Is it normal for a supervisor to offer a non-cumulative scholarship? I am affiliated both with the school of my masters program and my supervisor's research institute -- the latter guarantees minimum funding for all students accepted. Supervisors at this institute can decide whether or not they allow grad students to accumulate funding in addition to the minimum. Unfortunately, my supervisor does not allow any graduate students to accumulate funding, so any scholarships we receive result in a reduction of the offered stipend. Unfortunately, with this reduction it is impossible to pay for my tuition without a student loan or a second job (TAing excluded -- although my department offers no TA positions and I've had no success trying to find one elsewhere) which seems crazy given I've been awarded two additional scholarships for this year! Is this normal? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm at a Canadian school paying out-of-province fees and extremely worried about how I'm going to make this work! My supervisor applies this policy to all students but no one has ever actually asked about being allowed to accumulate some of their scholarship to cover tuition -- would it be a bad idea for me to try and negotiate this? Thanks!