Graduate Program: Financial Aid Information
If you wish to apply for scholarships and assistantships, your application must be complete and on file with the department by these deadlines:
University scholarships and fellowships: January 15.
Departmental teaching assistantships: January 15. < Please note new deadline
Work-study assistantships: application complete by February 15 and FAFSA filed by March 1.
Departmental Teaching Assistantships
The greatest number of our funded M.A. students are recipients of graduate teaching assistantships. We award twenty-one teaching assistantships each fall, with approximately half of these usually assigned to new students. Recipients teach one section of first-year composition each semester; they receive stipends of approximately $12,500 for the nine-month school year as well as tuition remission for each semester and for two summers (6 credits) while enrolled in the program. During their first semester, assistants must enroll in ENG 693: Teaching College Composition. This three-credit seminar helps new TAs understand the goals and context of Maine’s first-year course and learn to plan effective course procedures. After that first semester, TAs are free to design their own courses, as long as they observe course-wide goals and shared evaluation procedures. Those who teach well during their first year will normally have their assistantships renewed for one additional year.
To apply for a teaching assistantship, please check the appropriate line on the graduate school application form and submit with your application a 1-2 page statement of your philosophy of teaching and previous experience, if any. The department welcomes applications from both experienced teachers and those who hope to gain such experience.
Award of an assistantship depends, in part, on submission by January 15 of ALL materials: GRE scores (Verbal score minimum 550, Writing 4.5), three letters of reference, transcript(s), writing sample(s), the Statement of Teaching Philosophy and the application fee. Applicants whose files are completed after the deadline may still be considered for a TA position but are likely to be placed on a waiting list.
Assistantships normally begin in the fall. Applicants to other semesters are encouraged to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to the Office of Financial Aid as soon as possible to qualify for other forms of UMaine and federally sponsored aid. We recommend that all students applying to our program submit the FAFSA.
Students who did not receive an assistantship for their first year of study may apply for second-year funding by informing the graduate coordinator that they wish to be considered and updating their files with the department no later than January 15.
For more information about teaching assistantships, contact:
Hansie Grignon
Graduate Secretary
(207) 581-3835
hansie.grignon@umit.maine.edu
or
Prof. Patricia Burnes
Coordinator of College Composition
319 Neville Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469
pat.burnes@umit.maine.edu
(207) 581-3856
FEDERAL WORK-STUDY ASSISTANTSHIPS
Students in the English program may be eligible to compete for a limited number of work-study assistantships. To determine eligibility you must submit your FAFSA by March 1.
Work-study assistantships carry full tuition remission and a stipend of around $12,000, in exchange for about twenty hours of work per week.
The National Poetry Foundation sometimes offers a federal work-study assistantship for a student who wishes to gain experience in the publishing and editing side of scholarly work. This award has usually gone to a second-year student.
English students in the women’s studies concentration may be eligible to apply for a work-study assistantship with the Women in the Curriculum/Women’s Studies Program.
GRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND ASSISTANTSHIPS
The Graduate School awards a number of university-wide fellowships, scholarships and assistantships. Each department nominates its applicants or current students for the awards and the Executive Committee of the Graduate Board makes the awards to the most qualified of these nominees.
If you wish to compete for one of these university-wide awards, be sure your file is complete by January 15 and that you have informed the English graduate coordinator of your wishes.
Two New England-Atlantic Provinces Fellowships are awarded to Canadian or American students in the field of regional studies on New England and/or Atlantic Provinces of Canada. These awards are open only to students in thesis programs.
Three full-tuition Atlantic Provinces Graduate Scholarships are awarded to graduates of the colleges and universities of the Atlantic Provinces and Quebec.
Twenty Trustee Tuition Scholarships are awarded to full-time registered graduate students not supported by other scholarships, fellowships, or assistantships.
Students who have been matriculated in their program for at least one semester may compete for one of the fifteen University Graduate Research Assistantships (UGRA), which normally fund thesis research.
Twenty full-tuition waivers are awarded to full-time registered international graduate students.
Eight or more Provost Graduate Fellowships are awarded annually to exceptionally qualified new students in any field. These fellowships carry a minimum $15000 stipend as well as full tuition remission and partial health benefits.
Two Thurgood Marshall Scholarships, which pay a year’s tuition, are available to graduate students whose socioeconomic background, prior academic or work experience, and/or educational interests would bring a unique perspective to the university community. Preference is given to individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented at the University of Maine.
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