Financing Your Degree

TBD

During their pursuit of an M.Sc. or Ph.D. degree, most graduate students work as Teaching Assistants in an undergraduate or graduate course offered by the Department of Physics (or, much less frequently, a cognate Department). Available Teaching Assistant positions are: Tutor (tutorial), Demo (laboratory), Practical Leader (special activities in some undergraduate service courses), or Marker. Details of these positions including responsibilities and teaching tips are covered in "The Teaching Assistants' Handbook"; information may also be obtained from the Undergraduate Office in room MP301 as well as the Physics Teaching Assistant Coordinator. Candidates normally apply each year via a personal online account created for them when they join the Department. The Coordinator offers them one or more positions, based on qualifications of the applicant, suitability for the position, preferences expressed in their online TA account, as well as the needs of the Department. 140 hours of TA employment are guaranteed to students without major external scholarships (see Section IV). Also, employment conditions are governed by the Collective Agreement between the Teaching Assistants’ Union (CUPE 3902 Unit 1) and the University of Toronto. The website of CUPE 3902 is at: www.cupe3902.org.

Teaching Assistantships offer several benefits for graduate students and develop teaching and interpersonal skills that will serve well in almost any future career. Also, a Teaching Assistantship provides income for work performed in an area directly related to one's interests, namely Physics!

Physics graduate students are expected to apply for any external graduate scholarships for which they are eligible. These are NSERC scholarships – Doctoral (Vanier, PGSD, or CGSD), and Master (CGSM) – and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS). The Vanier scholarship requires additional materials and the departmental deadline is earlier than the other two doctoral scholarships. Doctoral scholarships are typically for 3 years that can be held while you are in the funded-cohort (first five years in the MSc or PhD program). You can apply to the CGSM either as an undergraduate or 1st year MSc student. First-year student in the Direct Entry PhD program is also eligible for the CGSM. The OGS is also open to international students, but will be adjudicated separately from domestic applicants. The following table shows a summary of useful information for these scholarships. Details will be announced throughout the year using the student mailing list.

Applying to these external scholarships are strongly encouraged (some departments make these mandatory). The funding level of the NSERC CGSD or Vanier scholarship is significantly higher than the guaranteed minimum. Note that OGS can be held while you are outside the funded-cohort, meaning that you have financial security even after the guaranteed funding period is over. In addition, these scholarships are usually considered as clear marks of excellence in Canadian academia, and will help boost your chance of getting your next position. In addition, all these applications require you to write a research statement targeted for non-experts, which is an excellent opportunity for you to think about the ‘big picture’ question. In order to provide help with the application, the Department of Physics offers “Grant Writing Workshop”, specifically targeting physics students. These workshops are held in early September and mid April to prepare for the NSERC Doctoral and OGS applications. Students can also take advantage of various writing support provided by Graduate Centre for Academic Communications (GCAC) .

In their final year in the funded cohort (4th year for 4-year PhD students and 5th year for Direct Entry students) students will be eligible for a program-level fellowship that provides financial support equivalent to about half of the number of TA-hours required to meet their funding package guarantee giving them the opportunity to finish up their thesis research and/or concentrate on the drafting of their final publications and thesis document. Students will still be required to perform the other half of their TA hours in their final year to receive our minimum guaranteed funding. Students are eligible to receive this fellowship only once during their graduate program. Receipt of this support does not prevent them from taking on additional TA hours in their final year.

The Doctoral Completion Award (DCA) program is intended to support full-time PhD students who are beyond the funded cohort and within the time-limit for their degree. At the Department of Physics this includes Ph.D. students in years 5 & 6 and direct entry Ph.D. students in years 6 & 7. The full value of the award for 2019-20 is $3,100 for both domestic and international students. The award will be paid to eligible students in two equal instalments: September and January. September DCA instalment will be remitted to the student and will not be applied to the student’s fees account, unless the student has arrears. January instalment will be applied to the student’s fees account first. The remaining balance, if any, will be remitted to the student. There is NO application process for this program.

DCA Eligibility requirements:

For each session the award is held, DCA recipients must be:

• registered as a full-time PhD;
• beyond the program’s funded cohort;
• within time limit for the degree (students on an approved program extension are ineligible); and
• in good standing in their graduate program and making satisfactory progress toward the completion of their degree requirements.

Most graduate students will attend conferences during the course of their PhD work, with their travel costs covered by their supervisors’ research grant. In addition, the Department of Physics runs a grant program that provides additional funds for doctoral students traveling to participate in scholarly conferences. All doctoral students are eligible for an award up to $1,000 for conference travel.

• Apply through the graduate office (grad@physics) with the following information: conference dates and location, and whether the presentation is oral or poster. Summer school attendance approved by the research supervisor is also eligible.
• There is a limited amount of funds each academic year, and the grant is distributed first come, first served. So apply early.
• The department tries to ensure that every Physics PhD student receives one travel award during their time at the University of Toronto, so preference will be given to senior PhD students who have not yet received this grant.

The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) runs, in parallel, a Conference Grant that is separate from the departmental one. More information is posted at:

http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/currentstudents/Pages/SGS-Conference-Grant.aspx

In addition, UofT Graduate Students’ Union has a travel bursary program. Details are posted at:

https://utgsu.ca/funding-2/conference-bursary/