Matching Funds?

[Xenia2191]

I just got a phone call from the Graduate Chair at McMaster University (Canada). They said they would offer me 7,000$ + a TA position with the option to match any funds I am offered from other Universities. I am so happy yet am a little disappointing that they seemed to start off with such a small scholarship. I see many people getting such high starting figures or being fully funded... Is getting substantial funding unusual in Canada or am I just not competitive......?  My degree is in sociology so maybe for that discipline, it is a competitive offer? I really have no clue. I'm happy yet kinda eh... 

 

Thanks for any help, 

me

Edited February 15, 2018 by Xenia2191

[TakeruK]

Did they say how much the TA position is worth? How many hours? The Collective Agreement for McMaster TAs states that a full semester of TA work is a 133 hour assignment. At a rate of about $42/hour, for TAing both semesters, this should be valued at around $11,200. So your total funding package may be something like $18,200. It's not great but it's certainly on par with Canadian graduate student funding. 

Also, is this a PhD or MA program? Many schools have minimum funding levels for PhD students (but not MA), although these minimums are around $18,200 too. 

You will still have to pay tuition out of this amount, and that makes it pretty hard to live on the minimum stipend. Hope you have other offers you can use to get this one matched!

[Xenia2191]

8 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

Did they say how much the TA position is worth? How many hours? The Collective Agreement for McMaster TAs states that a full semester of TA work is a 133 hour assignment. At a rate of about $42/hour, for TAing both semesters, this should be valued at around $11,200. So your total funding package may be something like $18,200. It's not great but it's certainly on par with Canadian graduate student funding. 

Also, is this a PhD or MA program? Many schools have minimum funding levels for PhD students (but not MA), although these minimums are around $18,200 too. 

You will still have to pay tuition out of this amount, and that makes it pretty hard to live on the minimum stipend. Hope you have other offers you can use to get this one matched!

Thank you so much for your reply. On their site it says TA positions pay around $11,520. I'm at the masters level and that's why I have no idea if this is a good offer. Thanks for letting me know that it's on par with Canada's graduate student funding (I think I'm psyching myself out seeing all these 17,000$ + TA funding packages given in the states)  I applied to 6 other schools but have just heard back from one: U of Manitoba ("safety" school) with the most generic automated email with no mention of funding...  I'm actually really surprised I heard from McMaster so soon as I was told it would probably take until March-April. Hopefully, if I do get other offers they'll come in shortly so I can weigh my options.   McMaster was one of my top choices and tied with Carleton for first place. 

I applied for the SSHRC (Canada graduate scholarship) so will have to wait until April to find out if I won that. For McMaster, they said applicants were automatically considered for the OGS (Ontario Graduate Scholarship) when they applied but I don't know if I get notified separately at a different date or I just didn't get it...  

 

Thank you so much  

[TakeruK]

Best of luck with the OGS and SSHRC! Glad to hear that your TA package will be worth a decent amount. 

Funding does vary by field, as you mention. My Physics MSc minimum funding was around $24k but then there was $7k of tuition, so the minimum take-home pay was $17k. Winning things like the OGS or NSERC/SSHRC/CIHR brings it up by a few thousand, depending on each department. However, there are certainly science programs in Canada that pay around the same level as your offer, and from my friends in the social sciences, I have heard many offers like yours. So to not mislead you, there are certainly better offers out there but it's not like they are extremely lowballing you or anything.

One more thing that threw me off when I started my Masters: winning external fellowships often decreases your internal funding. So the $15k OGS or $17.5k SSHRC CGS-M might replace your $7k scholarship. Still, that would represent a net increase of $8k-$10k. Sometimes they may also decrease your TA load so be prepared for that (but on the plus side, it does mean a lower workload): my MSc school reduced the TA load by 50% if you win a OGS or higher award.

[Xenia2191]

On 2/15/2018 at 11:32 PM, TakeruK said:

Best of luck with the OGS and SSHRC! Glad to hear that your TA package will be worth a decent amount. 

Funding does vary by field, as you mention. My Physics MSc minimum funding was around $24k but then there was $7k of tuition, so the minimum take-home pay was $17k. Winning things like the OGS or NSERC/SSHRC/CIHR brings it up by a few thousand, depending on each department. However, there are certainly science programs in Canada that pay around the same level as your offer, and from my friends in the social sciences, I have heard many offers like yours. So to not mislead you, there are certainly better offers out there but it's not like they are extremely lowballing you or anything.

One more thing that threw me off when I started my Masters: winning external fellowships often decreases your internal funding. So the $15k OGS or $17.5k SSHRC CGS-M might replace your $7k scholarship. Still, that would represent a net increase of $8k-$10k. Sometimes they may also decrease your TA load so be prepared for that (but on the plus side, it does mean a lower workload): my MSc school reduced the TA load by 50% if you win a OGS or higher award.

Thank you. I recently found out that tuition is around 7,000$ so my scholarship pays that almost completely (yay Canada! ). I was disappointed because I thought tuition would be about 15,000$... I had no idea haha so I was sad my scholarship didn't cover it more fully. Now that I know my tuition is almost all paid for I'm super happy  You were exactly right about my TA position as officially they say minimum it's 11,600$ and if I stay on for a thesis I get a TA position next year as well. My official package is 18,600$ with the option of 11,600$ for the next year. 

 

However, I saw a thread saying TA positions should be avoided your first year... I'm now worried that it may be a curse in disguise. Hopefully, I win the SSHRC !!!

 

Maybe I'll start a new thread for this but I'm able to afford not being a TA... Is it bad to turn down being a TA?? I just don't want to overwhelm myself with a new province, city, grad school and then on top of that being a TA..... 

[Xenia2191]

CARLETON OFFERED ME 36,600$$ for ONE YEAR. Omg . I hope McMaster will match this!!!!!!

[TakeruK]

2 hours ago, Xenia2191 said:

However, I saw a thread saying TA positions should be avoided your first year... I'm now worried that it may be a curse in disguise. Hopefully, I win the SSHRC !!!

 

Maybe I'll start a new thread for this but I'm able to afford not being a TA... Is it bad to turn down being a TA?? I just don't want to overwhelm myself with a new province, city, grad school and then on top of that being a TA..... 

It's pretty normal to have to TA for funding as a Masters student in Canada. Like you said before, we generally don't have super fancy programs that can pay fellowships without needing TAs too. I think it might actually look weird/bad if you declined a TA and took less money. 

27 minutes ago, Xenia2191 said:

CARLETON OFFERED ME 36,600$$ for ONE YEAR. Omg . I hope McMaster will match this!!!!!!

Wow! Congrats!! If they cannot match the funds exactly and/or if you prefer McMaster, the tips I got were to ask for other things, such as:

- If they cannot increase the offer at all, converting a TAship into a fellowship could be good for you
- Some amount of travel funds for conferences or research funds (to buy a computer etc.)

Also, make sure to find out what Carleton's offer would be in the second year so you can get the best 2-year overall package