Financial Assistantships

Typically, full-time MSc and PhD students receive offers of full financial support from the department for a guaranteed period. The department's financial support takes the form of assistantships which entail some combination of teaching and/or research duties. No separate application is needed for financial support.  For information about tuition fee scholarships, please refer to Tuition Fee Scholarships.

MSc

MSc students will be supported on a TAship at $6,489.72 per term/4 months (based on September 2021 rate) for the first two terms/8 months. After that, students pursuing the essay option will continue at the TA rate for the remaining three terms for a total of 5 terms/20 months of guaranteed support.

Students pursuing the 12-credit MSc thesis option will be paid  $9423.62 per term (4 months per term) after the first two terms/8 months for the remaining four terms for a total of 6 terms/24 months of guaranteed support. 

Support is based on a combination of teaching and/or research duties. Teaching duties require an average of 12 hours per week. MSc students are typically supported through a teaching assistantship for their first two terms and a research assistantship for the remainder of the program. Support is generally guaranteed for the first 20 months for the essay option and 24 months for the 12-credit thesis option, contingent on the student's satisfactory performance in his or her assigned tasks.

PhD Track students will be supported at $6,489.72 per term/4 months (based on September 2021 rate) for their first two terms/8 months. After that, students pursuing the 12-credit MSc thesis option will be paid $9423.62 per term which amounts to $22,403.06 taxable stipend in the first year and $28,270.86 taxable stipend in the second year.

Students pursuing the Breadth essay option will continue at the $6489.72 per term for the remaining three terms for a total of 20 months of guaranteed support.

Once a PhD-track student passes the Research Proficiency Evaluation (RPE), the student transfers to the PhD program and receives a stipend of $24,000 taxable stipend per year.

Support is based on a combination of teaching and/or research duties. Teaching duties require an average of 12 hours per week. MSc students are typically supported through a teaching assistantship for their first two terms and a research assistantship for the remainder of the program. Support is generally guaranteed for the first 20 months of the program, contingent on the student's satisfactory performance in his or her assigned tasks.

PhD

PhD students in good standing each receive $24,000 per year based on a combination of teaching and/or research duties and Tuition Fee Award. Teaching duties require an average of 12 hours per week. Whether a PhD student teaches or holds a research assistantship is based on the preferences of the student and his/her supervisor, though PhD students typically TA for at least two terms. Support is generally guaranteed for the first 60 months of the program, contingent on the student's satisfactory performance in his or her assigned tasks.