Financial support

Full-time students

Each full-time graduate student is awarded a graduate assistantship. Minimum stipends are subject to change. Ph.D. students may have supplemental funding from the research grant of the supervisor. Students holding external awards (OGS, NSERC) will have funding topped up with teaching assistantships. These figures include wages earned for teaching assistantships, and these wages will be subject to income tax.

Part-time students

Part-time Ph.D. students are not given funding.

Budgeting expenses

It is the responsibility of all students to cover all their tuition, fees, and general living expenses. As observed from the figures presented by the Graduate Studies office, most funding covers tuition and fees. Any amount remaining (if any) will be considerably lower and will not be enough to live on for the year. Please see the Graduate Studies website for the most current funding figures and estimated expenses for domestic and international students.

Graduate fellowships and research assistantships are normally spread across the three terms of study during the academic year. Students should not expect all the funding to be available at the start of a term of study. However, graduate teaching assistantships are paid in regular installments during terms with TA duties. As a result, there will be fees owing at the beginning of a term, even after funding has been deducted. Therefore, students must have personal finances available to cover all fees and living expenses over the duration of their studies.

Finally, there are a variety of scholarships, bursaries, and extra TA hours that students can apply for. However, competition for them is high, and they are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Students should not rely on them for budgeting their finances.