Financial Aid

We are able to provide financial support to graduate students through a variety of university and departmental teaching and research assistantships, fellowships, and awards. Most assistantships and fellowships carry a stipend plus a tuition waiver. Only full-time students are eligible for these awards.

Assistantships normally require 20 hours of work per week devoted to assisting faculty with either teaching or research. Teaching assistants grade papers, lead discussion sections, and occasionally lecture in large undergraduate classes. Advanced graduate students are sometimes assigned their own undergraduate class to teach. To see the dollar amounts currently awarded to graduate assistants, see http://www.tugsa.org/contract2/wages.html .

Depending upon available resources, assistantships may be awarded either to incoming or continuing students. If an assistantship is awarded to an incoming student during the first year, the department usually continues to fund that student for two years for Master's degree students and three years for Ph.D. students, provided the students remain in good academic standing.

In recent years, we have been able to support a number of graduate students on externally funded faculty research projects. Positions on funded research projects may include full or partial tuition coverage in addition to stipends for up to 20 hours per. The timing and availability of such opportunities depend on the status of faculty research projects and external grants.

There is no special form for applying for financial aid from the department. Instead, a brief cover letter that mentions the student's interest in financial aid should be appended to the application for admission. Applicants should also consult the Graduate School website ( http://www.temple.edu/grad/finances ) for information and application deadlines and funding opportunities available university-wide.