Department of Linguistics
Internal Funding Sources
The Linguistics Department receives an annual merit-based financial aid budget from the Graduate School. Each spring, the department's Assistantship Committee makes financial aid decisions for the following academic year. Awards are highly competitive.
Applicants (including international applicants) who wish to be considered for financial aid must meet the January 2nd application deadline, and should present very strong application materials. In particular, applicants should outline a strong research program in their statement of purpose, and should include a relevant sample of original research (for undergraduate applicants, a research paper or senior thesis would be appropriate; for graduate applicants, a Master's Thesis or major research paper would be appropriate). All new applicants to the program will automatically be considered for financial aid. There is no separate application for fellowships, assistantships, or scholarships. Currently enrolled students who wish to be considered for an award must submit a request to the Department by the January 2nd application deadline.
University Fellowships: Each department may nominate two applicants to its Ph.D. program for the prestigious University Fellowships, which provide five years of full funding (tuition, stipend and health insurance). Recipients of these awards are designated 'University Fellow' and participate in a special program that includes mentoring, special lectures, and other activities.
Doctoral Assistantships: Assistantships provide a taxable stipend ($18,040 for the 2007-2008 AY), cover thesis research fees or tuition (typically for three courses a semester) and health insurance. Recipients must be full-time students; they work 15 hours a week as Research Assistants (RAs) or Teaching Assistants (TAs) assigned to individual faculty, or may be assigned to teach a section of an undergraduate course such as Introduction to Language. Assistantships are normally renewable for five years, based on review of performance. Only Ph.D. students are eligible for these awards.
Scholarships cover tuition for between one and four courses or thesis research fees, with no work requirement. Scholarships are awarded for a term of one or two semesters.
A limited number of RAships are also available in connection with individual faculty grants. Please see our Faculty Research page for information about faculty grants.
Other Language Departments: Graduate students are also engaged as teaching assistants or instructors by language departments in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics. To find out about these opportunities, students should contact the various language departments directly.
Travel Grants: The Linguistics Department awards competitive travel grants of up to $300 for conference presentations. A call for applications is issued towards the end of fall semester. In addition, students should apply to the Graduate School for conference travel grants for various levels of support. Please note that travel grants may also be available from professional organizations such as AAAL and TESOL. Students are encouraged to join the relevant organizations.
External Sources of Funding