Funding (MA)

[xsjsx]

I received an email this week letting me know that I got into the University of Toronto's MA program in religion. This would be a great place for me to study and I am thrilled but I was also surprised that they could not offer any funding. Is this common for Canadian schools? Is it odd to be offered a spot in a competitive program but then not receive any funding? Do some students simply need to come up with the money on their own? I know the cost of Canadian tuition is cheaper but it is a three year program so I am still going to need to borrow (plus international fees are more expensive). Any insight or advice would be very welcome and appreciated.

[aselfmadewinter]

That's very normal for Toronto. I'm currently in U of T's Theology program (Toronto School of Theology) and I know people in the M.A. there, and it seems quite usual for U of T to give unfunded MA offers. Sometimes TAships are available, however. PhDs at U of T are guarenteed funding, which makes admission very competitive.

On another note, the fact that you've been contacted about an MA probably means that my chances at a PhD are out there, but that's really alright, since I was expecting to get rejected on the basis of limited funding. Oh well, I've got two degrees from there already, and I'm in at McGill and UBC anyhow. I guess it's time for me to move on.

Edited February 12, 2011 by aselfmadewinter

[aselfmadewinter]

That's very normal for Toronto. I'm currently in U of T's Theology program (Toronto School of Theology) and I know people in the M.A. there, and it seems quite usual for U of T to give unfunded MA offers. Sometimes TAships are available, however. PhDs at U of T are guarenteed funding, which makes admission very competitive.

On another note, the fact that you've been contacted about an MA probably means that my chances at a PhD are out there, but that's really alright, since I was expecting to get rejected on the basis of limited funding. Oh well, I've got two degrees from there already, and I'm in at McGill and UBC anyhow. I guess it's time for me to move on.

Sorry, I meant to say "I know people in the Religion Department there". You should definitely look into TAships though, UToronto is a great place to study.

[xsjsx]

Sorry, I meant to say "I know people in the Religion Department there". You should definitely look into TAships though, UToronto is a great place to study.

Thank you, your response was very helpful!

[coffeekid]

My experience with masters programs in religion has been: the more straight up academic (i.e. - not ministerial) the program, the harder to come by good funding. The reason I believe is simple: wealthy donors are wanting to donate to programs that are producing people in ministry, not academics. Even though this slightly sucks for those of us not interested in ministry proper (myself), knowing this trend can be valuable to you if you can work the system a little.

Two examples of this trend are the two places I was most interested in: Vanderbilt and UChicago.

Vanderbilt offers three masters degrees: an MTS, MDIV, and MA. The MTS and MDIV are offered by the divinity school and both have substantial opportunities for full funding, and the many mdivs even get a stipend of $10k or more a year! The MA, however, is offered in the graduate department of religion. Even though the MA for me would have been the most appropriate choice for my interests, because they lack the big donors of the divinity school, the only offer they make to accepted students is 70% coverage. Don't get me wrong, this is a decent package, but the divinity school tends to be much more generous. I went with the MTS and it paid off.

UChicago's masters in religion are all in their divinity school. Even though they have that A.M. that everyone (yes, me again) so longs to get, the dirty secret is that they only offer full tuition to five or less students every year; everyone else gets a 50% offer, but with their absurdly high tuition at $40,000 a year, it effectively makes it the full cost of almost any other program. I don't have specific numbers on their Mdiv, but I've heard far more cases of people being given full rides in that program than the A.M. Again, the most ministerial program gets the dough.

If you've already applied for the Fall, this might be too late to be helpful, but the advice I was fortunate enough to receive is to apply to a ministry program that you can make the most of for your academic purposes.

[xsjsx]

My experience with masters programs in religion has been: the more straight up academic (i.e. - not ministerial) the program, the harder to come by good funding. The reason I believe is simple: wealthy donors are wanting to donate to programs that are producing people in ministry, not academics. Even though this slightly sucks for those of us not interested in ministry proper (myself), knowing this trend can be valuable to you if you can work the system a little.

Two examples of this trend are the two places I was most interested in: Vanderbilt and UChicago.

Vanderbilt offers three masters degrees: an MTS, MDIV, and MA. The MTS and MDIV are offered by the divinity school and both have substantial opportunities for full funding, and the many mdivs even get a stipend of $10k or more a year! The MA, however, is offered in the graduate department of religion. Even though the MA for me would have been the most appropriate choice for my interests, because they lack the big donors of the divinity school, the only offer they make to accepted students is 70% coverage. Don't get me wrong, this is a decent package, but the divinity school tends to be much more generous. I went with the MTS and it paid off.

UChicago's masters in religion are all in their divinity school. Even though they have that A.M. that everyone (yes, me again) so longs to get, the dirty secret is that they only offer full tuition to five or less students every year; everyone else gets a 50% offer, but with their absurdly high tuition at $40,000 a year, it effectively makes it the full cost of almost any other program. I don't have specific numbers on their Mdiv, but I've heard far more cases of people being given full rides in that program than the A.M. Again, the most ministerial program gets the dough.

If you've already applied for the Fall, this might be too late to be helpful, but the advice I was fortunate enough to receive is to apply to a ministry program that you can make the most of for your academic purposes.

Thank you for taking the time to write this very helpful response. I actually applied to the MTS program at Vanderbilt for the same reason. The person I spoke to in the office said the MTS was a strong program and many students that apply for the MA but do not get in (or do not get proper funding) apply to the MTS. But thanks again for your response, it helped me put things into perspective.

What is your current focus at Vanderbilt?

[coffeekid]

Glad that was helpful! Have you heard back from Vanderbilt yet?

My official focus is "theological studies" (everyone at vandy has to pick one of nine areas (see their page), even though it really means nothing... I think it's for administrative purposes mostly), but my interests are in continental philosophy and the philosophy of religion. Another sell for VDS and this program in particular is the flexibility of the curriculum. For a 51 credit masters, there are only 21 required courses, and to be honest, I have already been able to fudge those mostly. You can take courses in neighboring departments (philosophy, classics, history, etc) and can hook up independent studies pretty easily. All in all, I'm pretty happy with VDS. For the sake of the thread, I'll cut off the sell here (PM me if you want to talk more).