Financial Aid
AssistantshipsThe Department of History and Classics annually appoints a number of Graduate Research and Teaching Assistants at stipends from about $2,400 to about $10,000, for services requiring three to twelve hours a week for eight months of the year. Partial appointments on a prorated basis may also be made. At the time of application, prospective graduate students should indicate whether they wish to be considered for an assistantship, but no appointment will be offered to any student until he/she has been formally admitted to graduate studies. Appointments are not normally made until late April.
The two primary criteria for allocating graduate assistantships are the needs of the department and the merit of the individual student. The needs of the department vary: certain areas might be designated for strategic development and therefore more funding might be allocated to applicants to our program from those areas, or the department might require specialized skills and therefore award an assistantship to a student who possesses those skills. Ranking of students by merit is generally done in conjunction with decisions on admission; when the graduate committee ranks applicants, it generally takes into consideration the applicant's statement of purpose, letters of recommendation, record of awards and publications, and gradepoint average (not necessarily in that order).
Student need is a criterion for the allocation of graduate assistantships only in so far as special consideration is given to foreign students at the MA and PhD levels and to-out-of province students at the MA level.
It is the normal policy of the department to award an assistantship to all PhD students, although reasonable exceptions do occur with the consent of the student. Foreign students are normally awarded an assistantship of 12 hours, others 6 hours.
The department is usually not able to fund all MA students. The normal maximum levels of assistantship for those MA students who receive them are: 12 hours for foreign students, 6 hours for out-of-province students, and 3 for all others.
PhD students are normally funded for four years, MA students for one. For PhD students, renewal of assistantship from year to year depends on satisfactory academic progress. See Table 1 as a guideline for what constitutes satifactory progress.
| TABLE 1. PROGRESS THROUGH PhD. | |
| Year 1 | Course Work |
| Year 2 | Comprehensive Examinations, (modern) Language |
| Year 3 | Candidacy Examination, Research |
| Year 4 | Research, Writing |
| Year 5 | Final Draft, Defence |
If a student acquires additional funding as a research assistant appointed on trust funds or receives another additional assistantship from another department or university funds, it is normal departmental policy to place the student in the academic internship program, which guarantees total funding, from all combined sources, of at least $7000 and makes the student eligible for (but does not guarantee) a Graduate Studies and Research Scholarship.
Special Third Term Assistantships for the period between 1 May and 31 August may be available.
Graduate Student Teaching
Normally only PhD candidates (i.e., those who have passed their candidacy examinations) are invited to teach. In Special Sessions, however, doctoral students may teach before their candidacy examinations, with the permission of their supervisor and the Graduate Chair. A far as departmental budget allows, each PhD candidate will be offered a chance to teach two single-term courses or equivalent (more if the needs of the department require it), only one of which may be at the 400 level.
Graduate students normally may not teach world history. The student’s supervisor will review course outlines and also see the class evaluations at the end of term. Students will be encouraged to work with a teaching mentor, not necessarily the thesis supervisor.
Other Financial Assistance
Students are directed also to scholarships offered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Information concerning these awards is available from the Graduate Secretary, Department of History and Classics at the
Important deadlines include:
October 1: Departmental deadline for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Proposal.
January 5: Deadline for submission of General Awards applications to Department
| Graduate FGSR Information |