Philosophy MA Programs: Funding Details


If you’re interested in learning more about which master’s programs in philosophy offer funding, you can check out the “Funded MA Programs in Philosophy” page.

The page was created by Geoff Pynn (Elgin Community College). If you have any updates for the page, you can contact him or leave a comment on this post. Dr. Pynn mentions that he is looking to hand over management of that page to someone else. If you are interested in performing that service, let him know.

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HK Andersen
HK Andersen
3 years ago

I am the Graduate Chair in Philosophy at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. We offer funding for our students, and have a high degree of commitment to guaranteeing that every student receives at least a minimum floor of funding that allows for living and other school expenses. Out usual package includes $CAD 2k-3k (depending on yearly funding fluctuations) in entrance award available immediately when the Fall term starts, which helps student defray initial costs when they arrive. Each student also receives funding in each of our three terms (Fall=September to December; Spring = January – April; Summer=May-August). Usually this is in the form of teaching assistantships, worth about $6-6.5k and adjusted annually for inflation. We also have graduate fellowships, awarded in the summer term, which most students end up getting at least once. Finally, we also have various research assistantships, varying from part time to full time, working on projects with various faculty members. These are often held in addition to students’ regular funding, so often enough students earn more than the floor of funding in their time with us. The program is set up so students can complete in two years, and we guarantee funding for that time. Many students, for various reasons, choose to take a third year, and if they are in good standing generally are funded through that year as well. Our TAs are represented at the University by a very active and well developed union, and our department grads choose a volunteer to be the union steward for Philosophy. In addition to this funding, we also give each student a travel stipend, currently worth $1800, for conference and workshop attendance, though that certainly seems like less of a perk nowadays.

HK Andersen
HK Andersen
Reply to  HK Andersen
3 years ago

Clarification: the funding is about $6-6.5k per term, over three terms, plus the entrance award. It comes to $20-22k per year, plus the travel funding.

Mahdiyeh
Mahdiyeh
Reply to  HK Andersen
2 years ago

Hi…thanks for your explanations. Do you have any funded MA programs for fall 2022?

Kelly Trogdon
Kelly Trogdon
3 years ago

I’m the Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Our department awards between four and five graduate teaching assistantships each year. These provide in- and out-of-state tuition remission (except for fees), and a stipend of about $18,500 per year.

Chris Stephens
Chris Stephens
3 years ago

I’m outgoing Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, and our MA students get about 18K CAN (Canadian students) or 15K (international students) per year for each of two years (these amounts are about what is left after you subtract tuition, which is higher for international students). About half of the money is in the form of fellowship and half in TA work (average 12 hours per week of TA work over two 16 week periods per year). There is also sometimes the possibility of additional TA or RA work. Canadian students are eligible for MA SSHRC grants, which pay about $6,500 more for one of the two years.

Christopher Gauker
Christopher Gauker
3 years ago

At the University of Salzburg, in Salzburg, Austria, we offer a two-year MA in philosophy that can be completed with courses in English. We do not have funding for MA students, but tuition for non-EU citizens is only 727 euros per semester (in addition to some small fees). Of course, students must also cover their living expenses. At the moment it is hard-to-impossible for US citizens to enter Austria, but we can hope that by Fall 2021 that will have changed. Details about the program are here: https://www.uni-salzburg.at/index.php?id=203911&L=1 For information about the interests of the faculty, start here: https://www.uni-salzburg.at/index.php?id=28346&L=1 Students from everywhere in the world are welcome to apply. Don’t hesitate to write to us if you have questions.

Francesco Orsi
Francesco Orsi
3 years ago

At the University of Tartu, Estonia, we will offer 8 tuition-free places in the 2021 admissions of our two-year MA program (fully in English). Our program is largely based on individual studies according to the student’s interests, but it is also designed to welcome students with little or no previous background in philosophy. Many of our alumni have landed great PhD positions. You can learn more here:
ut.ee/philosophy

Francesco Orsi
Francesco Orsi
3 years ago

I forgot to add:
The top 2-3 international applicants receive a 350 euros/month maintenance scholarship (which does cover basic living expenses in a place like Tartu).

Eddy Nahmias
Eddy Nahmias
3 years ago

Thank you to DN and Geoff for making this important information available to prospective students. Just some minor updates to the info about Georgia State’s program on Geoff’s page and our website here: https://philosophy.gsu.edu/funding/
We fund every MA student in our program with tuition waiver and stipend. Next year we should have one more $15,000 scholarship in addition to our current four. The other assistantships pay $10,000 in year 2 for teaching. For year 1 (for teaching or research assistance) we advertise $6,000-$10,000 to be conservative, but we have been able to get everyone to at least $8,000 in the past few years. We have also been able to fund almost every student who wants to take classes and teach in the summer semester.

Martin Pickavé
Martin Pickavé
3 years ago

The University of Toronto offers a one-year MA program in Philosophy with full funding. For more detail see here: https://philosophy.utoronto.ca/st-george/graduate/funding-and-fellowships/. Next year we will also start a new MA concentration in Philosophy of Science.

Brian
Brian
3 years ago

Oklahoma State University has a MA Program that comes with two years of guaranteed funding. The package includes a yearly stipend of $16.708.5, health insurance, and a tuition waiver. Grad students TA all four semesters. They are primarily used as graders but will occasionally lead discussion sections. The past few years, the department has offered a scholarship to offset the costs of applying to PhD programs. The amount available depends upon the number of students applying to PhD programs but recently, it has amounted to $500-700 per student. Finally, there is usually funding for students to present work at conferences.

Damiano Costa
3 years ago

At the MAP – the Research Master in Philosophy at USI (Lugano, Switzerland, http://www.map.usi.ch) – the average student receives enough scholarships to completely cover the tuition fees as well as a significant part of the living expenses.
We also offer several student assistant positions, which apart from helping our students financially, allow them to gain valuable experience.

Ingo Brigandt
3 years ago

I am the Graduate Chair at the University of Alberta. We now have both a 2-year thesis-based MA program and a 1-year course-based MA program (that includes a major research paper).
We normally offer funding to all admitted MA students. We provide at least $8,280 during a 4-month term, which is the TA/RA rate for MA students negotiated by the university’s graduate student association. To the extent that our budget permits, for international student we also cover the international student tuition differential (so that international students effectively pay only the domestic tuition rate). Beyond the departmental minimum funding, there are additional funding options, including university Master’s Entrance Scholarships ($17,500 plus tuition), provincial AGES fellowships ($12,000), and — for domestic students — federal fellowships ($17,500 plus tuition).

Gualtiero Piccinini
Gualtiero Piccinini
3 years ago

At the University of Missouri – St. Louis, Philosophy MA program, we offer about 4 funding packages/year that include tuition remission plus a half-time graduate assistantship that carries a $10,000 stipend. There can be extra paid teaching assignments and travel funds.