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 usually work in assistantships designed to provide experience and professional contacts in museums, archives, and other non-academic settings. Teaching assistantships divide into several different categories. 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 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 $14,000 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 departmental funding. Students who enter the Ph.D. program prior to receiving an M.A. can ordinarily expect to receive five years of departmental funding. M.A. candidates with teaching assistantships receive $13,000 per year and abatement of all tuition for the normal full-time course load. They are eligible for two years of departmental funding, or three years under the European History + Language option. The stipends of assistantships in the Public History program are set by the sponsoring organizations (such as the South Carolina State Museum or the Historic Columbia Foundation). The department is usually able to provide additional funds to abate a substantial part of these students’ tuition. 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.

Travel Grants

The department also assists students financially by providing support for travel to scholarly conferences at which the students present their research.