Funding Graduate Studies

Fellowships

The director of the CMPL program may be allowed by the Dean’s Office and Head of SLC to nominate one or two applicants for a Lynn Fellowship each year,which supports incoming graduate students during their first year so that they do not have to teach. These fellowships are limited and highly competitive within the university. The applicants have usually completed their B.A. degree at a university abroad and have subsequently a M.A. degree already from an American University. Their GPA must be 3.5/4.0 or higher.

Students may also enter the M.A. program in Comparative Literature by means of a two-year Fulbright Fellowship. This has to be initiated in the student’s home country and is administered by the national Fulbright office in New York. On completing the M.A. students are required to return to their home country. The College of Liberal Arts may supplement a Fulbright Fellowship with summer funding, but this is not guaranteed.

Graduate students at Purdue may also be eligible for other fellowships, both national and within the university, but they have to find the application opportunities and process the applications on their own once they are accepted at Purdue University.

Assistantships

Teaching assistantships are academic year appointments (ten month). No graduate student has an automatic right to work as a T.A. and they all maintain student visa status (not work). The appointment is a privilege based on the needs of each program and department in the School of Languages and Cultures and the School of Interdisciplinary Studies. A teaching assistantship comes with salary, tuition waiver, and health insurance, and are a means to support a graduate student during their coursework, examinations, and dissertation research and writing. The renewal of a T.A.ship is not automatic, but is subject to satisfactory progress, both in course work and research as well as in the classroom. There may be limited opportunities for students to teach courses that are offered during the summer semester. These are usually introductory language courses in Spanish, French, and German. Such teaching is not guaranteed and also depends upon demand. Anyone teaching during the summer is expected to be enrolled as a full time student.

The limit for any T.A. support is two years for M.A. students and five years for Ph.D. candidates. They should be able to reach their degree goal within that time limit since it will not be extended. The deadline for applications for teaching assistantships is usually the middle of February. You are advised, however, to apply earlier.

Graduate students who receive teaching assistantships are closely supervised in their first year by members of the faculty and there are workshops and professionalizing opportunities to support them along the way.