Financial Aid
Funding for new and continuing graduate students is available from multiple sources. Graduate students may fund their education through fellowships, grants, student employment such as teaching assistant (TA), graduate research assistant (GRA), or assistant instructor (AI) positions, and loans.
During the admissions process, the committee reviews all of the application files and makes fellowship awards to the top incoming students. Stipends given by the Department of Asian Studies range from $1,000 - $15,000, and may include supplements for tuition and fees and medical insurance. Non-residents of Texas who are awarded fellowships may, in addition, receive a non-resident tuition waiver that grants them the Texas resident tuition rate, which has a cash value of approximately $4,000 per semester. Applicants may also be nominated for fellowships from the Graduate School. Graduate School stipends for incoming students range from $24,000 - $36,000, and often include supplements for tuition and fees, medical insurance, and a non-resident tuition waiver.
PhD students who are making satisfactory progress towards their degree are given first priority for funding. Most PhD students receive a combination of fellowships and TA and AI positions.
Funding available for graduate students at UT:
- From Department of Asian Studies
- From other UT departments, including the Office of Graduate Studies
- Funding for Presenting at Conferences
- Funding for Research Travel
- Resources for finding funding and employment
Some students choose to apply for federal financial aid. The University's Office of Student Financial Services administers several long-term loan programs, the College Work-Study Program (for which graduate students are eligible), and a short-term loan program for registration and other emergency needs. For more information, consult their website located at http://finaid.utexas.edu.
Graduate Student Funding from the Department of Asian Studies
Most awards made by the Department of Asian Studies to its graduate students do not require a separate application.
Teaching Assistantships and Assistant Instructorships
Teaching Assistants support Asian Studies faculty in teaching introductory undergraduate culture courses and Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, and Korean language courses. Priority is given to graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies; graduate students should note on their annual report if they are interested in a teaching assistant position. A limited number of Assistant Instructorships are open to Ph.D. students in the Asian Cultures and Languages program. These positions provide future faculty with the opportunity to lead an undergraduate culture or language course.
Students from other departments who wish to be considered for a TA position should submit an application. The application can be downloaded at http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/asianstudies/_files/pdf/ta.pdf and submitted to Faith Hanley in WCH 4.134. Applications are kept on file and students are notified when a position for which they are eligible becomes available.
Department of Asian Studies Fellowships
The following fellowships are awarded to Asian Studies graduate students by the Graduate Studies Committee based on merit and/or financial need. Fellowships may include a waiver to entitle a student to pay in-state tuition rates, depending on funding for that year. All newly admitted students will be considered for funding. All continuing graduate students who indicate on their annual report that they seek fellowship funding for the next year will be considered.
Aggarwal Graduate Scholarship in Indian Studies
Amount: variable
Eligibility for the scholarship is restricted to admitted or enrolled graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies and graduate students supervised by Asian Studies affiliated faculty. Students must study or conduct research on India.
East Asia Graduate Fellowship
Amount: $1,000-20,000
Funds will be awarded for tuition, living expenses, and overseas research to graduate students working on East Asia.
Janis and Richard Lariviere Fellowship
Amount: $2,000
These fellowships are awarded to graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies who work on Sanskrit. Funds will be awarded for tuition or living expenses.
Louise J. Faurot Memorial Endowed Fellowship in Chinese Studies
This fellowship supports graduate students focusing on Chinese Studies in their research and scholarly efforts. Fellowship awards vary from year-to-year and are typically announced in the Spring.
Mitsubishi Fellowships for Japanese Studies
These fellowships are awarded to graduate students who wish to pursue a graduate degree in which the primary focus is Japan.
Amount: $1,000-$5,000.
POSCO Fellowship for Korean Studies
These fellowships are awarded to graduate students who wish to pursue a graduate degree in which the primary focus is Korea.
Amount: $1,000-$5,000
The following fellowships and scholarships are administered through Asian Studies and require a separate application.
Study Abroad Fellowship
This fellowship is to for graduate and undergraduate students to study an Asian language in South or East Asia during the summer. Applicants must be currently enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate program and have completed one year of an Asian language before time of the award. Awards vary. Contact the graduate coordinator for further information.
Taiwan Ministry of Education Huayu Enrichment Scholarship
To encourage international students and individuals to undertake Mandarin Chinese language study in Taiwan, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan) established the Ministry of Education Huayu Enrichment Scholarship (HES) Program in 2005. The information for MOE Huayu Enrichment Scholarship is available at https://www.roc-taiwan.org/ushou_en/index.html. Interested students should download all the forms and read the guidelines carefully to ascertain their eligibility to apply.
University-wide Fellowships
Graduate School Recruitment fellowships
The Office of Graduate Studies awards fellowships to some of the University's top applicants and continuing students.
Donald D. Harrington Endowed Fellowship
The Harrington fellowship is the Office of Graduate Studies' most prestigious fellowship for a new graduate student. Each year the new Harrington Doctoral Fellows will be chosen from among the successful external applicants to programs leading to doctoral degree The University of Texas at Austin. The fellowship has a stipend of $36,000 for 12 months, plus all tuition and required fees, and a stipend for medical insurance. For more information, please see the Harrington Fellowship website.
Other Recruitment Fellowships
Recruitment fellowships are prestigious awards funded by the Graduate School to attract top-quality graduate students to The University of Texas at Austin. Graduate advisers have the vital role of identifying and nominating eligible applicants. To be eligible, students may not be currently or previously enrolled in the Graduate School, and must rank within the top 10 percent of all students in their discipline. Visit the Graduate School site for more information.
Graduate School Named Continuing Fellowships
Named Continuing Fellowship awards are intended to support students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program at The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). For a graduate student to be considered for one of these fellowships, their graduate adviser must submit a nomination to the Graduate School. Faculty review committees evaluate the applications based on major accomplishments since entering Graduate School, a well-defined program of research, strong personal statement, and letters of recommendation. For more information, please see Named Continuing Fellowship website.
College of Liberal Arts Fellowships
College of Liberal Arts Fellows Program
Departments in the College of Liberal Arts may nominate their top PhD applicant and their top first or second year PhD student to the College of Liberal Arts Fellows Program. This program is the most prestigious fellowship program for Liberal Arts students at UT Austin. Students who become Fellows receive a five year funding package from the College. Two years of funding consists of a fellowship with an annual stipend of $26,000, plus full tuition, and a stipend for health insurance. Three years are Teaching Assistant, Assistant Instructor, or Graduate Research Assistant position.
College of Liberal Arts Thematic Fellowships
Departments in the College of Liberal Arts may nominate their top four PhD applicants working on an approved thematic field for the College of Liberal Arts Thematic Fellowship. Asian Studies students are eligible for the women and gender studies thematic field. Thematic fellowships include two years of fellowship with an annual stipend of $26,000, plus full tuition for 12 months, and a stipend for health insurance, and three years as a Teaching Assistant, Assistant Instructor, or Graduate Research Assistant position.
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
Awarded by the South Asia Institute
Amount: $20,000 plus tuition and fees
Deadline: late January or early February
The Institute is a National Resource Center for South Asia, which means that federal money provided by the U.S. Department of Education is available to support the study of modern South Asian languages taught at UT-Austin via FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Studies) Fellowships.U.S. citizens and permanent residents intending to study Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Pashto, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu may apply for FLAS fellowships.
Tom and Martha Ward Fellowship
Awarded by the College of Liberal Arts
Amount: $1,000-4,000
For Liberal Arts graduate students with demonstrated scholarship in the fields of political or economic development. American foreign relations related to Asia with preference for Southeast Asia or China. Evidence of leadership and interest in public and private international careers. Please see the Ward Endowed Fellowships website for more details.
Women's and Gender Studies Dissertation Fellowships
Awarded by the Center for Women's and Gender Studies
This is a fellowship for doctoral students writing dissertations on topics related to women's and gender studies. Please see the Women & Gender Studies website for more details.
J.J. "Jake" Pickle Citizenship Award and PAL-Make a Difference Award
Awarded by the Texas Union
Amount: $5,000
The Pickle Award is presented annually to a student at the University whose contributions to UT campus life best exemplify teh high standards of leadership and service that were the hallmarks of Congressman Pickle's life and career.\'a0 The PAL Award was established by alumnus J. S. Pal to inspire students to engage in a lifelong commitment to public service. Nomination forms are available on the Texas Union website. Students may be nominated by faculty or staff, or may self-nominate.
Texas Exes Association Scholarships
For eligibility, deadlines, and amounts, go to The Texas Exes Association website.
- John Madison Kindle Memorial Scholarship
- Virginia Smith Steffler Memorial Scholarship
- Will Looney Memorial Scholarship
- Dale Miller Government Intern Scholarship
- Margaret Nosek Scholarship
Teaching Assistant positions
UT graduate students may apply for teaching assistant positions in any academic unit at UT. Contact each academic unit directly for more information about available positions.
Funding for Presenting at Conferences
Professional Development Awards
Professional Development Awards (PDAs) provide support for students to attend major professional meetings at which they present an original paper based on their research. The Graduate School allocates travel funds to each department or program at the beginning of each academic year. The graduate adviser and graduate coordinator can nominate students for these awards which are approved and administered by the Graduate School. For more detailed information, please see the Professional Development Award website.
All graduate students seeking funding to present at a conference should initially submit the one-page information form (the “student application form” found on the PDA website linked above), proof of acceptance to the conference, and an abstract of your paper to the Asian Studies graduate coordinator. If your conference acceptance is still pending, please include your latest correspondence. Students provisionally awarded PDAs by the department will then be given further directions as to how to claim their award from the Graduate School.
All applications for PDAs will automatically be considered for additional support by the Aggarwal Indian Studies endowment, the China Endowment, the Mitsubishi Japan Studies endowment, the POSCO Korean Studies Endowment, and other departmental resources. There is no need to apply separately to these programs. However, students of South Asia should consider applying separately to the South Asia Institute’s Graduate Student Travel Grant program, and students of China should consider applying separately to the Center for East Asian Studies’ Julian Suez Fellowships program, which are administered by other units of the university.
Applications for PDAs are accepted on a continual basis, but with the following preferred deadlines for departmental application: September 15 for fall semester conference travel (late August to January 15), January 31 for spring semester conference travel (January 16 to the final day of spring classes), and May 1 for summer conference travel (June to late August). The Graduate School website has additional details on deadlines for claiming awards.
Funding for Research Travel
International Education Fee Scholarship
Open to any UT Austin student studying or conducting research abroad. Awards between $1200 - $1800. Please see the Global A$$IST website for application information.
Aggarwal Graduate Scholarship in Indian Studies
This scholarship is restricted to admitted or enrolled graduate students in the Department of Asian Studies and graduate students supervised by Asian Studies affiliated faculty. Students must study or conduct research on India.
Purposes:
- Students from India who are pursuing Indian Studies at UT may apply for support to underwrite their expenses, including tuition, fees, accommodation, travel and other relevant expenses.
- Supplementary support for Indian Studies students to conduct research or fieldwork in India or India-related archives.
Application Procedures and Application Form
Mitsubishi Graduate Research Fellowship for Japanese Studies
The purpose of the Mitsubishi Graduate Research Fellowship is to fund graduate student research related to the completion of a Master's Thesis or Report, a pilot project for the dissertation, a dissertation, or related publishable research.
Eligibility: Only graduate students who have completed nine or more graduate hours by the application deadline are eligible for consideration. The Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) invites applications from graduate students from throughout the university, but priority will be given to students in the College of Liberal Arts.
Application deadline: March 10.
The number and size of grants vary annually and in relation to the availability of funds and the number of qualified applications received. Rarely do awards exceed $4,000, and most are given for less. Applicants are strongly advised to explore all alternative funding sources. Grant awards may be used for expenses associated with collecting data to meet research goals such as travel to a research site in Japan, travel to a library with a strong Japan-related collection, or advanced Japanese language training. Applicable expenses include airfare, lodging, per diem expenses, supplies necessary for the research process (e.g., film or photocopies), tuition to language programs, and other expenses necessary for completing the research or study specified in the grant. Expenses that grants may not be used for include-but are not necessarily limited to-manuscript preparation, reprints, subventions for publication, UT tuition and fees; computer hardware, software, and supplies; equipment available for loan at the University; and incidental expenses not directly related to research (e.g., parking).
Upon completion of the funded research, a written report (limited to two pages) must be submitted to the grant Committee detailing research outcomes. Titles of works submited for publication and Master's Theses or Reports completed as a result of the research may also be required by the Center for East Asian Studies. Grants must be activated by April 1 of the year following the award, and used solely for the purposes outlined in the application.
CEAS Page Details and Application Instructions
POSCO Graduate Research Fellowship for Korean Studies
The purpose of the POSCO Graduate Research Fellowship is to fund research and some research-related expenses of graduate students. The grant application should relate to the completion of a Master's Thesis or Report, a pilot project for the dissertation, a dissertation, or related publishable research.
Eligibility: Only graduate students who have completed nine or more graduate hours by the time of the application are eligible for consideration. The Center for East Asian Studies (CEAS) invites applications from graduate students throughout the university, but priority will be given to students in the College of Liberal Arts.
Application and Awards Schedule: Applications for grant awards are due March 10 of each year. We anticipate that notification of results will be given in early April.
The number and size of grants vary annually and in relation to the availability of funds and the number of qualified applications received. Rarely do awards exceed $4,000 and most are given for less. Applicants are strongly advised to explore alternative funding sources. Grant awards may be used for expenses associated with collecting data to meet research goals such as travel to a research site in Korea, travel to a library with a strong Korean-related collection, or advanced Korean language training. Applicable expenses include airfare, per diem expenses, supplies necessary for the research process (e.g., film or photocopies), tuition to language programs, and other expenses necessary for completing the research or study specified in the grant. Expenses that grants may not be used for include--but are not necessarily limited to--manuscript preparation, reprints, subventions for publication, UT tuition and fees, computer hardware, computer software, equipment available for loan at the University, computer supplies, and incidental expenses not directly related to research (e.g., parking).
Upon completion of the funded research, a written report (limited to two pages) must be submitted to the grant Committee detailing research outcomes. Titles of works submitted for publication and Master's Theses or Reports completed as a result of the research may also be required by the Center for East Asian Studies. Grants must be activated by April 1 of the year following the award and used solely for the purposes outlined in the application.
Application Form (PDF)
Resources for Finding Funding
College of Liberal Arts Grants Services
The Office of Research strives to advance the educational mission of the College of Liberal Arts by providing the infrastructure that faculty, graduate students, and academic units within the College need in order to fund, conduct, and disseminate compelling and innovative research. Services include workshops on grant writing, grant proposal support including editing and budgeting, and assistance identifying grant opportunities.
Texas Grants Resource Center
Part of UT's Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, the Texas Grants Resource Center has an on-site database identifying small grants for which students may apply. They have a weekly library orientation session for students seeking funding for their studies.
The Hogg Foundation will help students research sources of funding; email library@hogg.utexas.edu to request an appointment.
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