History of Religions Home

Financial aid is available to all students - with exceptions noted below - and applicants for admission are automatically considered for financial aid. There are generally FIVE types of financial aid available to graduate-level students in the History of Religions tracks: i. departmental teaching assistantships, ii. departmental fellowships and iii. FLAS scholarships, iv. JEFFERSON fellowships, and v. Work Study.

i. Teaching assistantships provide for in-state tuition and a living stipend. A TA is required each semester to lead three discussion sections of twenty students apiece for a large lecture course that typically involves two lectures a week by the professor. The student must thus prepare for section each week, attend ever lecture, and grade exams and papers as required for those sixty students.

ii. Departmental fellowship money exists in various programs. The department generally attempts to support first-year students without graduate degrees with fellowship money rather than a teaching assistantship.

iii. FLAS fellowships  (when available) are awarded for students of modern Asian languages, and provide for tuition and a substantial living stipend. There are two separate programs: one for summer courses, and one for the academic year. The former can be granted for study at other institutions, but the latter is only for study at UVA. They are not available for students studying non-South Asian languages, for students studying only classical languages like Sanskrit, nor for students studying modern Asian languages not taught at the University. Their award is decided by the Center for South Asian Studies (CSAS), though generally three or four annual fellowships are awarded to graduate students in our programs. They are available only to US citizens. They can be granted to incoming students, but more typically are granted to students after their first year. They must be applied for separately through the CSAS, and incoming students should contact the CSAS for application details in January and February prior to the year in which they plan to begin their studies at the University.

iv. JEFFERSON Fellowships: Funded by targeted donations from alumni, the Jefferson Fellowships are the most competitive and prestigious of Virginia’s graduate fellowships.  These fellowships, won in an application process that includes an interview of and lecture by applicants at UVA, currently offer a stipend of $30,000, with a possibility for travel funds, as well.  Only some two-dozen fellowships are offered across the University in a given year, and students are encouraged to apply.  For more information, see the following webpage, and not the (usually) early deadline for applying: http://www.jeffersonscholars.org/graduate/

v. Work Study: students must apply for work-study jobs through Financial Aid Office by the end of March; assignments are usually made at the end of July. While work study pays minimal hourly wages, students are sometimes able to request specialized projects or office work relating to their own studies. On the work-study form, one can indicate preferences in consultation with relevant faculty - for example, a Tibetan Studies student could indicate preference for working in the CSAS for one of the Tibetan language projects.

There is a major difference between out-of-state and in-state tuition, as is standard at most public Universities. In other words, if a student is a resident of the state of Virginia, the tuition costs are much less expensive. This is particularly important since the department has to pay for students’ out-of-state tuition costs.  Thus if one enters a degree program without funding, the department may find it more difficult to fund the student with a decent living stipend, because the department will have to cover the out-of-state tuition. The department has only limited out-of-state tuition waivers. This is why some students first establish in-state residency, and only subsequently enter the degree program.

If someone comes from another state to Virginia to be a fulltime student (defined as twelve credit hours a semester) in the first year of residency, they will be declared out-of-state and remain so throughout their entire tenure at the University. However, it is possible to move to Virginia one year prior to beginning a degree program and establish residency. This may be done while keeping a deferred admission to a degree program; one may also take courses at the University during the year through continuing education, though one must enroll for fewer than twelve credits per semester. Establishing residency entails being financially independent, not attending the University full time, working in Virginia and paying Virginia state taxes, registering to vote in Virginia, having a Virginia drivers license, and registering ones car (if one is owned) in Virginia.

The one exception to the strict residency requirements: residency can be established one year later at any point if the student is married (or becomes married), and the spouse works within the state of Virginia, pays taxes and so forth while the student attends the University. This also applies if the student marries a resident of Virginia after entering the University. There is also a resident exception law for students supported by parents who live in some adjacent states. Please call Virginia Status of University Students (434-982-3391) to get further information about establishing Virginia residency to get in-state tuition status, as well as to confirm the details given here.

Finally, there is a "Special Arrangement Contract" which must be signed prior entering the University. If you are an employee of a company which has subsidiary operations in the state of Virginia, then you can pay in-state tuition if (i) the employer agrees to pick up the tab if you renege on tuition payment, and (ii) you are planning to be on leave for two years and then return to the company in question.  This is a particularly pertinent option for terminal M.A. or summer school students. Please contact Tim Gillette at Financing in Carruthers Hall for details.

Prior to dissertation fieldwork, it is often important or necessary for a student to travel abroad to make preliminary contacts for fieldwork, consult manuscripts, or get advanced training in colloquial languages; similarly, it may be necessary to study, at another University in the US, a language which is not taught at UVA. Funding for these activities is available from internal sources at the University of Virginia, as well as from external agencies. One internal source is located in the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies, which supports study in languages needed for one’s research beyond the general language requirements for the Ph.D. The applications are generally due around March 1. Please consult with your adviser and the Departmental Director of Graduate Studies well before then for details.

AIIS (see "fieldwork funding") has programs for language study in India for the summer and academic year. Other miscellaneous sources are also available.

At UVA, “The Ellen Bayard Weedon East Asia Travel Grants” is administered by the Grants Committee of the East Asia Center for travel to East Asia by faculty or students. It funds travel to East Asia with a structured study agenda, and proposals are usually due in February or so (see http://minerva.acc.Virginia.EDU/~eastasia/weedongrant.html, and http://minerva.acc.Virginia.EDU/~eastasia/weedonapp.html). The grants generally cover some portion, or all, of the relevant airfare. In addition, the Dean of Graduate Studies has funds reserved to support foreign language study by the University’s graduate students. Refer to your adviser and the Departmental head of Graduate Studies for details on how to approach the Dean for such funds.

There is an annual competition for Dissertation Year Fellowships from the office of the Dean of Graduate Studies; the deadline for this funding is usually in February. The student must be nominated by his/her adviser within the department in order to apply for this funding. All pre-dissertation requirements must be completed, and the student must have a project description that is clear to scholars outside the student's field; a sample chapter of the dissertation may also be included in the application. The student's dissertation director must also write a supporting letter ensuring that the dissertation can be completed during the year of the fellowship. It is also necessary to submit two additional letters of recommendation, a list of coursework or an unofficial transcript, a CV, and a schedule outlining the student’s program for completing the Ph.D. thesis. The Director of Graduate Studies in the Department can make available a document outlining these requirements.

Foreign Disseration Research Tuiton

In cooperation with the Office of the Provost, we created a program to pay the non-topical research (NTR) tuition and fees for students in need of loan deferments who must pursue their dissertation research outside of the country. Students qualifying for this program will be required to pay the non-resident fee but will have the remainder of the non-topical research charges paid by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and will be enrolled in 12 hours of NTR per semester. This level of enrollment will qualify the students for a loan deferment, as well as for additional student loans. In order to qualify, students must meet the following criteria:

▪   All requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation must be met before the utilization of the award;
▪   The student's dissertation research must be pursued away from the University in another country;
▪   The student must have outstanding loans (graduate or undergraduate) which would otherwise be due and payable without the deferment;
▪   The student cannot have the financial means to pay the NTR charges and still carry out the research.

Applications, when completed they are to be given to the Graduate Secretary, Sarah Adams. The deadline is March 1st.