Funding Information

The department recognizes that graduate study is an expensive undertaking and that financial planning for students seeking academic careers is complicated by the unpredictability of employment prospects in a highly competitive profession. The department works closely with the Financial Aid Office and the Graduate School, which are valuable sources of information for many aspects of graduate funding.

Assistantships

The department helps students support themselves during graduate school through a variety of assistantships. Almost all Ph.D. candidates and many students pursuing an M.A. in History work as teaching assistants or as research assistants for department faculty. Students in the Public History program are eligible for these assistantships, but they can also work in assistantships designed to provide experience and professional contacts in museums, archives, and other non-academic settings. There are several different kinds of assignments for teaching assistantships.  Some students work as graders in lecture courses without discussion sections. Other students lead discussion sections of lecture courses and grade undergraduates’ work in those courses. A few advanced students Ph.D. students are the instructors of record in courses that they design and teach independently. The type of assistantship to which a student will be assigned depends on the student’s preferences and the needs and resources of the department.

Stipends and Tuition

Ph.D. candidates with teaching or research assistantships receive stipends of $14,250 per year and abatement of all tuition for the normal full-time course load of nine hours each semester. Students who enter the Ph.D. program with an M.A. can ordinarily expect to receive four years of renewable departmental funding, assuming good progress to degree. Students who enter the Ph.D. program with a B.A. can ordinarily expect to receive five years of renewable departmental funding with good progress. M.A. candidates with teaching assistantships receive $13,250 per year and abatement of all tuition for the normal full-time course load. They are eligible for two years of renewable departmental funding with good progress.  Assistantships with external agencies in the Public History program are set by the sponsoring organizations (such as the South Carolina State Museum or the Historic Columbia Foundation), which tend to be approximately $5,500 per semester for a 20 hour/week position. The department is usually able to abate half of the in-state tuition for public history students working either external or teaching assistantships.  Any student with an assistantship--whether teaching, research, or public history–is eligible for the state-resident rates for tuition that the department does not subsidize.

Fellowships

Graduate students in the department have an excellent record in competitions for University fellowships awarded on the basis of departmental nominations. These funds augment the stipends received through assistantships.  Both the Graduate School and the College of Arts and Sciences offer competitive fellowships.

Travel Grants

The department assists students financially by providing support for travel to scholarly conferences at which the students present their research.  Many students take advantage of this funding to travel to one or more conferences per year.  The department also has competitive summer research grants that can support research travel to archives.  The Graduate School provides additional support for PhD students travelling to national and international conferences.