Department of German
UW-Madison
College of Letters & Science

Graduate Program Booklet: Financial Aid

Financial aid, such as teaching assistantships, is available on a competitive basis. Graduate students in German may be nominated for university fellowships and scholarships, and the Department of German can occasionally make limited awards for graduate study or provide paid project assistantships from its own trust funds. The deadline for applications for financial aid is December 20.

All graduate students working toward the Ph.D. in the German program receive some kind of financial aid. At a minimum, each candidate for the doctorate is guaranteed at least two semesters of supervised teaching (teaching assistantship) as part of the professional training in the Department, assuming satisfactory competency in German on the part of the candidate. Many students enter the program with a multi-year guarantee of support, either through teaching assistantships or a combination of University fellowship support and teaching assistantships. These guarantees may be 5 years for Ph.D. candidates entering with a B.A. and 4 years for those entering with an M.A.

The Department has just established 4 one-semester Deuss Fellowships to support incoming and continuing graduate students; these may be doubled to one year for an individual ). The Center for German and European Studies offers semester- or year-long fellowships in connection with its interdisciplinary seminars. Project Assistantships are often available in the Department or through the Max Kade Institute as well, allowing students to assist faculty on research projects.

Fellowships, TA-ships and most PA-ships include in- and out-of-state tuition waivers. In addition, TA-ships held in the spring semester provide a tuition waiver for the summer session. A teaching assistant typically is responsible for one section of beginning or intermediate German each semester with either 4 or 5 contact hours a week, depending on level.There are also opportunities for summer TA-ships and for graduate student travel to conferences and research facilities.

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