Ph.D. students receive tuition waivers and stipends for living expenses during the first 5 years of study, generally in exchange for service to the department.
M.A. students do not normally receive departmental funding. They are encouraged to contact Assistant Dean Katie O'Dair (odair@bc.edu, 617-552-3482) for available positions at Graduate Student Life, and to check out the opportunities in the right column of the table below.
Both MA and PhD students can, of course, apply for external sources of funding. Links to PhD sources of funding and links to external sources of funding are listed below.
| Ph.D. Funding Sources | Links to External Funding Sources (for M.A. and Ph.D. students) |
Teaching Assistant/Teaching Fellow (5 years) This is the most common funded position; the department accepts between 5 and 8 new grad students in this position per year. Students serve as TAs the first 3 years of the program and TFs the last 2 years. Minority Student Fellowship (5 years) Awarded at the discretion of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Look under University Fellowships.) Presidential Fellowship (5 years) Awarded at the discretion of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to new students recommended by the Sociology faculty. (Look under University Fellowships.) Dissertation Fellowship (1 year) Awarded at the discretion of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences to advanced students recommended by the Sociology Faculty. Applications are solicited by the Graduate Director, usually around February. Alper Award (1 year) Endowment awarded by the Sociology faculty annually. Applications are solicited by the Graduate Director, usually around February. |
Financial Aid: A webpage maintained by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GSAS) Graduate Fellowships: A webpage maintained by a BC Fellowship & Scholarship Opportunities website. Opportunities for Students: The main Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) page for student funding opportunities Graduate Fellowships: Another OSP webpage Research Opportunities: Another page maintained by OSP Dissertation Support: Another OSP page, showing external sources of support Financial Aid: An external website linked through OSP Financial Support page maintained by Graduate Student Life (see reference to Assistant Dean O'Dair, above). Links on this page include: Graduate Assistant opportunities
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Teaching Assistant/Teaching Fellow: The majority of PhD students accepted into the program will be paid as Teaching Assistants during the first three years, and as Teaching Fellows during the last two years.
Teaching Assistants: Each year, Teaching Assistants are assigned to particular professors (generally these assignments are made on the basis of mutual agreement), and they help those professors with two undergraduate courses per year. Assistance can include grading papers, leading classroom discussions, and meeting with individual students outside of class. Stipends are established by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and vary from year to year.
Teaching Fellows: Teaching Fellows teach two undergraduate courses per year. While department needs are the primary consideration in determining which courses are taught; in practice the course subjects are usually based on mutual agreement between the TF and the Chair, with many students developing their own courses. (Examples include SC308 Race, Representations, and the Myth of Colorblindness, developed by Chiwen Bao, and SC31901 Masculinity and the Media, developed by Matt Gregory.) Because of their increased responsibility, Teaching Fellows receive more money than TAs.
Alper Award: Ben Alper, a former faculty member of the Department of Sociology, left a very generous endowment to support graduate students, in the form of the Benedict S. Alper Graduate Fellowship. This fellowship is awarded by the Sociology faculty annually to one student who demonstrates engaged critical scholarship and use of critical thinking toward social justice issues. The student must also demonstrate both academic achievement and financial need. The amount of the award is dependent on the market so it varies from year to year.