Graduate students in the Public History Program at the University of South Carolina are supported through assistantships. There are a small number of teaching assistantships offered to incoming Public History students by the Department of History, but most Public History students are supported by professional assistantships in public history agencies. Both kinds of graduate assistantship pay a salary and offer a substantial reduction in tuition.

We recognize that access to financial aid often makes the difference in the decision to attend graduate school. While we cannot make promises, students who are accepted by and choose to enroll in the Public History Program almost always receive financial assistance. Of the 35-40 students actively on campus in some stage of completing degree requirements, all who want a graduate assistantship currently have one. Incoming students looking for an assistantship need to stay in contact with their faculty advisor. Inform us that you want an assistantship and keep us current on your e-mail address and telephone number in the summer as you prepare to move to Columbia.

Public History students have held graduate assistantships in recent years at Historic Columbia Foundation, the South Carolina State Museum, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, the State Historic Preservation Office, the City of Columbia Historic Preservation Office, the Columbia Development Corporation, the South Carolina Downtown Development Association, the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. In addition there are a number of units on the University of South Carolina campus that contact us requesting names of graduate students who might want to have a graduate assistantship. These include the McKissick Museum, the South Caroliniana Library, Thomas Cooper Library, and the Museum of Education, among others.

Many of these organizations operate on budgeting cycles that are independent of the academic year. As soon as we know of an assistantship that is open, we choose the best qualified student if the choice is ours to make or we contact ALL eligible students alerting them to apply directly if the choice is not ours. Again, the key to obtaining an assistantship is to stay in touch with your faculty advisor.