Assistantships

Financial support—in the form of assistantships that include a tuition waiver—is available on a competitive basis for students in the PhD program. The doctoral program makes every effort to fund all doctoral students that we admit. We are also committed to developing the full teaching potential of our doctoral students, so that they will enter the job market with a high level of teaching experience.

The standard assistantship for doctoral-level students is $20,000 for the academic year for each of the first four years. Additional funding may be available in the summer, but it is not guaranteed. Assistantships are renewable for four years, pending satisfactory performance and progress in the program. Assistantships generally include a tuition waiver but do not cover academic fees or health insurance. The university does, however, provide a substantially discounted health insurance package. Assistantships beyond the four years are contingent on funding and typical offers are substantially less than $20,000, though do include tuition waivers.

A Ph.D. assistantship involves 520 hours per year of departmentally assigned work divided between a teaching component and a research component. For the teaching component, the new Ph.D. student generally begins by teaching break-out sections of a large lecture course, while more advanced doctoral students can teach three stand-alone courses per academic year. The research component of the assistantship assigns each graduate student to a faculty mentor, whom the student assists for 6-8 hours per week on a research project.

Assistantships are available only to students in residence. Assistantship support is contingent upon the student’s registering in and maintaining a full-time course load, which is defined as enrollment in at least 18 graduate credit hours during each annual appointment. This 18-hour minimum is achieved by enrolling in a combination of graduate courses (three per semester is the norm, equating to nine credit hours) and “directed research” hours that do not credit to the degree program but do provide transcript acknowledgement of the research work attached to the assistantship.
In order to be considered for an assistantship, we require that your application (complete with GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and transcripts) be submitted by December 1 (for entry in the following fall semester).

Financial support—in the form of some combination of a tuition waiver and lab assistantships or research assistantships—is available on a competitive basis for students in the MFA track. Lab assistants typically help with production-oriented support tasks (such as equipment checkout). Research assistants provide help to a faculty member’s scholarly/creative efforts or to a research initiative.

Assistantships generally include a yearly stipend and a tuition waiver, but they do not cover academic fees or health insurance. The university does offer a substantially subsidized health insurance package.

Assistantships are awarded to full-time students only. All students on assistantship must register for 12 credit hours per semester and 9 credit hours in the summer semester: The credit hours are a combination of Course Work and Directed Research under their assigned faculty member.

Students may apply for an assistantship at any time, but assistantships are generally offered in the summer for the coming academic year (fall/spring). In order for applicants to our graduate program to be considered for an assistantship, we require that your admission application be completed and submitted by the deadline. (February 15).