Policy 139: Funding of Graduate Students

Preamble

In order to attract and retain excellent graduate students, Toronto Metropolitan University will ensure that an internal program for support including scholarships, bursaries and assistantships (research and teaching) is maintained and that access will be made available to external sources of funding (e.g., granting council postgraduate scholarships and Ontario Graduate Scholarships). Funding practices will recognize that most full-time students require significant financial support. To facilitate student access to the various funding resources, the Assistant Registrar, School of Graduate Studies, will provide administrative support.

Policy

The financial obligations of both the student and the University will be set out when a student is accepted into a Toronto Metropolitan graduate program. However, the offer of admission will not necessarily provide a guarantee of financial support to prospective graduate students. Students will be expected to have sufficient means of financial support (e.g., support offered by Toronto Metropolitan and elsewhere) for the length of time normally required to complete the graduate program in which they intend to enroll. In the case of international students, clear demonstration of financial resources will be required in order to obtain a student visa. When an offer of admission with financial support is made, the student must agree in writing that Toronto Metropolitan is not obliged to provide further financial support beyond that described in the offer of admission. An offer of funding will state the amount of funding, duration of funding, conditions for renewal (if any), terms of continued funding, and other relevant details. Students will have to agree to the terms of the admission offer and funding arrangements prior to their enrolment in a graduate program at the University. Graduate students may be offered financial support, for a part of or for the full duration of their tenure in the program, in the form of scholarships, bursaries, awards, graduate stipends, graduate assistantships, or research assistantships. In addition, graduate students will be given information about applying for graduate assistantships, which are administered by individual undergraduate teaching units.

The allocation of scholarships and awards will be consistent with Toronto Metropolitan’s policies concerning access, equity and research integrity, and the criteria established by the Scholarship and Awards Committee of the School of Graduate Studies. The award of graduate stipends is to be consistent with employment and graduate funding policies of granting agencies whose funds may be used to support graduate students. Terms of employment of graduate students as research and graduate assistants will be consistent with the collective agreements between Toronto Metropolitan and its employee groups.

Scholarships and awards will be awarded on a competitive basis.

For the allocation of Graduate Program funds to graduate students, the policies and norms established by the School of Graduate Studies will normally apply. Graduate Program Committees must specify their funding policies in their proposals to the School of Graduate Studies Council.

Funding policies and practices associated with existing and future Joint Graduate Programs with other institutions will normally be consistent with the policies of the School of Graduate Studies. Differential practices and harmonization terms are subject to negotiation, development and review by the Dean of Graduate Studies and the Programs and Planning Committee of the School of Graduate Studies.

Information and applications for all graduate student support will be distributed through the School of Graduate Studies and the graduate programs at Toronto Metropolitan.