Normal to get TA offer, then Fellowship later on?

[Tinyboss]

I got the following acceptance email today:

Dear Mr. Tinyboss:

The Graduate Committee was very impressed by your application and academic record. We are exploring fellowship and other special opportunities for you. At this point we are able to offer you a 1/2-time appointment as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Mathematics for the 2009-2010 academic year. For the academic year 2009

[rising_star]

Yes. The reason for the delay is that fellowships are university-wide. Of course being nominated by the dept isn't a guarantee that you will get one but it does happen.

[Sun]

I am sorry to go off topic, but I was browsing through some topics here and this email you got sounded really familiar

Is it from the University of Iowa?

[plisar]

Yes. The reason for the delay is that fellowships are university-wide. Of course being nominated by the dept isn't a guarantee that you will get one but it does happen.

Some fellowships are university wide, but certainly not all. If a university has a block grant program for its departments, this money is used as "fellowship" but essentially it is just money departments can spend.

To the OP, certainly, it is possible for a TA offer to be upgraded to a fellowship later on, especially if they are nervous that they will be unable to recruit you or if enough people with that type of funding decline their offers.