Financial Support

Financial Support

The University's Office of Student Financial Services estimates other expenses (housing, food, other educational and incidental expenses) to exceed $1000 a month. See the Graduate School's site Financing Graduate Education.Offsite Link

Departmental Awards

Three awards are available to graduate students in the Department, and one additional fellowship endowment is currently being formed.

Max Kade Graduate Fellowship

With the support of the Max Kade Foundation, the Department of Germanic Studies is able to offer one Max Kade Graduate Fellowship in the amount of $14,000 plus tuition fee remission for an incoming graduate student in the fall 2007 term. Subsequent support will be available through a Teaching Assistant or Assistant Instructor position.

Candidates will be selected on the basis of their previous work in German (MA or BA) and their potential for scholarship in German Studies. In addition to the standard application to the graduate program, those interested in applying for a Max Kade Fellowship should submit the following to the department:

Receiving the Max Kade Fellowship is dependent on the following:

The application deadline is generally mid-February each year. For further information, please contact Prof. Sabine Hake.

The Robert T. Clark Achievement Award

This prize is given for the best graduate essay submitted to the awards committee. A list of prior recipients of the Clark Award is available from the Graduate Coordinator.

Criteria:

    1. The candidate must be a graduate student in the Department of Germanic Studies.
    2. The award is a sum of money to be conferred annually for a distinguished essay in literary criticism or Germanic linguistics. The recipient of the prize will also receive the assistance of the awarding committee in preparing the essay for publication and in identifying publications most likely to accept the essay.
    3. The essay may be written either in English or in German. It should not be more than 5,000 words in length, excluding footnotes, but in exceptional cases greater length, up to 7,500 words, will be no disqualification.
    4. Each candidate should submit one essay only. Unless written especially for the award, the essay can be chosen from papers written during the year preceding submission (that is, during the preceding spring, summer, and fall semesters). Completed work from the spring semester in which the award is made is also admissible.
    5. The essay shall be submitted to the Chairperson of the Committee on Fellowships and Assistantships (through the graduate coordinator), and the award (if any) will be made upon that Committee's recommendation. If a special award committee is appointed, its recommendation shall be communicated through the Committee on Fellowships and Assistantships.

The Helmut and June Rehder Graduate Scholarship

This honor is bestowed upon the graduate student who has excelled academically and in activities that serve the Department including initiatives and enterprises that do honorable service to the life of the University as a whole. This award is to be given to a student who continues his studies in Germanic literature or linguistics during the ensuant year. Based on a tally of the nominations and consideration of the teaching evaluations of the graduates, the Committee on Graduate Fellowships and Assistantships will nominate a person to the Chairman of the Department, who will announce that nomination and the Department's award of the scholarship. A list of prior recipients of the Rehder Scholarship is available from the Graduate Coordinator.

Endowed Graduate Fellowship

This fellowship is dedicated to providing research and travel assistance. It is in its early phase and has to this point provided travel grants to students who have had papers accepted to present at national meetings of professional societies, as a significant assistance to their professional development. A list of prior recipients of the Clark Award is available from the Graduate Coordinator.

Office of Student Financial Services (OSFS)

Don't overlook this office:

Office: Student Services Building 3.200
100 West Dean Keeton Street
Campus mail code: E3700

Mail: P. O. Box 7758
Austin, TX 78713-7758

Telephone: (512) 475-6282
Fax: (512) 475-6296

E-mail: finaid@www.utexas.eduOffsite Link

The UT Office of Student Financial ServicesOffsite Link Request their Application Guide: Steps to Financing Your Education. You will need to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). While their resources are limited and they receive many applications, you may get some assistance in one or more of several forms Students who apply for financial aid using the FAFSA are eligible for all federal, state, and institutional financial aid programs offered by the OSFS, except the Federal Pell Grant. These include:

    1. Gift aid: state and institutional grant or scholarship funds
    2. Self-help aid: student loans, both need-based and non-need-based. Most graduate students will be eligible for student loans through the Federal Family Educational Loan Program (FFELP).

In addition, the Office of Student Financial Services is authorized to grant interest-free short-term loans for emergency or tuition assistance purposes. Such loans could be useful if you are expecting money which has not arrived when you need it.

Other sources of support

The OSFS can assist you in searching for other private foundations and government agencies which offer a panoply of fellowship, grant, and loan funds to help you finance your graduate education. In addition to their own web page, they recommend The Financial Aid Page,Offsite Link maintained by M. Kantrowitz. The graduate advisor makes such relevant sources known to students in residence, primarily by posting notices on the Graduate Program bulletin board.