Graduate
Financial Aid
If you are applying for financial aid, the deadline is January 2. The following materials should also be included with the admissions materials you send to the Program in Comparative Literature:
- an addition to your "Statement of Purpose" on a separate sheet, indicating your prior teaching experience and abilities, and your qualifications for specific teaching positions.
- a separate sheet detailing teaching experience (and, where appropriate, dates of residency abroad).
- supplemental materials required by the department in which you would like to
teach (some departments do not require additional materials):
- Spanish/Portuguese: a standard cassette recording giving your name, a statement in English explaining your academic background and previous teaching experience (up to 2 minutes in length), and a second statement in Spanish or Portuguese outlining your activities pertaining to graduate study (also up to 2 minutes in length).
- French/Italian: a recent photograph, a standard cassette recording giving your name, an introductory statement in French or Italian, and a two-minute recording of a prose reading in either language.
- English: the official TSE (Test of Spoken English) score for international applicants, GRE Subject Test in Literature score (for those entering with an M.A. in English).
Types of Financial Aid:
University Preemptive Fellowships are prestigious awards offered by the Graduate School to attract top quality graduate students to The University of Texas. Graduate Advisers identify and nominate eligible applicants. Applicants who satisfy certain criteria may be offered fellowship support immediately without waiting for a committee decision. These fellowships are not available to students who are currently or were previously enrolled in the Graduate School program at UT Austin; however, UT Austin undergraduates who meet the criteria are eligible. The size of the stipend is at the discretion of the Graduate Adviser.
Research Internships are awarded to faculty members to recruit entering graduate students. Faculty members are able to offer these positions to students who have applied for admission to the faculty member's program. The essence of an RI appointment is the mentoring relationship between the faculty member and the student who is recruited. Students must be not currently enrolled at UT and admitted to faculty member's program. They must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Students will be expected to carry nine hours of course work, and will not be eligible to hold work appointment simultaneously. Student must submit a written report at the end of the internship. Any discipline. The stipend is $15,000 (9 months).
University Continuing Fellowships are University Fellowships awarded to advanced students, usually to those who are conducting research on or writing their dissertations. Students nominated for Continuing Fellowships become eligible for seven other fellowship competitions: University Tuition Fellowships, Cullen Trust Student Endowment Fellowships, Hemphill-Gilmore Fellowships, A.D.Hutchison Student Endowment Fellowships, William S. Livingston Graduate Fellowship, and W. Gordon Whaley Fellowship.
Houston Endowment President's Excellence Scholarships were established by The University of Texas System Board of Regents for benefit of The University of Texas at Austin in June 1993. Graduate Advisers identify and nominate eligible students. The primary criterion for selection as a recipient is academic merit. Each year the Dean of Graduate Studies will specify the field or fields in which awards will be made. The stipend is determined by the Dean of Graduate Studies.
Thematic Fellowships Program on Migration is a program of thematic fellowships for doctoral students writing dissertations on topics related to migration. This refers to movements of peoples in either the contemporary world or in historic perspective. Migrations of animal species are also appropriate topics. Students from any program are eligible providing that their dissertation topics lie within the overall theme. To be eligible, an applicant must be in doctoral candidacy no later than August 15. During the period of the fellowship, which will normally be the fall and spring semester, fellows must be full-time graduate students in good standing. Fellows may work no more than ten hours or twenty hours and receive half of the fellowship. Fellows in the thematic program may not simultaneously hold University Fellowships. The stipend is to be announced.
Teaching Positions:The Program is able to offer a limited number of teaching positions through cooperating departments, including Asian Studies, Classics, English, French & Italian, Germanic Languages, Middle Eastern Studies, Slavic Languages, and Spanish & Portuguese. In addition to meeting the requirements for admission to the Program, to be nominated for such awards, applicants must meet the specific requirements of the department involved, such as having appropriate prior training and fluency in the language concerned. Normally, most cooperating departments offer students a certain number of years of (informally) guaranteed assistance, so that awards are automatically renewed provided students teach adequately and general academic criteria are met for re-employment. Should students wish to change departments or to seek financial aid for the first time after having already studied in the Program for a year or more, they must apply for such aid through the Program, which will review the application and, once it is approved, forward it to the department concerned. It is the responsibility of the student to find out about deadlines and to submit application materials on time.
Teaching Assistantships: The current stipend amount for a nine-month, half-time TA appointment (20 hours per week of grading, tutoring, or conducting review/discussion sessions) can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/hr/comp/studentrates.html. Please note the rate of pay is slightly higher for students with a M.A. TAs must pay their own tuition and fees, but may do so at the rate for Texas residents; they are also eligible for the U.T. health insurance premium sharing benefit. A waiver of tuition is not included with the stipend but tuition assistance is offered. For more information, please visit http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/employment/tuition. TAs must register for a minimum of nine hours during each long semester; employing departments require registration in a pedagogy course (398T) for one semester as part of their employment contracts
Assistant Instructorships: The current stipend amount for AIs can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/hr/comp/studentrates.html. To qualify for the stipend, a student must hold an M.A. or the equivalent and have appropriate teaching experience. Normally, duties include instructional responsibility for three or four courses per academic year. AIs must pay their own tuition and fees, but may do so at the rate for Texas residents; they are also eligible for the U.T. health insurance premium sharing benefit. A waiver of tuition is not included with the stipend but tuition assistance is offered. For more information, please visit http://www.utexas.edu/ogs/employment/tuition/. AIs must register for a minimum of nine hours during each long semester; employing departments require registration in a pedagogy course (398T) for one semester as part of their employment contracts.
Professional Development Awards: At various times during the year, the Program holds open competitions for professional development awards for graduate students. These awards, funded through the Graduate School, are designed to allow students to present original papers at learned societies. Usually, these awards are only granted to advanced students and those attending national and international conferences.
For additional financial aid information, visit the Office of Student Financial Services Web Site.