Financial Support
General Information
The main type of financial support offered by the Department is the Associate Instructor position (AIship) which is offered on a competitive basis. This is a teaching position which carries a stipend and a fee remission to cover most tuition charges. The actual amount of this award varies from year to year depending on annual salary increases but it is sufficient to support a student for the academic year.
In 2007-2008, the stipend which AIs receive for teaching three sections of French or Italian during the academic year (fall and spring) is $12,770, and the fee remission is worth approximately $7,239 for in-state students and $21,082 for out-of-state students, applicable to the fall semester, the spring semester, and the summer sessions in 2008 (assuming 30 credit hours are taken).
The fee remission is given at the fee rate for graduate students in the College of Arts and Sciences and must be used to take courses relevant to the degree. This award covers a maximum of twelve credits in each of the two semesters and a maximum of six credits in the following summer sessions. It will cover a minimum of 90% of the credit hour fees for an Indiana resident and a minimum of 95% for a non-resident. In addition, the student must pay mandatory fees for on-campus services (athletics fee, computers, etc.) which amount to about $600 per semester. For more information on the fees, please consult the Office of the Bursar.
Indiana University has also instituted a comprehensive health insurance program that is mandatory for all student academic appointees holding an assistantship at 15 hours or more per week. The majority of our AIs are required to work a total of 20 hours a week. Therefore, the health insurance plan is fully subsidized for our AIs.
AIs are expected to teach three courses throughout the academic year (one in the Fall and two in the Spring or vice versa) and must take at least two graduate classes in French or Italian each semester. Exceptions are made for advanced students as approved by the graduate advisor. Only graduate students admitted to the program who are pedagogically qualified to teach French or Italian language and culture will be considered for an instructorship. Reappointment of all Associate Instructors depends on satisfactory academic and pedagogical performance and improvement over time.
- Other fellowships and awards available include:
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Diversity-building Fellowships
Dissertation Year Fellowships
Marvin D. Moody Fellowship in French Linguistics
Charlotte F. Gerrard Fellowship in French Literature
William and Maryse Trapnell Fellowship in French Literature and Italian
Olga Ragusa Research Grant in Italian
Summer Dissertation Fellowships
College of Arts and Sciences and departmental travel grants to attend conferences
Grants-in-Aid for dissertation research
positions as research or resident assistants
The Graduate Grants Center also assists students in seeking outside funding.
French
Candidates for the M.A in French who receive Associate Instructorships may renew their AIship for one year provided that they remain in good standing. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program who receive Associate instructorships may renew their AIship for an additional three years, provided that they remain in good standing and are judged to be making satisfactory progress. Thus a total of ten semesters of support is available to most students awarded an AI position upon admission. Students entering with an M.A. from elsewhere who receive support are limited to a maximum of eight semesters of support.
New AIs are required to enroll in the Practicum in College French Teaching (F572, 1 credit hour) during the fall semester of the first year of teaching. They are also required to enroll in the course Methods in College French Teaching (F573, 3 credit hours) during the spring semester. All AIs are required to enroll in at least 6 credit hours of course work per semester
Students may also have the opportunity to serve as Research Assistants; remuneration is similar to that of an AI. Ph.D. candidates working on their dissertation may apply for departmental and university fellowship support. NOTE: All forms of support by the department and the university count toward the maximum 5 years (10 semesters) of support for a PhD student who enters the program without a Masters degree. This includes fellowships, exchange years in France, and any Student Academic Appointment.
Italian
Instructorships may be awarded for a total of two years (four semesters) for students pursuing a master's degree; for a maximum of four years (8 semesters) for Ph.D. candidates who are admitted to the doctoral program with a master's degree; and five years (10 semesters) for Ph.D. candidates with no previous graduate work. The Italian graduate program has other forms of financial support such as research assistantships (compensated with a stipend plus fee remission). Any form of university financial support (fellowships, research assistantships, etc.) counts as one of the years of total support that the program grants to students. Students with previous graduate work in Italian at another institution or who have earned graduate credits at Indiana University before being appointed as Associate Instructors (AIs) in the Italian Program may receive fewer semesters of support from the Department. Only full time graduate students in the Italian program (6 credits per semester) will be considered for an instructorship.
In addition to Associate Instructor positions in language classes, advanced students with adequate pedagogical skills to grade compositions in English may also have the opportunity to serve as Associate Instructors in large lecture courses taught by Italian faculty members in the Indiana University Topics Curriculum. Such assignments carry a tuition fee remission as well as a stipend comparable to the usual AI stipend. Associate Instructors or graduate students who receive departmental financial support, and wish to be considered for reappointment, cannot have more than one incomplete at the end of the academic year.
