Graduate Funding Opportunities

MSc & PhD Degree Program – Funding Information

Assured Funding Policy: Funding Terms and Stipend Levels

Applicants are strongly encouraged to seek external support if they wish to be admitted to this department. Usually this means that applications to funding agencies must be filed about a year before planned entry into graduate programs.

Funding Information

Total Stipend

A “stipend” is the total amount that a student receives as financial support during their graduate program.  Stipends are paid as T4A income and are obtained through one or more of the following:

• the supervisor’s research grant; and/or
• competitive scholarship/fellowship programs, internal or external to the University; and/or
• departmental cohort funds (U of T Fellowships)

2017-2018 Student Stipend Package for doctoral-stream Masters and PhD

Top-up Practices (excluding Ontario Graduate Scholarships)

There are three basic principles that guide Top – Up practices:

• A student who receives $15,000 or more, as a major, competitive, external award, will be eligible for up to an additional $4,000 Top-Up in recognition of receiving an external award which the student can keep for his/herself.
• Awards/scholarships count towards a student’s stipend package, with the exception of University of Toronto awards less than $2,000 (i.e., up to a total maximum of $2,000 can be kept by the student and not deducted from the stipend package).
• Students who receive an award(s) exceeding the amount equivalent to the Base Stipend and Top-Up (e.g., MSc: 30,750.14 and PhD: 32,780.14), will not be eligible to receive the Top-Up).

2017-2018 Student Stipend Package for doctoral-stream Masters and PhD who receive major, competitive, external award(s) of $15,000+

Payment of Top-Ups will occur annually for the duration of the award.  Thereafter, the student will revert back to the appropriate Base graduate student funding package amount.  

Awards eligible for Top-Up, must be major, competitive, external and not restricted to a limited group of students, such as those at a hospital-based research institute. They may, however, be restricted by research topic area.  For example, eligible awards include but are not limited to CIHR, NSERC, Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Diabetes Association, and other national and international funding agencies.  Additional awards that meet these criteria may also be eligible for Top-Up.

Top-Up Practices for Recipients of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) 

There are four basic principles that guide the OGS Top-Up practices:

• In the Faculty of Medicine, an OGS is not an external award.
• The OGS is counted towards a student’s funding package. 
• OGS recipients will be rewarded with a Top-Up of up to $2,000 which the student can keep for his/herself. 
• A student, who receives an OGS and other award(s) exceeding the amount equivalent to the Base Stipend and Top-Up, will not be eligible to receive the Top-Up.

Please note the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology is ineligible for any Top-Ups.  This is an OGS related award but is considered a Faulty of Medicine internal competitive award. 

2017-2018 Student Stipend Package for doctoral-stream Masters and PhD who receive an OGS

Awards Under $2,000

Starting in Fall 2017, any University of Toronto awards under $2,000, up to a total maximum of $2,000, regardless of the number of awards, can be kept by the student over and above the total student stipend.  This includes all internal University awards, such as OSOTF awards.

Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Funds (OSOTF) Awards

Students who receive funding from needs-based/merit awards, such as OSOTFs are required to consider such funds as part of their total stipend.  Because many of these awards are hospital-based and each hospital has its own rules regarding Top-Up practices (some allow it and some do not), it was decided that until the practice can be harmonized across all the awards that these awards will remain as part of students total stipend.

Bursaries

Non-repayable grants, such as the UTAPS and SGS Emergency Grant, which assists students with sudden and/or unexpected financial need, are not part of the total stipend outlined above. A student under these circumstances is therefore eligible to retain the entire amount of such an award.

Funding Terms

In general, provided that he/she remain “in good standing”, a doctoral stream student will be funded for his/her thesis-based program.  There are four basic principles that guide these funding terms, as follows:

• MSc students are guaranteed funding for their first 2 years.   
• PhD students admitted with completed master's degree are guaranteed student stipend funding for a minimum of 4 years.
• Transfer students (i.e., transfer from MSc to PhD students), are guaranteed minimum funding for their first 5 years, which includes 1 year as an MSc student.
• Direct-entry PhD students admitted with a bachelor's degree are guaranteed student stipend funding for a minimum of 5 years.

Fellowships Awarded by the University

Financial support is available to highly qualified graduate students, on the basis of academic excellence, from various sources at the University of Toronto. All international PhD complete applications for full-time studies received in the Department by January 15 are automatically considered for the following awards, for which there is a very small quota:

• Connaught International Scholarship – Valued at $35,000 including tuition fee 
• Ontario Trillium Scholarship – Awarded to International PhD students. The award is $40,000/annum

Fellowships Awarded by Government Agencies

Financial support is available to Canadian citizens and permanent residents from the following federal and provincial government programs. These awards are competitive and are based on academic standing and letters of recommendation. Application forms are available in early Fall preceding the year of admission.

• Canada Graduate Scholarship CGS M (NSERC/ SSHRC/CIHR) – $17,500
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) – $15,000
• NSERC Doctoral Scholarship – $35,000 (CGS), $21,000 (PGS)
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR D) – $35,000 per year
• CIHR/NSERC/SSHRC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Awarded to outstanding PhD students.  The award is $50,000 per year for three years.

Major Canadian Scholarships/Awards Deadlines

Teaching Assistantships

Students accepted and registered in the Department are eligible to apply for a teaching assistantship. These are fee-for-service contracts and not student awards. Ten hours per week is the maximum number of hours a full-time student can work. Further details can be obtained by writing directly to the Chair of the Department, giving full particulars of your academic training and experience.

Visit Financing Your Graduate Education for further information on financial support.