HISTORY

Financial Support

The University of Maryland, the College of Arts and Humanities, and the Department of History offer several forms of financial support to our graduate students, including University fellowships, teaching assistantships, graduate assistantships, research assistantships, and research grants. All fellowships, assistantships, and grants are awarded on the basis of merit, as determined by the Graduate Committee, upon the recommendation of faculty and the Director of Graduate Studies.

The majority of financial assistance is made available to students in the doctoral program. However, students in the Master of Arts and History & Library Science programs may request support, typically in the form of teaching assistantships, as departmental needs permit.

In 2006-07, approximately eighty-five students in the PhD program (out of 100 active doctoral students) and an additional half-dozen students in the MA and HiLS programs will receive financial support through the Department of History or a major external funding source in order to pursue their graduate studies in history.

Since Fall 2004, about three-fourths of new students to the doctoral program have been offered a multiyear funding package at the time of matriculation. In the same period, approximately twenty doctoral candidates have been awarded at least one semester of support for the research and dissertation.

Multiyear packages include stipends, tuition remission, and a health benefits option, renewable on an annual basis subject to satisfactory progress towards the fulfillment of program requirements. The most generous packages include one or two years of support without any teaching obligations. The award of dissertation support is treated as a supplement to preexisting multiyear awards.

It is the Department's goal to adjust admissions procedures, budgeting, and program size to ensure that all qualified full-time doctoral students have continuous funding for the majority of their graduate studies, including at least one semester of dissertation support without any teaching obligations.

For the 2006-07 academic year, teaching, graduate, and research assistantships will range between $14,500 and $15,500 and include tuition remission and a health benefits option. Variations in stipend amounts are due to a number of factors, including the type of appointment, international student status, previous appointments, and advancement to candidacy.

Additional funding is available through the semiannual Research and Travel Grant competition, the summerterm Prospectus Development Grant competition, matching funds for travel to academic conferences, and various cross-campus funding competitions. All doctoral students are expected to seek outside funding for pre-dissertation and dissertation field research, as appropriate.

There are no special application requirements to be considered for fellowships and assistantships. Applicants seeking financial support from the Department of History should indicate their interest on the main application.

History graduate students may seek grants and fellowships, assistantships, hourly employment, and other forms of self-support offered by non-departmental sources. The Office of Human Resources maintains a list of Employment Opportunities. Graduate appointments made outside of the Department may be subject to Payroll, Office of Research Administration and Advancement, and/or International Education Services oversight, when appropriate.

Additional information on the costs and financing options for graduate education is available through the Office of the Bursar and the Office of Student Financial Aid.