Financial Aid Criteria

These guidelines are intended to inform students and faculty about the range of criteria used by the Financial Aid Sub-Committee (a sub-committee of the Graduate Studies Committee) in making decisions about funding. They also cover criteria used in making TA appointments (but not TA assignments, which are the province of the TA coordinator).

The first point to be made regards the variability of levels of funding from year to year. Support for TA positions comes from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and is therefore subject to change each semester. Funds for fellowship support are also subject to change. The total sum available to the department may change over time; moreover, the department's success in obtaining Graduate College fellowships has an impact on how much departmental fellowship money we can offer. Within the parameters described below, the allocation of financial aid will always depend on the availability of resources.

Another important point is the range of demands on available financial aid.  The department relies on fellowships to recruit outstanding students, but also recognizes the need to support continuing students' research at the pre-dissertation and dissertation stages. The Financial Aid Sub-Committee should strive for a good balance in allocating resources among these different needs.

General Criteria

All other factors being equal, the quality of the student's proposal, the adviser's recommendation letter and the pool of applicants will weigh most heavily in awarding fellowships. Additional factors that will enter into the decision-making process include:

  • stage in program (ie ABD or not)
  • rate of progress through program
  • grades
  • number of EX's (see "Policy on EX's" below)
  • previous support from the department (everything else being equal, the Financial Aid Sub-Committee would try to favor the applicant who has received less financial support from the department. Winning a pre-dissertation travel grant however, will not negatively effect one's chances of winning a dissertation grant. TA positions are counted as financial aid within the overall scheme of grad. student support, but they are not considered a "perk" that would lessen a student's chance of receiving fellowships, 298's, etc.)
  • evidence of professional activity (ie conference papers, publications)

Criteria for Specific Forms of Aid

The following criteria apply to specific forms of aid:

Widenor Teaching Fellowships (298's)

Teaching experience and evidence of success in previous teaching based on instructors' evaluation letters and ICES scores) will be a positive factor in decision-making for 298s. Students who have never taught before will normally not be considered for 298s. Previous experience teaching a lecture course (ie a summer lecture course) will not be counted against the applicant as a form of prior privilege.

Similarly having a departmental fellowship will not be counted against the applicant.

Being too advanced in the program will be counted against the applicant. The ideal time to apply for a 298 is during the writing of the dissertation.

The sub-committee cannot guarantee that a second semester of funding will be offered to all students who are awarded a 298. Depending on the availability of funding, the goal will be to offer a second semester of funding (either in the form of a TAship or fellowship), so that the student will have a one-year funding package. Students who have previously received a departmental fellowship may well not receive an additional fellowship to supplement the 298.

IPRH Fellows

The stipend for IPRH fellows is $7,000 for the academic year (as of 2002-03). As in the case of Widenor fellows, the financial aid sub-committee will seek additional support for students who become IPRH fellows. Again, the possibility of offering additional funding will depend on the availability of resources. Students who have previously received a departmental fellowship may well not receive an additional fellowship to supplement the IPRH stipend.

Graduate College Dissertation Completion Fellowships

Students who accept a dissertation completion fellowship from the Graduate College are expected to finish their dissertations in the subsequent academic year. The terms of the Grad College fellowship forbid us from allocating any more support to recipients.

TAs

Funding for TA positions is controlled by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. A delicate balance exists each year between the number of available TA positions and the number of applicants. In previous years we often had too many TA positions for too few applicants. With the current financial crisis, we anticipate having too few positions for the number of applicants. To meet this problem, we have devised the following criteria for allocating TA positions.

In contrast to other forms of aid, seniority plays an inverse role in awarding TAships. Students applying for a first year of TA support will have first priority. Students applying for a second year of TA support will normally come next. Our assumption is that (unless things change drastically) we will always have enough positions available for the 1st and 2nd years of TA'ing. Students applying for a third year of teaching come next; however, at this stage we may begin to consider other factors more closely, such as stage in and progress through program, financial need (ie visa status making it impossible to find other sources of employment), etc.

Success in teaching may also be a factor in allocating teaching positions, (as evidenced by instructors' evaluation letters and ICES scores). The department should continue to mentor graduate student teaching and help graduate students improve their teaching skills.

The final point to make about TA positions is that the calendar for making appointments is often out of the department's hands. First, we have to wait to find out how many positions have been allocated by the college. Then we have to make offers to students who have applied for positions and who come first in the priority ranking. Then we have to wait for those students to resign their appointments as they receive other forms of funding. Only then can we move down the list and make offers to the remaining students. This means that some students may find themselves on a waiting list in April and only receive an appointment in May or even later. The department understands how difficult this situation is for students, but also needs to avoid making offers to more people than we can employ. The more quickly students resign TA appointments after receiving alternate employment, the more quickly we can move down the waiting list. Students who are waiting to hear about alternate sources of funding should inform the TA coordinator.

Policy on EX's

In the future,EX's may disqualify students from financial aid. Students with more than 2 outstanding EX's or with 2 EX's one of which has been outstanding for more than a year at the time appointments are made in March/April will no longer be eligible for TAships or Pre-Dissertation Travel Awards. (Cases where work has been submitted but not graded should be brought to the attention of the DGS). The History Department should continue its efforts to reduce the TA workload to ensure that students are able to complete coursework while holding TA positions.

updated: April 2003