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Financial Aid/Fellowships/Scholarships

Departmental Aid

All applicants for admission to the PhD program are automatically considered for departmental Teaching Assistantships (TAships), and may be conisdered for Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAships) or Fellowships, when those are available. All students who are admitted receive multiple-year offers of funding, unless they come with at least five years of other funding. The funding offers are for specific years, so if a student receives a different source of funding, the funding offer does not transfer to a future year.

Departmental financial aid for continuing students. Once a student has amassed 30 hours of coursework and taken the appropriate course, (LIN 398T Supervised Teaching), they may be offered an Assistant Instructorship (AIship), depending on availability. Students in candidacy are able to apply for an Outstanding Graduate Research Fellowship. To apply, a student submits an application to the department, and if nominated by the department, will then submit an application to the Graduate School.

Fellowships

Awarded by the College of Liberal Arts and the Graduate School, fellowships provide a yearly stipend of at least $20,000, plus full tuition remission and a payment for Graduate Student health insurance. For entering students, the primary criterion is an outstanding academic record; for continuing students the determinant is superior academic performance in the program. The Department will nominate exceptional applicants for fellowships awarded by the College of Liberal Arts and by the Office of Graduate Studies; there is no separate application for these fellowships.

Linguistics Department Teaching Assistantships and Assistant Instructorships

The Department of Linguistics awards teaching assistantships/assistant instructorships each year. In addition to providing a monthly salary, these awards provide tuition assistance and graduate student medical benefits. Assistant instructors teach their own classes and serve as the instructors of record for those classes. Assistant instructorships in the Department of Linguistics are awarded to advanced graduate students in the doctoral program.

Each non-U.S. graduate student must take and pass the International Teaching Assistant Test and attend an online workshop in order to be eligible to accept a teaching assistantship.

Carlota S. Smith Research Fellowship

The department annually awards several Carlota S. Smith Fellowships to support research; applicants must be in the doctoral program to be eligible. The fellowships are primarily intended to support pre-dissertation research (e.g., research toward the completion of a qualifying paper) or preliminary work for a student’s dissertation project.

Lehmann Scholarship 

The department awards multiple Lehmann Scholarships each academic year to support both undergraduate and graduate students in our program. Funds distributed from the endowment shall be used to provide financial support to students enrolled in the University who are significantly involved with the linguistics program at the University. 

Meier/Sutherland-Meier Fellowship 

The department provides funding from the Meier/Sutherland-Meier Fellowship to support graduate students in the Department of Linguistics, particularly those conducting research on signed language linguistics or any area related to first-language acquisition in children. 

Nora England Fellowship 

The Nora England Fellowship provides support for doctoral students in Linguistics, with the following order of preference: (1) students with proficiency or fluency in an indigenous language of the Americas, or if there is no appropriate candidate for (1), then; (2) doctoral students working on an Indigenous language of the Americas, or if there are no appropriate candidates for (1) or (2), then; (3) any doctoral student in Linguistics. 

Graduate Research Assistantship

Graduate research assistantships are sometimes available from faculty members whose research projects are supported by grants from outside agencies. Discretion in making such appointments rests with the individual faculty members. The primary criterion is qualification for doing the kind of work required.

Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship

U.S. citizens are eligible to apply for these U.S. Government-sponsored fellowships for the study of certain languages. A FLAS fellowship pays for tuition and fees and provides a stipend of approximately $15,000 per academic year. Contact the appropriate center directly for information and applications.

· Center for Asian Studies

· Center for European Studies

· Center for Russian, East European, and Asian Studies

Teaching Assistantships in Other Departments

On occasion, it may be possible and desirable for a student to seek a TA in another Department, such as a language department.

Each non-U.S. graduate student must take and pass the English Oral Proficiency Assessment and attend a two-day orientation program in order to be eligible to accept a teaching assistantship from any department.