Financial Support

Graduate Student Funding

For 2025-26, funded-cohort graduate students in the Department of Psychology will receive a funding package of no less than $40,000 CAD inclusive of tuition and fees. 

Students who remain in good academic standing receive at least this base funding package for the duration of their time in the funded cohort: five years for students in the 5-Year Direct-Entry PhD program, and four years for students in the 4-Year PhD program. To maintain good academic standing and ensure continued funding, students must maintain at least an A- average in their course work, apply for all scholarships and fellowships for which they are eligible, and have at least two committee meetings per year. Students must also have a research supervisor. Since progress in our program is dependent on having a supervisor, students who have been enrolled without a supervisor for 6 months or more may no longer be considered in good academic standing. 

Financial support will be in the form of some combination of University of Toronto Fellowships (UTF), payments from supervisors' grants (Research Assistantships), Teaching Assistantships, and potentially, external scholarships or awards. Around August of every year, funded-cohort students receive a funding letter that specifies the sources and amount of funding for the coming academic year.

How Graduate Funding Works in Arts & Science

Graduate Funding Terms and Conditions

 

Research Assistantships

The RA stipend comprises up to $10,000 of the base funding package and is paid in equal monthly instalments via payroll. If a student has received an external scholarship or award, the supervisor’s portion of the RA stipend frequently decreases. 
 

 

Teaching Assistantships

The program provides opportunities for all graduate students to serve as Teaching Assistants (TAs). In Psychology, TAs normally engage in grading, office-hour contact with students, invigilation, leading tutorials, and test review sessions. Occasionally, TAs may be asked to give a guest lecture.  
 
TA work is covered under the contract negotiated between the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 3902 Unit 1 and the University of Toronto. The CUPE 3902 Unit 1 Collective Agreement can be found here: https://www.cupe3902.org/unit-1/documents/. Further information can be found on the CUPE 3902, Unit 1 website.

TAships are part of the funding package for students in the funded cohort. PhD students are guaranteed a certain number of TA hours year to year (known as the Subsequent Appointment). The number of guaranteed hours is determined in the first two years of your PhD.  Your first two appointments (your fall & winter TA positions in PhD1 and PhD2) set the floor for the minimum hours allotted to you in your 3rd through 6th appointments (up to a maximum of 280 hours). For example, if you worked a total of 205 hours in PhD1 and 180 hours in PhD2, we would guarantee you 205 TA hours of work in PhD 3, 4, 5 and 6. You can always apply for more work over and above your entitlement. 

Starting in PhD7, you will continue to receive subsequent appointments of 70 hours per year until you complete the program, as long as you are a registered student. 

Please note the following types of hours do not count towards subsequent appointments: WIT (Writing-Integrated Teaching) hours; TA training hours; hours worked during the summer terms; hours worked at a campus other than your primary campus or Department. For example: if your home campus is St. George, and you choose to do a TAship at UTSC, or UTM, the hours you work at UTSC or UTM will not count towards your subsequent appointment.

The maximum TA or course instructor (CI) income counted toward the base funding package in 2025-26 is $7,200, inclusive of 4% vacation pay. You are guaranteed to be offered sufficient TA hours to meet the number promised in your base funding package. You can work more hours as a CI or TA than the base funding package specifies, but that TA and CI income will not be reflected in funding letters. All the same, students will be paid for all contracted TA and CI hours worked. 

The program makes every effort to provide you with the kind and amount of TA experience you need or want. Periodically, during the year, all students are notified of the availability of TA positions on their respective campuses from Valerie Grieco at St. George, Jodie Stewart at UTM, and Nina Dhir at UTSC (contact info above). These are also the individuals whom you should contact at the respective campuses, if problems arise, such as scheduling conflicts or working arrangements. Students who are working with supervisors at research institutions or hospitals off campus will TA at the St. George campus. 

All new graduate students are required to attend the program’s orientation session in September, which includes 4 hours of mandatory TA training for which they are paid the TA hourly rate. The session deals with the responsibilities of the position and provides some guidance as to how to handle the tasks associated with being a TA.  
 

Awards

As a condition of funding, students are expected to apply to all awards for which they are eligible.  Awards valued at $10,000 or greater will affect the base funding package. The main awards are:

Browse graduate award opportunities
 

Beyond the Funded Cohort

Doctoral candidates beyond the funded cohort (from Year 5 in the 4-Year PhD program; Year 6 in the 5-Year Direct-Entry PhD program) are eligible to continue employment as Teaching Assistants and are offered a TA Subsequent Appointment through Year 6.  They also continue to be eligible for certain awards.  In addition to these sources, supervisors may opt to continue making Research Assistantship payments.

Doctoral Completion Awards are available for candidates who have left the funded cohort but are still within the time limits for their degree (Years 5 and 6 in the 4-Year PhD program; Years 6 and 7 in the 5-Year Direct-Entry PhD program).  The amount awarded varies based on the departmental yearly allocation of funds and on the amount of other funded held by applicants.

Candidates who have left the funded cohort but who were registered in the doctoral program in the winter 2020 term may be eligible for the SGS Covid-19 Tuition Exemption.  The form can be submitted in fall and/or winter terms, and will remove that semester's tuition charge; the candidate is responsible for paying the remaining incidental fees.

SGS Online Financial Need Assessment