Finance & Scholarships
Guaranteed Stipends - for prospective and new students
Graduate Students in sciences at the University of Toronto are guaranteed a minimum annual stipend. For 2012-13 this minimum is $15,500 above tuition and fees. The EEB Department adds an additional $1000 guarantee for all students. For domestic students (= Canadian citizens and permanent residents) the resulting EEB base income is $24,902, and for international students (on visas) it is $35,312. These base income levels are guaranteed for 16 months (1.33X guaranteed income in total) for the M.Sc. program, and for four years for the PhD program (five years for students entering directly from a bachelor's program or transferring from an MSc to a PhD program).
The annual income totals for individual students are packages assembled from different categories of support. Each category of support is described in some detail below the following table, but the table itself should be sufficient for you to obtain a good estimate of the total of your support for the coming year. The table makes clear the advantages of being a part of the EEB Department (in comparison with the typical Arts & Science grad student). It documents how winning various external scholarships can change the teaching vs research balance in your program and raise your disposable income.
Income Specified in Support Packages for Different Groups of Graduate Students
| Student Group | TA hours required* to achieve guaranteed income | Total of support package (including TA$) | Disposable income after tuition and fees |
| Arts & Science model grad student in sciences |
210 |
$22,239 |
$15,500 |
| EEB Students without major scholarship support |
140 |
$24,902D, $35,312I |
$16,500 |
| Canadian Students with OGS or OGSST scholarships |
140 |
$26,402 |
$18,000 |
| Students with NSERC CGSM, PGSM, PGSD, and IPS scholarships |
70 |
$27,402 |
$19,000 |
| Students with NSERC CGSD or Vanier awards |
70 |
>$40,000 |
>$32,000 |
| EEB MSc students beyond 16 months or post-20090 PhD students who reach P5 (PhD) or P6 (PhDU) |
Unspecified |
Determined by supervisor |
No guarantees** |
* Students may decline a TA offer but their income will then be correspondingly reduced unless their supervisor replaces the lost income by increasing the Research Assistantship component of the support package. Alternatively, students may TA more than specified in the initial stipend package, if they obtain permission from their supervisor. A 70-hour TA slot pays about $3001. D Canadian students and permanent residents, I International students on visas
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Individual Stipend Funding Packages
In August of each year you and your supervisor will receive a statement of your guaranteed income for the following year (specified by the rules that generated the table above). The stipend sheet will include a breakdown of the value of each kind of support in the total package. This description will take into account your particular visa status (domestic/international), term of first registration, any major scholarship you hold, and your stage in your program. The package represents a framework on which you and your supervisor can customize how the support is delivered. Together you may alter TA hours and amounts paid as Research Assistantships as long as you conform with a few constraints (see "Details..." below). You may also adjust the scheduling of RA payments to best meet your needs. When you and your supervisor have agreed on the details, a jointly signed description of the customized support plan should be submitted to your local financial administrator for implementation.
September Cash Payments from the Support Package
All new students will receive in early September an early payment from their support package to help pay for relocation and/or getting ready for the new academic year. Beginning in August 2011, the amount of this payment will be specified in each student's detailed description of the stipend package sent out in August.
If you have questions about any of the above information, please contact the EEB Graduate Office (grad.eeb@utoronto.ca) or read through the Details... section below.
Details about Categories of Support in Graduate Stipend Packages
Teaching Assistantships (TA):
Funding packages for students without external fellowships include income from 140 hours each student works as a teaching assistant in undergraduate courses. Each student is paid ~$6,003 for this teaching activity. [Funding packages mandated by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences specify 210 hours of TA activity; the reduction to 140 hours by the EEB Department allows students to focus more time on their research activities without sacrificing income.] Funding packages for students supported by external scholarships (NSERC, CIHR, OGS, FQRNT) require only 70 TA hours, accounting for ~$3,001 in income. The TA component of support packages may be increased or decreased based on discussions between students and their supervisors, and may be contingent on the availability of TA positions. A student is permitted to teach fewer hours than specified in their funding package, but they thereby reduce their total income. Alternatively, a supervisor may decide to replace part or all of the package's TA income so that a student can devote more time to research. The replacement is accomplished by the supervisor increasing the value of the Research Assistantship (RA) component of the package.
Research Assistantships (RA):
MSc program: The RA for both domestic and international students in the 16-month MSc program is $8,750 for the first 12 months and $8,750 (1/3 of the annual guaranteed income) for the remaining four months. RA values may be less for students holding external awards, if the scholarship provides enough support to replace some or all of the usual $8,750 RA. Such RA reductions are permitted only when the reduced value of the RA is compensated by a larger value of the scholarship.
PhD program: The RA for PhD students is currently $8,750 per year for both domestic and international students over the 4- or 5-year period of guaranteed income.
University of Toronto Fellowships (UTF):
UTF funds are provided by the Faculty of Arts & Science to help ensure that each graduate student has adequate financial support during their graduate program. For students without large external scholarships, the value of the typical UTF award each year is about $7,000 for domestic and about $20,000 for international students. The difference in amounts is purely to offset the differential tuition and fees paid by the two groups, so that their after-fees incomes are equal.
Students supported by external fellowships usually exceed guaranteed income levels without any UTF support. UTF "top-ups" are awarded by the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and added on top of the base income for winners of NSERC ($2,500), CIHR ($2,500) and OGS ($1,500) fellowships. For CGSD winners, the top-up might be approximately $1500.
EEB Internal Awards (Restricted Awards):
EEB Restricted Awards are funded by the interest on donations to the Department, supplemented by matching gifts from the University and sometimes the Province.
This endowment plays a critical role
- in allowing the department to provide graduate student income above the minimum level set by Arts & Science,
- in reducing the TA hours required in our standard funding packages, and
- in allowing us to recognize outstanding achievements by individual students.
No applications are necessary for the awards. Every graduate student in EEB is automatically considered for them. To receive some endowed awards, recipients must be studying particular groups of organisms or kinds of processes. There are also some financial needs requirements, but most graduate students satisfy those criteria. Typical values of the awards vary widely depending on other components of the financial package.
Major scholarships/fellowships:
Scholarships valued at $10K -$50K that are awarded based on national or provincial competitions represent a major source of support for EEB students. This support frees up grant money from RA allocations to fund further research, and Arts & Science provides top-up awards to the department in recognition that these awards reduce the need for UTF allocations to the recipients. Department policy adds these top-up awards to the scholarship winners' guaranteed incomes and reduces the number of TA hours in support packages for the larger scholarships (see table above).