At Brock University, we realize the importance of financial support for our graduate students. Therefore, financial assistance opportunities are available to our students in several forms including grants, scholarships, funding packages etc.
What is a Funding Package?
A funding package is financial support for our full-time students in research-based graduate program and includes a fellowship and an assistantship.
Fellowship
Brock guarantees our full-time, research-based graduate students a fellowship for the defined length of their graduate program (unless the student receives external scholarship or funding). If a student receives an external scholarship or funding, they will receive a Dean of Graduate Studies (DGS) Excellence Scholarship instead. Payment details of the fellowship are below.
Assistantship
The optional paid assistantship can include a Teaching Assistant (TA) or Research Assistant (RA) position. Most programs reserve this paid position for their graduate students and are responsible for hiring and coordinating hours for students while the rate of pay is governed by the CUPE collective agreement. Students need to be eligible to work in Canada to receive assistantship positions.
Full-time grad students can find the Request for approval of extra on-campus employment hours form and hour limitations here.
Payment of your Funding Package
The annual graduate fellowship is divided equally amongst the three terms (Fall, Winter and Spring) and posted to your student financial account (my.brocku.ca) at the beginning of each term, and will be directly applied to any outstanding tuition.
The fellowship is not available for part-time students. For students with a remaining positive balance, a refund may be requested after the last day to add/drop course.
Any other awards or scholarships are one-time lump sum payments posted to your financial account at the beginning of the relevant term.
The Graduate Assistantship is employment income, and is paid bi-weekly to your personal bank account. Graduate Assistantships are provided by your program, and questions should be directed to your Graduate Program Director.
Tuition and ancillary fees are posted to the student’s financial account at the beginning of each term (September, January, May) and deducted from the total graduate funding amount for the term. If your funding exceeds your tuition fee assessment, you will be eligible for payment to your personal bank account via INTERAC electronic funds transfer through your Brock e-mail account.
No transfers will be made if changes are pending.
Graduate students may view their tuition fee assessments through their Brock Portal under “Finance History.”
Please note that students on an approved leave of absence or inactive term are not eligible to receive University financial support. Eligible funding terms may commence again following an approved Leave of Absence or Inactive term.
Additional Funding Opportunities
- DGS (Dean of Graduate Studies) Excellence Scholarship – awarded to recipients of external scholarships of OGS, QEII, NSERC, CIHR or SSHRC (Vanier award recipients are ineligible to receive this scholarship). Awards of $35,000/year or higher are ineligible.
- Horizon Scholarship – awarded to underrepresented student leaders from various fields to enhance building a diverse and inclusive university community.
- Brock Indigenous Graduate Award – Open to all self-identified Indigenous grad students, in any program.
- Professional Program Merit Entrance Award –Awarded to support academic excellence with students holding an 87% entrance average. This excludes ISP and diploma programs.
- Research Fellowship – These are program and supervisor-dependent and are considered ‘top-ups’.
- Donor (funded) Scholarships – These entrance awards and scholarships are part of the application process. Students fill out a form during their application and are automatically considered for over 150 opportunities.
Specific funding amounts are reviewed each year and subject to budgetary approval.
Opportunities for current students:
Current Graduate students may also apply for Internal Donor Awards, Travel Expense Reimbursement and Bursaries throughout their studies.
Government-funded/external scholarships and awards – External scholarships and awards are also available to those who qualify.