Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Bekins <pbekins AT fuse.net>]

Charles Halton has a list of programs with an ANE emphasis on the sidebar of 
his blog (www.awilum.com). The top-tier programs will typically provide the 
kind of stipend that will cover your tuition + some living expense. This will 
usually cover the dissertation phase as well which is an important aspect to 
consider. The downside is that they only accept a couple students each year.

If you truly are interested in paleography, I would begin with McCarter at 
Hopkins. The other top-tier programs would be Berkeley, NYU, Toronto, UCLA, 
Texas, and Yale. Note that Harvard is not listed because the main Hebrew 
Bible/Semitics profs are now at Texas. 

I will receive the PhD in Bible and ANE with emphasis in Semitics this June 
from Hebrew Union College. HUC does offer a stipend to cover tuition plus 
some living expenses, but it does not cover the dissertation years and due to 
retirement, we do not currently have a strong emphasis on Semitics. If you 
have specific questions feel free to contact me off-list.

Peter Bekins
Cincinnati, OH