Minimum Guaranteed Funding for PhD Students

Minimum guaranteed funding for PhD students at the University of Alberta provides financial support for current and incoming doctoral students through years one to four of their program with minimum guaranteed funding of $100K CAD over four years and not less than $25K CAD in their first year.

Highlights/Overview

• Begins Fall 2025
• Minimum guaranteed funding of a cumulative annual stipend of $25K CAD or not less than $100K CAD across years one to four and not less than $25K CAD in year one.
• Minimum guaranteed funding can be made up of any combination of funds from a variety of sources that flow to graduate students through the U of A.
• Offer letters will outline the commitment as described in the Operating Standard.
• The commitment does not include part-time students and sponsored students receiving $25K per year or higher.
• Working professionals are not eligible for the minimum guaranteed funding offer.

Commitment

On April 17, 2024, the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies Council endorsed minimum guaranteed funding of $100K CAD over four years for PhD students with the goal to uplift and improve the U of A doctoral program and doctoral student experience and provide support for PhD students across disciplines. Minimum guaranteed funding in an initiative undertaken in a partnership between the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS), U of A faculties, departments, researchers and scholars, and our external partners that support graduate students — the Government of Alberta, the Government of Canada and many other countries, organizations and individuals that fund other awards and scholarships.

Our commitment to students

The U of A is committed to providing our students with rich, memorable and meaningful experiences at our university, and the Student Experience Action Plan (SEAP) commits us to set our students up for individual success and to support their continued impact on our research, education and engagement missions. Minimum guaranteed funding will help to enable students to give primary attention to their doctoral studies and will support the university's commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion by providing all students with support at or above the minimum guarantee.

Our commitment to programs

The U of A is committed to the success and longevity of this initiative, which includes increasing funding available to support graduate students from GPS, including transition and backstop funds. GPS is committed to providing strategic support to programs as they implement minimum guaranteed funding for graduate students, including support in crafting offer letters, and early notice and flexible use of GPS-administered funds. GPS will further support this initiative, in partnership with the university’s Performance, Analytics and Institutional Research (PAIR) portfolio, to provide data on graduate student financial support to enable planning and coordination, through the development and sharing of graduate student funding data dashboards.

Key Principles

Student financial support

Approximately 15% of current PhD students in years one to four receive less than $25K CAD per year in financial support. With the low income cut-off for 2024 in Canada set at $28,339 per year, ensuring students receive $25K CAD at minimum in year one and $100K CAD across years one to four is an important first step toward ensuring appropriate levels of support.

Equity, diversity and inclusion

Some doctoral students receive more than $35K CAD in funding per year on average, while other doctoral students receive less than $25K CAD in funding per year, including a number of doctoral students who receive no funding. Minimum guaranteed funding ensures all doctoral students will have financial support at or above the minimum guarantee.

Enrolment growth

With endorsement of this initiative, the U of A joins the list of U15 institutions that support their graduate students with minimum guaranteed funding packages. To meet the commitment to building outstanding student experience laid out in the Student Experience Action Plan, the U of A is taking the step of making this commitment to all PhD students in years one through four of their programs, not just those that will begin their programs in 2025. This commitment is an important step as the U of A embraces its goals of increasing accessibility to post-secondary education and opening its doors to a growing and diverse cohort of learners.

Operating Standard

The Operating Standard describes the way in which the U of A will meet its commitment to minimum guaranteed funding for PhD students:

• Minimum guaranteed funding for doctoral students through years one to four of their program of a minimum of $100K CAD over four years and not less than $25K CAD in their first year.
• The guarantee will be expressed through the admission offer letter.
• Colleges, faculties and departments will have flexibility to meet the minimum guaranteed funding through all types of financial support associated with the University of Alberta, including, but not limited to, GTA/GRA/GRAF appointments, awards and scholarships, funding from departments and supervisors and any combination thereof. Programs are encouraged to think strategically about how students can be supported; GPS will support programs with strategic planning and provide data around graduate student financial support in partnership with PAIR.
• Doctoral students will need to meet expectations to be eligible for minimum guaranteed funding (further outlined in the Operating Standard), such as, but not limited to: 
  • Full-time registration
  • Maintenance of academic standing
  • Thesis progress
  • Availability to take GTA- and GRA-ships
  • Actively applying for available scholarships and awards
• Minimum guaranteed funding recognizes sponsored students at the U of A and provides that they will receive additional funding if their sponsored income is below $25K CAD per year.
• Funding from a First Nations, Métis or Inuit organization — local, regional or national — will not be used to meet the minimum guaranteed funding.

What's Next

• GPS will allocate an additional $1M in funds in the 2024-25 calendar year to support the implementation of minimum guaranteed funding.
• GPS will work with programs to draft language for offer letters that clearly describe how the minimum guaranteed funding commitment will be met.
• GPS will work with PAIR to develop a graduate student funding dashboard.