PhD Funding at Canadian Universities for International Students

[boruchan93]

Hello,

I am currently in the midst of my PhD applications to Canadian universities. I will be applying to political science programs. I did my undergraduate and currently doing my master's at a reputable Japanese institution. I prepared all the necessary documents and contacted PoI's. I received very positive feedback from everyone I mailed as they showed great interests towards my research aspirations. However, one common thing that I noticed in each mail that I received was that the funding for international students are very limited. And the way they put it sounds like it is almost nonexistent. This, of course, got me a little worried. I can continue my PhD in Japan with full and very decent funding, although I feel like it is time for me to leave here and get exposed to new perspectives. What are my options to find funding for PhD? And how am I supposed to find one before getting admitted to a program at the first place? I am really confused about this whole process and would appreciate any comments. I will contact the school and previous international PhD students who received funding; however, it would be nice to hear different experiences.  

[TakeruK]

In Canada (and most countries), as you probably figured out, international student tuition costs much more than domestic student tuition. This means that in order to ensure international students have the same take-home pay, the department pays the difference in tuition cost. 

I believe that in Canada, it is common for a University to allocate a certain number of "free" international students to each department because it's in the school's interest to have some (usually less than 10%) fraction of international students. This "allocation" might be a waiver of the difference in fees for X students per department, or University-issued tuition awards directly paid to international students to cover the difference in tuition. Additional international students will require extra money from the department (some depts will have a pot of money allocated to this specific expense). This is usually what is meant by "limited funding" for international students. So, this means that there is a limited number of spots for international students in every department, and therefore competition for these spots will be more intense.

In the majority of cases, there is no way around this barrier. Canada is not special in this case---in most countries, if you are a foreign student, you will have to face increased competition because you will cost more and resources are limited. The biggest exception I can think of are private universities in the USA where international and domestic tuition is the same. So for people applying to the USA, I always recommend applying to a bunch of private schools because your chances there may be just as good or even better than the public schools. 

As for finding your own funding, it's very hard to get funding from the foreign government before you are a student. In most countries, there are citizenship requirements to access the grad student fellowships issued for that country. In Canada, a Canadian is able to win government money to go to a school internationally. Maybe Japan has something similar? If so, this is likely your best chance. Otherwise, the limited funds and increased competition is just a fact of life when it comes to applying internationally. Definitely apply to Japanese programs too! Good luck!

[boruchan93]

1 hour ago, TakeruK said:

In Canada (and most countries), as you probably figured out, international student tuition costs much more than domestic student tuition. This means that in order to ensure international students have the same take-home pay, the department pays the difference in tuition cost. 

I believe that in Canada, it is common for a University to allocate a certain number of "free" international students to each department because it's in the school's interest to have some (usually less than 10%) fraction of international students. This "allocation" might be a waiver of the difference in fees for X students per department, or University-issued tuition awards directly paid to international students to cover the difference in tuition. Additional international students will require extra money from the department (some depts will have a pot of money allocated to this specific expense). This is usually what is meant by "limited funding" for international students. So, this means that there is a limited number of spots for international students in every department, and therefore competition for these spots will be more intense.

In the majority of cases, there is no way around this barrier. Canada is not special in this case---in most countries, if you are a foreign student, you will have to face increased competition because you will cost more and resources are limited. The biggest exception I can think of are private universities in the USA where international and domestic tuition is the same. So for people applying to the USA, I always recommend applying to a bunch of private schools because your chances there may be just as good or even better than the public schools. 

As for finding your own funding, it's very hard to get funding from the foreign government before you are a student. In most countries, there are citizenship requirements to access the grad student fellowships issued for that country. In Canada, a Canadian is able to win government money to go to a school internationally. Maybe Japan has something similar? If so, this is likely your best chance. Otherwise, the limited funds and increased competition is just a fact of life when it comes to applying internationally. Definitely apply to Japanese programs too! Good luck!

Thank you very much for this insightful comment. So basically what everyone is trying to tell me is that my application should be really strong to receive funding. I guess I will contact admissions office too for further information just to make sure. And hope that my application is competitive enough in the eyes of the admissions committee.

Actually I can continue for PhD at my current institution with funding but I feel like I got what I could get in the past 6 years and should move to a place that will academically and intellectually challenge me. Thus, I want to go to a program that has more faculty conducting critical research with over the par PhD supervision. Canadian institutions fit to this profile perfectly and it would be a great opportunity for me. My research fits most of the faculties research interests but the uncertainty is too stressful. I will apply to Japanese programs, of course, to keep my options open. In Japan, it is actually easier for foreigners to get scholarship than Japanese students. And there is not much competition as schools are desperate to bring international students to increase the diversity. Once again thank you for the detailed information!

[TakeruK]

34 minutes ago, boruchan93 said:

I feel like I got what I could get in the past 6 years and should move to a place that will academically and intellectually challenge me. Thus, I want to go to a program that has more faculty conducting critical research with over the par PhD supervision. Canadian institutions fit to this profile perfectly and it would be a great opportunity for me. My research fits most of the faculties research interests but the uncertainty is too stressful.

I think this is a common feeling for many people. For example, at the time I was applying to PhD programs, my field was not very big in Canada so I chose to apply to US schools in order to get the best opportunities. My field is very young, the first planet discovered around another star was found only about 20-25 years ago. So, in the 5 years since my PhD application, my field has aged by almost 20% !! Now, Canada is growing many exciting newplanet programs and I'm looking forward to opportunities to bring my US training to (re)join the Canadian planetary science community  

I mention this because I think it's a really good idea to try to get your education where the fit is the best and you're going to be able to reach your full potential. Applying as an international student is more difficult, but I think the rewards can be worth the extra effort and risk. And in your case, the worst that could happen is that you continue in your current program with full funding---not a bad thing at all. Good luck to you!