Financial Support
Graduate Teaching Assistantships
The great majority of admitted students—even first year MA and MTPC students—receive
financial support in the form of Graduate Teaching Assistantships.
As a GTA, you receive vital professional training and improve your teaching
skills through the course of your academic career at Auburn. Master's
students may hold
a GTA for up to two years; PhD students may hold a GTA for up to five
years.
In our new Co-Teaching Program, first year MAs and MTPCs are paired with experienced lead teachers in the same small section of freshman composition. Lead teachers provide practical guidance and support with the many challenges of teaching. First year students also take part in the English Graduate Practicum, a weekly session devoted to the varied concerns of the department's newest teachers and scholars as they negotiate the competing demands of teaching and graduate study.
In addition to their teaching responsibilities, first year master's students develop their skills by tutoring in the English Center and may work with faculty on varied projects in research and instructional technology.
Second year GTAs take full responsibility for their own sections of Composition I and II, teaching three courses over the course of two semesters. Second year PhD students have the chance to broaden their experience by teaching our core courses in Great Books, at first with a faculty mentor, and on their own in succeeding semesters. Qualified PhD students may also teach Business Writing, Technical Writing, or ESL. Summer teaching is sometimes available but is not guaranteed.
As you weigh your offers, it is worth remembering that Auburn's first year stipends (in 2003-2004, $12,379 for MA-level GTAs, and $13,003 for PhD-level GTAs) are highly competitive on the national market for GTAs in English Studies.
Fellowships
Auburn also offers a limited number of fellowships to first year students, including the Florence Parker Hargis Fellowship, an award of $10,000, and the Mortar Board's Mildred Enloe Yates Fellowship, an award of $4,500. Minority students are nominated for the renewable Graduate Opportunity Fellowship, which adds $10,000 dollars to the support provided by the department. In four of the past five years, a doctoral student in English has been awarded a $4,000 Merriwether Fellowship in university-wide competition. The Naugle Award in Technical and Professional Communication and the Burkhardt Award are additional merit-based awards for students within our programs.
In addition, more modest funding is available from department, college, and university sources to support professional travel and research projects by graduate students, and of course, need-based financial support is available through the University Financial Aid Office.
Questions about this program
Last updated April 18, 2005