What the GIDP Numbers Say About Graduate Students and Funding at the University of Arizona

Updated

The Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (GIDPs) at the University of Arizona enroll about 400 graduate students, and 65% of them are funded through Graduate Assistantships. Those assistantships are spread across 59 departments on campus, and GIDP programs account for 8.5% of all doctoral degrees awarded. These figures describe the scale and funding reach of the programs as reported on the GIDP site; they are aggregate numbers, not a guarantee of funding for any individual applicant.

The Four Headline Figures

Measure Reported value What it tells you
Graduate students enrolled in GIDPs 400 The overall size of the interdisciplinary graduate community
GIDP students funded through Graduate Assistantships 65% Roughly two in three GIDP students hold an assistantship
Campus departments that hired GIDP students as Graduate Assistants 59 Assistantship placements reach well beyond the GIDP offices themselves
Doctoral degrees awarded that were GIDPs 8.5% GIDPs' share of the university's doctoral output

Reading the Numbers Carefully

Enrollment and funding are different questions

The 400 figure is a headcount of enrolled students; the 65% figure is a share of that group holding Graduate Assistantships. A high funding percentage signals that assistantship support is a common path in these programs, but it does not mean every admitted student receives one, and the page does not break the percentage down by program, year, or international status.

The 59-department figure is about placement breadth

Assistantships for GIDP students are not confined to a single administrative unit. Hiring across 59 departments suggests that interdisciplinary students are placed in teaching or research roles throughout the campus. For a prospective student, this is a reason to ask, during the application process, which departments typically hire assistants in your specific program.

The 8.5% share measures doctoral output, not prestige

This is the proportion of all doctoral degrees awarded that came through GIDPs. It is a useful scale indicator — interdisciplinary programs are a meaningful but minority share of doctoral production — and it should not be read as a ranking or a quality measure.

Why the Programs Exist at This Scale

The GIDP page frames the programs as transcending departmental boundaries: they combine ideas, techniques, and expertise from traditional fields to support research at disciplinary interfaces. The founding directors established this approach more than 60 years ago, and the model has persisted at UA. The site describes 21 GIDPs operating through collaborative relationships between colleges, with interdisciplinary research and education presented as part of the university's mission.

What to Do With These Figures

  • If you are comparing programs: use the 400 enrollment and 65% assistantship figures as context for how large and how funded the GIDP community is overall, then ask each specific program for its own cohort size and funding rates.
  • If funding is your priority: treat 65% as a signal that assistantships are common, and confirm eligibility, duration, and department placement directly with the program you are applying to.
  • If you want the full picture: the GIDP site (gidp.arizona.edu) is the entry point for program listings and the source of these statistics; check individual program pages for details the aggregate numbers cannot show.