International Students and Full Funding - is it possible?

[adjunctlifer]

I tried to look around for an answer to this, but I couldn't seem to find anything.

I'm a US citizen that wants to study abroad for my PhD, specifically in Canada. As I look at all the tuition costs ... I just can't pay for any of them unless I receive funding. All the schools I'm looking at make vague platitudes on their website about supporting students, but I'm not quite sure what that ultimately means. I'm potentially applying to humanities programs. 

I know in the US, at least for undergraduate studies, (I have no idea about graduate studies) almost all schools make international students pay full tuition, and those students are the ones that really help fund the schools and allow the institutions to give scholarships to domestic students. I'm wondering if this is true for other countries too, at the graduate level. I just *can't* pay for another degree, and I don't want to waste my time applying if it just isn't possible.

Any insight?

[Signature Omelette]

Hi adjunctlifer,

For PhD I am sure that there will be fully funded programs in Canada, meaning that you won't have to pay for tuition and will even get some stipend. Well, at least I believe so because that's true for PhDs in exact sciences (such as Math, Stat, Computer Sciences, engineering).

I am, as an example, an international student currently in a fully funded PhD here at the US. Maybe you could post here some of the universities/programs you are interested in and I can help you interpreting the vague platitudes.

Lastly, a possibility is emailing some of the professors in the department you are interested to check that. Not only you most likely will get the information you want, but you also will get a chance to interact with professors there.

[adjunctlifer]

I'm hopeful that there will be the opportunity for at least partial funding. I just can't imagine going into debt since I am aware that my field doesn't produce the highest paying employment opportunities.

I'm planning on emailing professors, but probably a little later in the summer as I know that most universities are currently overwhelmed with COVID-19 planning. Plus, I need to do more research before reaching out.

Right now, I'm looking mostly at Concordia and McGill, for Art History or a related humanities trajectory.

[Signature Omelette]

I took a look at McGill's webpage (  https://www.mcgill.ca/ahcs/graduate/funding ) and found this:

`` The department offers competitive multi-year funding packages that are comprised of a variety of sources such as internal and external fellowships, research stipends, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and course lectureships. ''
 

This means that you won't have to pay for tuition and will receive some stipend, for which you probably will need to work as a Teaching/Research Assistant, a common thing in graduate programs worldwide. Notice that not needing to pay for tuition is not a rare thing. I don't know of anyone in Grad school having to pay for tuition and I have only heard of some programs in England that have students paying. I believe these programs are ``less academic'' and more aimed to the industries (I might be biased on this, though).

Something relevant to know is that the mechanisms through which funding happens varies a lot from program to program, and even within a program. Some provide you funding directly from the department and regardless of your choice of advisor. Others require you to contact your (future) advisor first for you to agree on a research project and for him to arrange funding for you — I believe this is more common in Europe. There's also the possibility of getting funding from some government agency, and this is very nice if you can get it by the time you apply to places because the department won't have to spend money on you, which increases the chance of getting accepted everywhere (of course, these fundings have their requirements). For this last type of funding, I recommend you talking to the students and professors of you area, because the availability of these funds and how they work depend a lot on the area and basically on who you are (if you are american, first generation,  in some underrepresented minority, etc).

 

 

[Signature Omelette]

Oh, and there's a website you might find useful:

http://www.phdstipends.com/

People fill in their programs and stipends there so that others can check it. I find it useful, but it should be taken with a grain of salt since anyone can enter there and put any gibberish.