Funding Package

The Minimum Guaranteed Funding Package

The University of Toronto, through the Women and Gender Studies Institute, provides a minimum guaranteed funding package for one year for all full-time MA students admitted to the program.  In 2011-2012, the guaranteed minimum financial support for students in the Master’s Program is $15,000 per year plus tuition and fees.  The 2011-2012 financial package is worth a total of $23,042 for domestic students and $32,923 for international students. The funding “package” may consist of a combination of external scholarships, University of Toronto Fellowships (UTF), teaching assistantships and/or research assistantships, with the value attached to each of these decided by the university.

Students are strongly encouraged to apply for external awards.  For more information on the Faculty of Arts and Science funding policy, please see the Graduate Student Funding Guarantee.

A typical funding package at WGSI consists of two components:

1. a financial stipend drawn from University of Toronto Fellowship (UTF) funds, payable in two installments (September and January).
2. a Teaching Assistantship of approximately 210 hours, at the rate of pay determined by the current Collective Agreement between the University of Toronto and CUPE Local 3902; see: www.hrandequity.utoronto.ca/current-staff/unionized/cupe-local-3902-unit-1.htm.

A student who declines a Teaching Assistantship will not receive the portion of the funding package allotted to that source. Teaching Assistantships not only provide valuable professional experience, they serve as an important source of funding and form a component of a typical UofT funding package.

Conditions of work and rates of remuneration are governed by a collective agreement negotiated between the university and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.  Teaching assistants provide a variety of services to undergraduate courses including marking assignments and running tutorials; the precise details of each TAs assignment are specified in the job posting for that position, and in the contract the TA signs. Teaching assistantships are not only, however an important source of funding; they also provide valuable professional experience, allowing students to consolidate and share knowledge gained in other contexts, and gain invaluable skills in teaching and classroom management.

The proportions of funding allotted to a Teaching Assistantship and to a University of Toronto Fellowship may vary among students in the funded cohort.

A student who holds a major external award or a major internal award  will receive a TAship or fellowship that tops them up to the guaranteed minimum funding package, if the award is less than this amount. Students with OGS, SSHRC, NSERC or CIHR awards also receive a modest additional financial award (a “top-up”) above and beyond the Minimum Guaranteed Funding Package. Students fortunate enough to receive an external scholarship, such as the OGS or SSHRC,  are often exempted from the obligation to work as a Teaching Assistant.

Students occasionally earn more than the guaranteed minimum by taking on additional TA or RA  (research assistant) work. The guaranteed funding package is predicated upon making satisfactory and timely progress in your studies.