PhD funding package (Canada)

[Rubee]

What is (very generally) considered a good funding package for a PhD program in Canada?

[drpepper711]

 $25 k/year would be considered slightly above avg I think. 

[selecttext]

From what I've seen of biology departments, most schools offer between 18k-21k. From this you have to pay tuition and fees. UBC offers funds iranging from ~18-23k with a full tuition waiver (not fees). UofT guarantees 16500-18500 after tuition and fees.

 

$25K for Canada is very very very unlikely unless the school is paying for your tuition.

[TakeruK]

It depends on the school and department too. I would think Physics and Biology and other STEM fields are similar. Most schools will guarantee something like 17k to 18k per year after tuition, like selecttext mentions. By this, I mean the Graduate School will have some policy for this minimum across the entire campus. Individual departments will generally fund their students at higher levels -- and I usually find that physical science departments fund their students better. 

 

Not sure if you are Canadian, but I think most Canadian students think of their stipend packages in terms of stipend + tuition award (if any) because in most cases, we get paid first and then pay our tuition on a monthly payment plan. Tuition+fees for Canadians range from around $5000 per year to $7000 per year. So, with this in mind, I remember the majority of my offers in Physics MSc/PhD programs in Canada were on the order of $22,000 per year to $25,000 per  year. Again, these are general total support numbers (i.e. what they will write on offer letters and what you could use to show proof of income for banks or leases etc.)

 

However, if you have external fellowships, your stipend can go up a lot higher! NSERC CGS-D is a $35,000 and can push your total funding support to about $40k (see for example http://www.phas.ubc.ca/graduate-program-financial-support). Most schools will offer a top-up and some schools will still have you TA as a NSERC holder. CGS-D's are hard to get, but something like the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) can increase your funding too -- Queen's funding levels were something like $25k for no-scholarship, $30k for OGS and even more for NSERC awards. 

Edited March 7, 2013 by TakeruK

[lewin]

When I started, the internal funding package at my university was $22,000/year minus $6000 tuition. Now it's more like $24k minus $7k tuition. In practice it's usually a little more -- an extra TA assignment here or there. We also offer conference funding, of about $1200/year.

 

Students who have an external award get the award and a $10,000 top up in the form of a scholarship and reduced TA load, taking home anywhere from $25k (common) to $40k (unusual).