Financial Aid: Fellowships, Assistantships, and Loans
Graduate students pay for their schooling through some combination of four sources: fellowships, assistantships, loans, and outside employment.
- Fellowships are grants paid to students with lower work obligations than assistantships. Some fellowships come from a particular department, some are from university-wide sources, some come from national or international sources.
- Assistantships are the most common form of graduate funding. Students on an assistantship balance their academic studies with some sort of part-time employment (teaching assistant, grader, research assistant etc) in the department.
- Loans can take many forms, including federally subsidized loans through the institution.
- Many graduate students also work part-time while pursuing their studies.
Students who are considering financial offers from different institutions should ask about the length of appointments and the work expectations as well as the levels of annual assistance.
All students on assistantships or fellowships at UF receive full tuition waivers although they still must pay student fees (discussed below). Starting in January 2007 the University of Florida has added a major new benefit. All graduate students on assistantships receive full health insurance coverage. For a summary of this new program see, Human Resources.
Our assistantships and fellowships are guaranteed for five years, and the Department makes every effort to fund advanced students beyond that point as they are finishing their degrees.
Unfortunately, at the present time we are unable to offer any departmental financial assistance to students in our terminal MA program.
All graduate students are also eligible for a variety of loan programs. For further information see, Financial Aid.
How Much Will It Cost?
At the University of Florida graduate students pay tuition and fees per credit hour. In the fall and spring semesters the normal full-time load is 9 credit hours for students on assistantships and 12 credit hours for students on fellowships. MA students or part-time students can opt to take fewer credits.
For specific information on tuition and fees, including directions on how to calculate various configurations, see Financial Aid.
For information on the cost of living in Gainesville check out Gainesville Apartment & Condominium Guide and the Dean of Students Office.