Graduate Student Funding
Students accepted to our MA program are typically offered funding support in the form of a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) or a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA).
In addition, excellent applicants are eligible for the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies MA recruitment scholarships. In order for us to nominate you for such a scholarship, you must have an undergraduate GPA of 3.7 or higher, with excellent demonstrated research potential. In addition, you should be making applications to other top universities. No special application is necessary for these funding opportunities. We will automatically consider all eligible students whose admission applications are completed by the due date.
For Canadian citizens and permanent residents
All Canadian citizens and permanent residents are strongly encouraged to apply for scholarships from the Canada Graduate Scholarships Master's Competition (CGS-M). This is one of the best scholarships available to students in MA programs at the University of Alberta, paying $17,500 per year with no work requirement. Under normal circumstances, any winner of a CGS-M scholarship will almost always be granted admission to our program. However, interested students must make a separate application for CGS-M scholarships; these are not awarded as part of our regular admissions process. To begin an application, visit the GPS' scholarship website. PLEASE NOTE: the application deadline for the CGS-M scholarship is December 1; this is far earlier than our own application for admission to the MA program, which is not due until January 15.
For international students
In addition to the recruitment scholarships and GTA opportunities mentioned above, international applicants may be eligible for scholarships from various government agencies or foundations in their home countries. For example, American applicants may be eligible for funding through the Fulbright program. There are also many very narrowly-directed scholarships, large and small, which are available from private foundations across the world. Some of these may be found easily through search engines, but others are quite obscure. All students are recommended to consult with their undergraduate university's career office for help in locating appropriate scholarships for which they may apply.
Any student who is able to win an external scholarship competition from their home country will be given preferential consideration for admission to our MA program.