the largest year-over-year increase to NRSA stipend levels since FY 2017.
Dr. Michael Lauer, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research, discusses the challenge of raising stipend levels amid a constrained budget environment in his blog post Increases for National Research Service Award Stipends and Childcare Subsidies. He alludes to troublesome second-order effects of raising stipend levels too quickly; specifically, NIH’s concern that rushed stipend level increases could result in drastic cuts to the number of supported scholars.
As explained in the Guide notice linked above, NIH hopes to match the working group’s recommendations within the next 3 or 4 years, as appropriations allow.
Read the NIH press release NIH to Increase Pay Levels for Pre- and Postdoctoral Scholars at Grant Recipient Institutions for additional explanation