Financial Aid to Graduate Students
The Department makes every attempt possible to ensure that packages of
five years of support (in the form of fellowships, teaching associateships,
or research associateships (departmental or on externally-funded projects))
are made available to all students admitted into the Ph.D. program; these
support packages are valid as long as the student's academic progress remains
satisfactory. Financial aid beyond the fifth year of graduate study
is discouraged by the College of Humanities and the Graduate School and
is provided only under special circumstances. For more information about
financial aid to graduate students at Ohio State, see the Graduate School's
Financing Graduate Education.
University Fellowships
University Fellowships are available to incoming graduate students on a
competitive basis: the Department of Linguistics makes nominations
for these to the Graduate School, and a graduate school selection committee
chooses the awardees from among the best-qualified applicants to all graduate
programs in the University. Both applicants with and without an M.A. from
another institution are eligible for University Fellowships, as are Foreign
students. Fellowship awards are set each year by the Graduate School to
reflect the cost of living. They currently consist of a (12-month)
stipend of $14,640 for the first year of study, plus waiver of tuition
and fees, and a guarantee of a Teaching or Research Associateship in the
Linguistics Department for at least the second year if academic progress
is satisfactory. Taking the amount of tuition and fee waiver into account,
this amounts to a total annual (12-month) support of $22,444 for Ohio residents
and $35,875 for nonresidents. University Fellows may, with prior Graduate
School approval, be permitted to use their summer stipend for study off-campus
at programs like the Linguistic Institute sponsored by the Linguistic Society
of America.
Teaching Associateships
Teaching Associateships in the Linguistics Department are usually awarded
only to advanced graduate students whose performance has already been observed.
However, a limited number of Graduate Research Associateships are available
to first-year graduate students. The stipend (9-month) for a Graduate Associate
is currently $11,394 in the first year, plus waiver of tuition and fees.
(This figure is for the 2000-2001 academic year and can be expected to
rise in future years.) In addition, a student who receives a Graduate Associate
appointment for three quarters of the academic year automatically receives
a tuition and fee waiver for the fourth quarter of that year (minimum of
9 credit hours). Tuition-and-fee waivers are currently worth $5468
per quarter for nonresidents of Ohio in 2000-2001 or $21,875 for the year
($2111 per quarter for residents of Ohio or $8444 per year). The only additional
fee that the student must pay is the $9 per quarter for the COTA bus pass.
Health insurance costs vary, as several alternatives are available.
But every student (whether international or domestic) is eligible for OSU
Student Health Insurance at the cost of $198 per quarter.
Normal duties of a Graduate Teaching Associate (considered to be an
appointment of 50% time, or 20 hours per week) consist of teaching one
section of Linguistics 201, 202, a 300-level course such as 330, 371, 384,
or approximately equivalent time in assisting
a faculty member in teaching another course. Students should prepare for
teaching 201/202 and the 300-level courses
by taking Linguistics 830, a course designed to train
instructors in the techniques and materials used to teach introductory
linguistics courses, in the spring quarter of their first year. A student's
201/202 teaching performance is evaluated each quarter based on classroom
observation by a faculty member and the University's Student Evaluation
of Teaching forms. In addition, GTAs for whom English is not their first
language must demonstrate their fluency in spoken English through testing
and possibly course work before they will be allowed to assume classroom
teaching duties. Such students can meet the requirement in one of two ways:
(1) Scoring 230 or higher on the Test of Spoken English (TSE), administered
by the Educational Testing Service, Princeton, NJ 08541-6157, or (2) Scoring
230 or higher on the SPEAK test administered at Ohio State. Those scoring
lower than 230 can meet the requirement by taking courses in spoken English.
Research Associateships
Duties of a Graduate Research Associate vary but amount to approximately
the same time commitment as for Graduate Teaching Associates. The Department
may make a commitment of a Graduate Associateship to an incoming student
during the Spring or Summer before the student enters the program, but
the assignment of duties (teaching vs. research, and nature of research
assignment) may not be made until the student actually enrolls.
Opportunities for minority students
Minority students are also eligible to apply for the University's 2-year
Special University Fellowships and 1-year Graduate Enrichment Fellowships
(see the Graduate School Bulletin) and CIC (Committee on Institutional
Cooperation) Minorities Fellowships. (For information and applications
for the CIC Fellowships, write to CIC Minorities Fellowship Program, Kirkwood
Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405).
How to apply for fellowships and associateships
Application for all kinds of University Fellowships and Linguistics Department
Teaching and Research Associateships is made simply by checking the appropriate
boxes on the Graduate
School Application Form. Note that the Linguistics Department deadline
for applying for fellowships and for all applications for admission is
December 15. This is earlier than the University's deadline; however,
our admissions review procedure requires these extra days. Applicants for
fellowships should take special care to ensure that their applications
are complete (see Checklist
for Graduate Applicants) reach the University by the deadline. The
results of the University Fellowship competitions are announced around
March 20.
Externally-funded fellowships
Three-year
National
Science Foundation Fellowships are available to graduate
students in linguistics who are U.S. citizens or permanent
residents, but application must be made when the student
is an undergraduate senior or first-year graduate student. Note that the
deadline for application is in November of 2004 for the 2005-2006
academic year.
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (Title VI) may be
available to linguistics students who develop specializations in Slavic
and East European languages, East Asian area studies, Middle East area
studies, or African studies; inquiries should be addressed to the Dean
of the Graduate School.
Assistantships in Other Departments
Students in linguistics may qualify for Graduate Associateships in teaching
English composition, teaching English as a second language, and teaching
various foreign languages. Students interested in these positions should
communicate directly with the appropriate language department; the Department
of Linguistics has no language teaching associateships at its disposal.
Dissertation-year and other special awards
Students who have begun work on dissertations are eligible to be nominated
for the University's Presidential Fellowships. These carry a stipend of
$1,400 per month for up to twelve months.
Students are encouraged to present papers at conferences, and funding
is often available to enable students to travel to such conferences. The
department also encourages students to attend the Summer Linguistic Institute
sponsored by the Linguistic Society of America (or similar summer programs),
and can frequently provide support for students to attend, especially if
the student receives a Fellowship from the Institute.
Any questions about financial aid not answered by this web site can
be obtained by contacting the Graduate Studies Committee
gradprog
ling.ohio-state.edu.