Graduate Program

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 November 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.