Program funding, fee, and payment policies

Program funding, fee, and payment policies

The Minimum Guaranteed Doctoral Stipend for Canadians and Permanent Residents 
enrolled full time in the PhD program is $22,000 annually for four years. For international 
doctoral students enrolled full time in the PhD program, the minimal stipend is $24,000 
per year for four years. Doctoral students who are externally sponsored (i.e., with 
documented financial support from an external agency meeting or exceeding minimum 
amount for four years) are not normally funded from university sources and are thus 
exempted from the Minimum Doctoral Stipend.


The Minimum Guarantee Stipend for Canadian and Permanent Residents enrolled full 
time in the Master’s Thesis program is $12,000 annually for two years. For international 
students enrolled full time in the Master’s Thesis program, the minimal stipend is $14,000 
per year for two years.

To be eligible to receive financial support, a thesis-based student must be registered full time and active in the program:

  • Students receiving funding from their supervisor’s grant must be available to fulfil their supervisor’s reasonable expectations regarding attendance and activity in the research environment.
     
  • Employment income as a teaching assistant or sessional instructor is included in the guaranteed funding amount offered to students. Students must be available to take this employment as a GAT or GANT or sessional instructor; otherwise, the amount of the GAT or GANT or sessional contract refused will be deducted from the annual funding offered to the student for that academic year.
     
  • To be eligible for scholarships/stipends paid as scholarships offered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, or competitive university scholarships, a student should not normally hold full-time paid employment outside of the university while registered as a full-time student.  

All of the following sources of funding count toward meeting a student’s guaranteed funding amount (i.e. the amount guaranteed in the student’s offer of admission):

  • Stipend/scholarship payment from the supervisor’s research grant;
  • GAT/GANT income;
  • Sessional instructor income;
  • Research assistantship income as outlined in funding letter;
  • External scholarships, including but not limited to SSHRC/QEII and so on;

Internal scholarships, including from program, or university competitions, such as the Graduate Awards Competition, and so on.
 

All students are required to apply for external and internal scholarships for which they are eligible. In particular, Canadian students (citizens and permanent residents) are required to apply for Tri-Council Scholarships.

Success in external and internal scholarship competitions will affect the student’s funding in the following way:

  • For awards whose combined annual totals are $5000 or less, funding as set out in the letter of admission will not be reduced
  • For awards whose combined annual totals are greater than $5000, funding as set out in the admission letter may be reduced so that the student’s total funding for the year will be the greater of:
    • Guaranteed funding plus $3000
    • Amount of external award

If an international student’s citizenship status changes during the course of their degree program, the student’s guaranteed funding package from the Department of Political Science may be re-evaluated.

Students are responsible for paying tuition and fees annually. 
https://calendar.ucalgary.ca/tuitionandfees

Students with funding from university sources can apply for a payment plan. https://www.ucalgary.ca/registrar/finances/tuition-fees/graduate-student-payment-plan

Departmental payment guidelines for graduate students

  • Tuition fees and all fees related to maintaining registration in the program are the responsibility of the student are not subtracted from or included in the student’s funding package.
  • Tuition fee assessments are listed in the Graduate Calendar.
  • The Graduate Student Fee Payment Plan is available for students receiving funding and allows students to pay their fees in installments over a specified period of time. Please see the Registrar’s fees page.
  • Students will not receive their first payment until the 25th of the first month they are receiving funding or awards.
  • GAT payments will be dispersed in 8 equal instalments beginning the 25th of the first month and thereafter on the 10th and 25th until the 10th of the month after students complete their GAT positions. Payment will always be 10 days in arrears.
  • Scholarship/award payments are dispersed on the 25th of each month.
  • Funding is normally dispersed only in the Fall and Winter semesters but graduate students will also owe fees for Spring/Summer semester whether students are taking courses or not. Students should take these Spring/Summer fees into account when budgeting.
  • Remember: Awards which begin in the Spring/Summer semester (for returning students) will be counted in the student’s overall funding package for the next year; however, students will be paid according to the schedule set out in the terms of the award.

For more information on the Graduate Student Payment Plan, please see the Registrar’s Fees & Finance web page.

  • Students may be eligible to pay their fees on a deferral basis rather than by the fee deadline each semester.
  • Keep in mind that any deferral of fees should match the time period students know they will be receiving funding.
  • The Graduate Program Administrator must sign all completed Graduate Student Payment Plan Applications before students submit them to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Fee payment options can be found on the Registrar’s Fees & Finances website. The payment options do not include credit cards.

If students have not done so already or if any banking information has changed, students must submit direct deposit information through the online Student Center. All University of Calgary payments are made by direct deposit into the student’s banking account.

Please note that GA(T) positions are subject to income tax regulations and that while the University will deduct some income tax at source, students are ultimately responsible for meeting their full income tax obligation.

Support for graduate student travel

The Graduate Program wishes to encourage students to engage in professional and career development activities associated with their degrees such as conference attendance, field research, and methods training. However, the availability of travel grants each year is dependent on the availability of funds.
Students must have exhausted other sources of travel assistance before they are eligible to apply to the Graduate Program for a travel grant.

Students must complete the Faculty of Graduate Studies Graduate Travel Award Application and submit it to the Graduate Program Administrator, along with scanned copies of the original receipts.

Apart from Graduate Program funding, the following travel grants are available at the University. To maximize their chances of finding suitable funding, students should familiarize themselves with the rules and timelines associated with the following grants: