As suggested below, financial support comes in many forms. In whatever form, support is linked to a student’s progress toward the completion of the program in which he or she is enrolled. Normally, departmental support will not be continued beyond the fifth year for students in the MA/PhD program or the fourth year for students in the PhD program.

For up-to-date, extra-departmental financial support information, consult the Graduate
Division’s Web site for, financial support. Here you can find links to national fellowship competition announcements, campus competitions and deadlines, links to funding sources and databases, access to the IRIS database, including search capability.

16.1 Out of State Tuition

Some campus fellowships pay out-of-state tuition during a student’s entering year, and the English department can also occasionally fund a very limited number of partial tuition fellowships for first-year students. Incoming students are expected to take immediate steps to establish residency so that they will not be required to pay tuition after the first year. New residency laws stipulate not only continuous residence in California for a period of one year, but also financial independence from parents. Students wishing to establish residency are urged to see the Campus Residency Deputy in the Registrar’s Office as soon as possible.

16.2 Departmental Fellowships

Because departmental funds for fellowships are extremely limited, awards tend to be offered to incoming students of unusual promise. Applications for fellowships are reviewed by the Graduate Committee, whose recommendations are then sent to the Department Chair for final acceptance. Fellowship applications are evaluated on the basis of the student’s past academic record, Graduate Record Examination results, the writing sample, letters of support, and professional promise. In addition to fellowships awarded by the department, a number of other fellowships administered centrally by Graduate Division are available to incoming students on a competitive basis and on the nomination of the department. These include the Chancellor’s Fellowship; Humanities Special Fellowship, the Regents Special Fellowship, Doctoral Scholars Fellowship, Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, and Graduate Opportunity Fellowships. The last three named are diversity fellowships. All applicants for admission are automatically reviewed as possible candidates for these awards. No special application is required.

• Graduate Student Fee Fellowship
  
  Awarded to continuing students based on both merit and financial need, the Graduate Student Fee Fellowship provides up to three quarters of fee payment in an academic year for eligible students. International students may also apply for this fellowship (for in-state fees only). A special financial need determination form is required of international students who apply for this fellowship. Apply in spring of the previous year for a three-quarter fellowship. The English Department administers these fellowships.
  
  

• Graduate Opportunity Fellowships
  
  Awarded to new and continuing underrepresented doctoral students following departmental nomination of candidates to Graduate Division. Students may receive this award twice during their graduate career. Annual stipend of $14,000 plus payment of fees and health insurance.
  
  
• Dean’s Fellowship
  
  Awarded to continuing doctoral students following department nomination of candidates to Graduate Division. Students may receive this award twice during their graduate career. Annual stipend of $14,000, plus payment of fees and health insurance for all awardees. The call for application is issued in winter of the previous year.
  

• President’s Dissertation Year Fellowship
  
  A one-year diversity fellowship. $14,000 fellowship with payment of in-state fees and health insurance for students in their dissertation year. Also provides research support funds and travel funds in the amount of $500 to present research at another campus of the University of California or other California research institutions. The call for applications is usually winter of the previous year.
  
  
• Humanities Research Assistantship
  
  Provides one-year research grants for domestic doctoral students in the humanities. Students may receive this award twice during their graduate career. The award provides a $14,000 stipend plus in-state fees and health insurance for one year. The call for applications is issued in winter of the previous year.


• Graduate Research Mentorship Program (GRMP)
  
  A diversity fellowship. Provides one-year research grants of $14,000 plus in-state fees and health insurance for doctoral candidates for one year. Students may receive this award twice during their graduate career. The call for applications is issued in winter of the previous year.
  
  
• Graduate Division Dissertation Fellowship
  
  Awarded to advanced graduate students in final stages of writing the dissertation. Payment of in-state fees plus $5,000 for one quarter. The call for applications comes once, in Winter quarter, for any quarter of the following year.
  
  
• Humanities/Social Science Research Grant Program
  
  Provides grants of up to $2,000 for research-related expenses. May be used in conjunction with other graduate student support. MA and PhD students in the humanities and social sciences are eligible. International students may apply for this grant. To apply, students propose an original research project and list direct expenses that will require funding. A subcommittee of the Graduate Council awards grants on the basis of the feasibility and validity of the student’s proposed project, the student’s academic qualifications, and the significance and originality of the project. The call for applications comes in Winter quarter of the previous year.
  
  
• General Affiliates Dissertation Fellowships
  
  These $3,000 awards are given to doctoral candidates to support final stages of dissertation preparation, and defray travel, printing, photocopying or living expenses. Merit will be assessed in terms of quality of the proposed topic and the candidate’s academic credentials. The call for applications comes in Winter quarter of the previous year.
  
  
• Kline Fund for International Studies Award
  
  Award given for a project or program of studies which promotes international understanding and world peace. This UC-wide competition provides an award of between $500 and $3,000. Matching funds are provided by Graduate Division if a UCSB student is awarded.
  
  
• Graduate Council Travel Grants
  
  Provide travel funds for doctoral graduate students (advanced to candidacy) who have been invited to present papers at a prestigious national meeting or to give performances. International students may apply for this grant. Only registered graduate students who have advanced to candidacy or are about to advance to candidacy (or candidates on approved leave of absence) are eligible to apply. Money is available for transportation only (no lodging or per diem). Maximum funding is as follows: $350 California; $685 All other U.S. locations, Mexico, and Canada; $1,030 Puerto Rico and Europe; $1,200 Central or South America; $1,400 Asia, Africa, Middle East, and South Pacific.
  
  The only allowable expenses are the actual cost of the airline ticket or ground transportation, and shared use of transportation (original receipts are required) to connect airport and hotel up to the total amount granted. A small number of international travel awards are provided. An abstract of the paper, a copy of the formal invitation to participate (or other verification of participation), and a letter of support or endorsement from the thesis adviser must accompany the application. The application, which is submitted to the Graduate Division, must be signed by the applicant, the Graduate Adviser, and the Department Chair. See http://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/pubs/#fn for the application.
  

16.4 Other UCSB Fellowships

• College of Letters and Science Pre-ABD Research Grant
  
  Provides support for travel, archival work and other research needs that lead to the formulation of a dissertation topic. Students must be at the prospectus stage and have excellent records. Applications will consist of a three-page research plan and separate budget, with letter from the academic adviser attesting to the applicant’s general academic potential, the appropriateness of the specific research proposed, the quality of the proposed dissertation topic. Dates of application will be announced each year.
  
  
• The Consortium in Literature, Theory and Culture Dissertation Stipends
  
  These awards between $5,000 and $15,000 are intended to help doctoral students in the humanities make substantial progress toward completing their dissertations. Nominees for the Dissertation Stipend should be advanced to candidacy, and working on a dissertation topic compatible with the Consortium's goal of advancing collaborative research in literary studies and encouraging interdisciplinary and theoretical reflections on literature and culture. The stipends are intended to provide support for advanced graduate students working on their dissertations, and may also be used for purposes such as travel and research expenses
  
  
• Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
  
  One-quarter, $4000 award plus payment of fees and health insurance, to promote research projects with an interdisciplinary focus. For students advanced to candidacy for the doctorate in an arts or humanities field or advanced MFA students. The call for applications comes in early fall for winter, spring or fall support, and again in spring for the subsequent fall, winter or spring support.
  
  
• Pacific Rim Research Program
  
  The Pacific Rim Research Program promotes the study of the Pacific Rim as a distinctive region. For the purposes of this Program, the term: “Pacific Rim" encompasses all states and nations that border the Pacific Ocean, including all of Southeast Asia. Recognizing that the interaction of peoples and states in the region has generated new issues of common concern, the Program places priority on research that is new, specific to the region, and collaborative-reaching across national boundaries and bridging academic disciplines. Web: http://www.ucop.edu/research/pacrim/ Applications may be obtained on campus from Carla Whitacre, Research Development, Office of Research, 805/893-3925, and the annual deadline is usually early in January of the previous year.
  
  

16.5 Tutorships

The Campus Learning Assistance Services (CLAS) offers positions as tutors of writing and other skills whenever possible. The position of tutor requires a commitment of 4 to 10 hours per week to assist composition instructors in writing workshops and in providing one-to-one tutorial assistance for students needing supplementary instruction. Unless stated otherwise, tutorships are awarded with the expectation that the appointment will continue for the entire academic year, but appointees may be dismissed with appropriate notice at any time for poor tutorial performance or unsatisfactory academic progress. Students wishing to apply for a tutorship should submit an application to CLAS.

16.6 Teaching Assistantships

A Teaching Assistantship is the most common form of financial aid for graduate students. TA appointments may involve teaching literature courses or courses in the Writing Program and include a required program of training in the teaching of composition and literature. The position of Teaching Assistant is crucial to the English Department, representing as it does that place where graduate training, the undergraduate curriculum, and faculty teaching responsibilities intersect.

16.6.1 Teaching Assistantship Duties and Workload

A TAship at the University of California is usually a half-time position. The University’s contract with the ASE/UAW defines this as meaning a workload of up to 220 hours per quarter. The contract further specifies, “Workload is not measured strictly by actual hours worked. Rather, it is measured by how many hours the University could reasonably expect it to take a TA to satisfactorily complete the work assigned.” Actual tasks may vary among courses, depending on whether they are upper- or lower-division and on the pedagogical decisions of the individual supervising faculty, but in no case may the number of hours and the distribution of those hours exceed the limits laid out in the contract, which can be found online.

TAs in the English Department are assigned to large lecture courses. Duties include preparing for and attending all lectures for the course, leading two discussion sections per week of twenty-five students each, doing the required grading for the students in those sections, holding weekly office hours, and meeting regularly with the faculty instructor and other TAs. TAs may also be asked to participate in formulating exam and paper topics; give plenary lectures or contribute in other ways to lectures; conduct review sections; or support the course in other ways.

If questions arise that can’t be resolved by consultation with the supervising faculty member, TAs should consult the departmental TA Adviser.

Specific duties of TAs appointed by the Writing Program are determined by that program.

16.6.2 Terms of Employment and Length of Service

Teaching Assistantships may be made for one, two, or three quarters per academic year. The total length of service will usually not exceed four years for entering BAs, three years for entering MAs. In order to hold a TAship, a student must be regularly enrolled and maintain a 3.0 GPA, and have no more than 8 units of Incomplete coursework.

The University of California sets a limit of 50% time on graduate student employment. TAs will not ordinarily be exempted from this limit. In some cases, however, it may be acceptable for a TA, in addition to the teaching assignment, to take on a relatively minor secondary assignment as a research assistant or grader or to perform some other limited function. In such cases, the Graduate Adviser may, in consultation with members of the Graduate Committee, recommend to the Department Chair that an exception to the 50% rule be granted. Such exceptions will only be recommended when it is evident that the additional work will not jeopardize the student’s timely progress toward the degree. Exemptions will not be granted for students to undertake teaching duties in addition to their English Department TAships. A student who wishes to accept such an additional teaching assignment will have to resign the English Department TAship in order to do so.

16.6.3 Selection of Teaching Assistantships

Application Deadline: Potential openings for Teaching Assistant positions for the subsequent academic year will be posted in late winter or spring.

Initial TA appointments are based on the applicant’s academic record and letters of recommendation. Added consideration is given to students with previous teaching and graduate school experience. Reappointment depends on satisfactory progress toward the degree (see Sections 3 and 4) and evaluations by the graduate faculty, teaching supervisors, and students. Graduate students with incomplete grades may be disadvantaged in the competition for TAships (see 3.4). Students interested in a TAship should file an application with the Staff Graduate Adviser. In all cases, after considering applications, the Graduate Committee sends recommendations to the Department Chair, who makes the appointments. If a vacancy occurs during the academic year, the files of all eligible students will be considered in filling the position.

16.6.4 Teaching Assistants in Other Departments on Campus

There are teaching assistant opportunities in other departments on campus. They can be found in departments or programs that don’t have a graduate program or graduate students such as Asian-American Studies, Black Studies, Chicano Studies, the Law and Society Program, Women’s Studies Program and Global Studies Program. These departments and programs usually put out a call each quarter for teaching assistants to teach in their large lecture courses and more information can be found on the departmental websites or through a call to the departmental Business Officer.

16.7 Summer Associateships

Deadline – Applications are filed during fall quarter of the previous year; deadlines will be posted each year.

For students who have received the MA and passed the first qualifying exam, a limited number of summer Associateships are sometimes available. Appointments are recommended to the Summer Sessions administration by the Department Chair, in consultation with the Graduate Committee. Writing Program assignments are made by that department. The following factors will be considered in the selection process: quality of the candidate’s teaching record, area of programmatic need, progress toward the degree, seniority, and fairness.

16.8 Employment on Faculty Grants

Faculty members who have grants may employ students as research or clerical assistants. Students who are interested should give their names to the department's Financial Assistant and the Staff Graduate Adviser.