Financial Aid & Graduate Resources

The university’s Office of Financial Aid handles all need-based aid such as government-guaranteed student loans and work-study allotments.

A separate application for this type of aid is required.

The Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Graduate School each offers a few highly competitive fellowships to students entering doctoral study here. Graduate Merit Awards from the College are multi-year packages, with two years of fellowship support in addition to three years or more of graduate assistantship included in each. These carry 24 units of tuition remission per year and an additional stipend for the academic year. Graduate School fellowships are one-to-three year awards covering all tuition and mandatory fees, and currently provide a stipend for the academic year.

Very strong performance in previous academic work and high scores on the Graduate Record Examination, coupled with the department’s recommendation, are the major criteria for receiving these fellowships. Over the past few years the department has maintained an excellent track record in obtaining these coveted awards for its most highly qualified applicants.

Teaching Assistants (TAs) help full-time faculty in course instruction, taking responsibility for leading discussion sections which complement lectures, grading student work, helping the professor with class preparation, and advising undergraduate students on both course requirements and their classroom performance. TA stipends are for a full-time appointment, and all also provide tuition remission for full-time study as well as health insurance and mandatory student health center fees. On rare occasions, editorial or research assistantships are also offered by the department.

Teaching assistantships are typically assigned by the Chair of Religion and Director of Graduate Studies at the end of each semester for the forthcoming semester.  Students may request to teach in a particular class or for a particular professor, but will be placed where most needed.

The University, Dornsife, and the department offer annual orientation sessions to new TAs. For University policies and guidelines for TAs, check the Handbook for Teaching Assistants.

OTHER SOURCES OF FUNDING for research and travel are available as USC-funded internal grants, grants from USC research institutes and centers, and grants/fellowships from external sources. Click here for more information. Your faculty mentors can help you investigate external grant possibilities.