We fund all our PhD and MFA students fully, offering Graduate Teaching Assistantships of $16,500 to students entering with a BA or $17,000 to students entering with an MA, plus tuition waivers and attractive health insurance coverage. These teaching stipends, which generally require teaching one course per semester, compare to the best schools in the country and rank in the top three nationally for MFA programs.  

Grants are available to help support conference travel.   

 
Incoming students without an MA generally work as teaching assistants in a large lecture course during their first year, leading one break-out discussion section per semester. Students entering with an MA are usually assigned their own section of English Composition.

In the fall of their second year, all students are normally assigned their own section of English Composition, one per semester.  Students concurrently take a course in how to teach first-year composition to provide pedagogical training and support.  Later in their graduate careers, all our students teach literature or creative writing.

Dissertation-year fellowships and extra-year funding beyond the terms of the assistantship are also available by application, but not guaranteed.