More than $98,000 will be granted to NIU graduate students pursuing their doctorate degrees during the 1987-88 school year.

Jerrold Zar, Graduate School dean, said the Dissertation Completion award was established two years ago to support graduate students who, in their final year of study, only have to finish their doctoral dissertation.

The students receive the award to help them complete research for their dissertation, Zar said. The students must work at least 20 hours a week on their research, although most of the recipients work more, he said.

Zar said, “Good graduates are supported this way.” He said the award supports as many as possible, but there is not enough money to support all the graduates completing dissertations.

Last year, 17 students out of 26 applicants were granted awards, Zar said. Two students received $5,400 for political science, four received $4,950 for psychology, three received $6,975 for English and one received $4,500 for leadership and educational policy.

In addition, three students received $6,075 for history, one received $6,480 for geology, two received $5,400 for economics and one received $6,795 for chemistry, Zar sad.

Money for the awards has already been figured into the university’s budget, Zar said. He said $98,325 was allocated last year for the awards, and this year the amount will be about the same.

The graduate students who received the award last year are now being supported by the funds, Zar said. Presently, there are about 1,000 graduate students at NIU, but only 26 applied for last year’s awards, he said.

Zar said he thinks the reason for the low number of applications submitted might be because only those graduate students who expressed interest in the award to their professors or department chairmen were recommended to receive the award.

Also, the departments are advised to recommend only those applicants who have a high probability of completing the degree requirements during the award’s tenure, he said.

Applicants are required to describe their doctoral research projects and they must provide an endorsement from a faculty member along with recommendations from their department chairmen and from two of their professors who are familiar with their intended research, Zar said. This year’s application deadline is Feb. 12.

The applications are judged by a committee consisting of one representative from each doctoral department and one graduate student, Zar said. After the committee judges the applications, the results are reported to a graduate council which informs Zar of the award winners.

Zar said the department chairman does not vote on who receives the award. Instead, the decision is left entirely to the committee. The number and amount of the awards granted depend on the number of students applying from each department, Zar said. He said between 15 and 18 students will receive the award for 1987-88.