Graduate Student Financial Support

There are many grants available to MA and PhD students through the university, the Graduate School, the School of Arts and Sciences, the department, and external sources. It is HIGHLY recommended that students actively seek out grant and fellowship support during their time in our program. Below is a list of some sources of funding available to MA and PhD students in Spanish and Portuguese. This list is by no means comprehensive, and students are encouraged to seek out other sources of funding. Any questions should be directed to the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies.

Teaching Assistantships

By far the most common form of financial aid that graduate students in our department receive is a teaching assistantship (TAship). Recipients of these awards receive the following:

1. Tuition Waiver: The department pays all tuition costs for its TAs. Domestic applicants who are not Colorado residents will receive tuition waivers at the out-of-state rate for their first year of study only. After this year, we will only pay tuition costs at the in-state rate. For this reason, domestic students are urged to become Colorado residents by their second year in the program. International students with TAships will receive tuition waivers at the out-of-state rate as long as they are in the program.

2. Monthly Stipend: Students with TAships receive a monthly stipend for the duration of the academic year. The stipend increases slightly each year. The total yearly stipend rates for the AY 2007-08 were: $15,690 for PhD-level students and $13,002 for MA-level students.

3. Student Health Insurance: Graduate students are required to have some form of health insurance. Students with TAships who choose the Golden Buff Student Health Insurance Plan will have 100% of their premiums paid each semester. Students with private health insurance (e.g., through their spouse) may waive the Golden Buff Student Health Insurance Plan, but they will receive no insurance premium assistance as part of their TAship.

Students with TAships will have their tuition waived, but they must pay student fees required by the university. These fees include full access to the University Recreation Center, the Career Center, and an RTD bus pass that provides free transportation on all RTD buses during the academic year. During the AY 2007-08, these fees came to roughly $700-$800 per semester.

In exchange for these awards, students with TAships teach one five-unit, lower-division language course (Spanish or Portuguese, depending on student's skills and experience) per semester. This teaching responsibility amounts to approximately 18 hours of preparation, in-class teaching, and grading per week. All entering graduate students are required to take our one-unit seminar on teaching methodology and pedagogy, which prepares them for their teaching assignments. Neither the TA's teaching schedule nor the methodology/pedagogy seminar will pose a time conflict with regularly scheduled graduate seminars offered by our department.

Chancellor's Fellowship

This fellowship provides a monetary award of ~$16,000 plus a full remission of tuition and fees (a total value of approximately $32,000). Incoming PhD students who are nominated by their department compete on a campus-wide basis for this prestigious award.

Thomas Edwin Devaney Fellowship

The objective of these fellowships is to recruit outstanding new students for doctoral graduate study in the humanities and the arts within the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The fellowship will cover tuition, fees, and insurance plus a stipend equivalent to a 50% (.4 FTE) Graduate Part-Time Instructor appointment for the first and second years of graduate study. In addition, new students receiving these fellowships will be named Center for Humanities and the Arts Graduate Scholars and Artists. The Graduate Scholars and Artists Program will include a convocation dinner hosted by CHA and invitations to all CHA events. Students receiving a fellowship will normally receive departmental support after the fellowship period, and those who pursue a doctoral degree at CU will be encouraged to compete for a Thomas Edwin Devaney Dissertation Fellowship to provide support during their final year. [more]

Thomas Edwin Devaney Dissertation Fellowship

The objective of these fellowships is to assist students working in the humanities and the arts within the College of Arts and Sciences in the continuance and completion of their doctoral program. Devaney Dissertation Fellowships are equivalent to the stipend for a Graduate Part-time Instructor (50% time, .4 FTE) and a tuition waiver for five hours. In addition, these students are named as Graduate Student Fellows in the Center for Humanities and the Arts; as such, they would be invited to be full participants in the work of CHA. Departments will nominate 1-2 students to compete for this award. Selection generally takes place in April. [more]

The Center for Humanities and the Arts / Arts & Sciences Fellowship

The objective of these fellowships is to recruit outstanding new students for graduate study in the humanities and the arts within the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The fellowship will cover tuition, fees, and insurance plus a stipend equivalent to a 50% (.4 FTE) Graduate Part-Time Instructor appointment for the first year of graduate study. In addition, students receiving these fellowships will be named Center for Humanities and the Arts Graduate Scholars and Artists. The Graduate Scholars and Artists Program will include a convocation dinner hosted by CHA and invitations to all CHA events. Students receiving a fellowship will normally receive departmental support after the fellowship period, and those who pursue a doctoral degree at CU will be encouraged to compete for a Thomas Edwin Devaney Dissertation Fellowship to provide support during their final year. [more]

Diversity Fellowships

These are awarded to underrepresented first-year graduate students who demonstrate high academic promise. Their purpose is to increase the diversity of the graduate student body at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Only students with U.S. citizenship and permanent residents are eligible. The amount of each award is $2,500. Nominations are submitted by the departments in February.

Graduate Student Research and Creative Work Awards

This year the Graduate School will make one award presentation of $1,000 and two runner-up awards of $500 each to students on the Boulder campus. The competition is limited to one nomination per department.

Students interested in applying for this award should put together a dossier with the following information and submit it to the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies: 1) a CV; 2) list of awards; 3) three reference letters; and 4) samples of work (i.e., publications). Once all applications have been received, the Graduate Committee and the department Chair will select the department's nominee to compete for the award. If you have any questions about the award, please call 303-492-7401.

Eaton Graduate Student Travel Grant

The Center for Humanities and the Arts (CHA) is pleased to announce its semi-annual competition for graduate student travel grants.  Ten awards of $500 will be awarded on a competitive basis for graduate students in the humanities and arts to support travel to conferences where they will present a paper or, for those in the arts, where the student will perform or display their work.  All applications from MA and Ph.D. students will be considered; however, the excellence of the project will be the main criterion for selection.  CHA will award four travel grants during the fall semester, and six grants will be available for travel occurring in the spring and summer.

ELIGIBILITY

• The applicant must be a full-time graduate student in good standing.
• The student must be traveling to a conference to present his/her own work. 
• The applicant can receive one grant per academic year.
• Departments will be limited to two grants per academic year.

To apply for this grant, please complete the application form and include the materials requested on the application checklist.  Submit all materials to Paula Anderson, Center for Humanities and Arts, Macky 201, UCB 280.

Fall Deadline: Friday, 7 November 2007
Spring Deadline: Friday, 1 February 2008

Graduate School Student Travel Grant

The Graduate School offers partial funding for graduate students to present research findings at meetings or conferences outside Colorado. The Graduate School provides a travel grant of $200 for domestic conferences and $300 for international conferences. Funds will be applied directly to the student's tuition account. If the account balance is zero, a refund check will be disbursed by the Bursar's Office of Financial Aid. The grant is contingent on account funding by the Graduate School.

Eligibility Requirements:

1. The applicant must be a full-time graduate student in good standing.
2. The student must be traveling to a meeting or conference to present his/her own work or work on which he/she is the primary author.
3. The student must be the sole presenter of the work.
4. The student may receive funds from the Graduate School for travel only once per fiscal year (July 1 through June 30).
5. A student receiving funding from an outside source (fellowship, stipend, scholarship, grant, departmental travel grant) is not eligible.
6. Each department may submit 10 applications annually for consideration.

If you are in doubt concerning eligibility, please contact Gretchen O'Connell at 303.492.6143. [more]

Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant

Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grants are competitive awards sponsored by the Graduate School that support the research, scholarship and creative work of graduate students from all departments. All funding is provided by alumni donations. Grants range from $100 to a maximum of $1,000 per proposal. The Beverly Sears Graduate Student Grant competition is held once a year in the spring semester. Deadlines tend to be in January, so it's recommended that you begin preparing your application during the Fall semester.

Helpful links (in PDF format): Application Tips | Application Guidelines | Application Form

Emerson/Lowe Dissertation Fellowship

The College of Arts and Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, administers the Emerson and Lowe Dissertation Fellowships in the Humanities. The purpose of the fellowship program is to provide outstanding PhD candidates in the Humanities with financial support to assist in the process of completing their doctoral dissertations.

Emerson and Lowe fellowships will provide full support for a full academic year. This award is the equivalent of a stipend, fees, insurance, and tuition remission (for either resident or non-resident) for the academic year. The number of awards will thus depend upon the residency status of the awardees. [more]

Bernice Udick Graduate Fellowship

Bernice Udick has consistently made annual gifts of $8,000 to the University of Colorado Foundation to assist a woman in the humanities who has been admitted to PHD candidacy. The purpose of the fellowship is to allow the candidate time free from other work to complete her dissertation.

According to the rules of the fellowship, each department in the humanities may nominate one student for this award. All eligible students in our department will automatically be considered as possible nominees. The department's nominee will be contacted by the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in early March.

George F. Reynolds Fellowship

The George F. Reynolds fellowships are among the most prized awards offered by the Graduate School. George F. Reynolds, a teacher, scholar, humanist and philanthropist, who died in 1964, bequeathed funds for these yearly, self-perpetuating fellowships for outstanding graduate students in the humanities. The fellowship award is equal to the stipend for a Graduate Part Time Instructor and a tuition waiver for five hours. The fellowship period is one academic year.

According to the rules of the fellowship, each department in the humanities may nominate one student for this award. All eligible students in our department will automatically be considered as possible nominees. The department's nominee will be contacted by the Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in early March.

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Program (FLAS)

This US Government program provides generous academic year and summer fellowships (up to approx. $10,000 per award) to institutions of higher education to assist graduate students in foreign language and either area or international studies. The goals of the fellowship program include: (1) to assist in the development of knowledge, resources, and trained personnel for modern foreign language and area/international studies; (2) to stimulate the attainment of foreign language acquisition and fluency; and (3) to develop a pool of international experts to meet national needs.

A student is eligible to receive a fellowship if he or she: (1) is a graduate student, (2) is a citizen, national or permanent resident of the United States, (3) is enrolled in a program of modern foreign language training in a language for which the institution has developed or is developing performance-based instruction, (4) Shows potential for high academic achievement based on such indices as grade point average, class ranking, or similar measures that the institution may determine.

NOTE: Students do not apply directly to the U.S. Department of Education. Students must apply to grantee institutions. Deadlines vary per program. [more]

Department Summer Fellowship

To apply for this fellowship, applicants must be full-time graduate students (in good standing) in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. MA or PhD students may apply. Applicants must submit a brief explanation (1-2 pages) of how this fellowship will help them in their studies and/or research.

Number of awards per year: 3
Maximum award amount: $2,000
Deadline for applications: March 10
Award announcements: before March 31

Women's Forum of Colorado Foundation Fellowships

The Women's Forum of Colorado Foundation offers six graduate scholarships (1@$2,500, 5@$1,000) to be awarded on a competitive basis. The current deadline is September 1, 2005.

The criteria are: 1) potential to offer unique perspective in field of study; 2) Compelling rationale for how funds are to be spent; 3) Past accomplishments; 4) Potential for future impact; 5) Ability to promote women's interests in field of study.

Application must be emailed (i.e., as a file attachment). Send to <WomenForum@aol.com>. Subject line must contain first and last name of applicant and the word "application".

Email packet must contain in order:

1. Application
2. CV (2 page max)
3. Scanned copy of letter of acceptance to graduate school

Questions may be sent to the above email address or called in at 303.621.9422.

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/ACLS Early Career Fellowships
Dissertation Completion Fellowships
Fellowships for Recent Doctoral Recipients

The American Council of Learned Societies launched this new fellowship program providing (generous) support for young scholars to complete their dissertation and, later, to advance their research after being awarded the Ph.D. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/ACLS Early Career Fellowship Program will award fellowships in two categories: Dissertation Completion Fellowships and Fellowships for Recent Doctoral Recipients. A grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports this program. [more]