Aid for MFA Students

Training stipends permit for exceptional students to focus primarily on their degree coursework with no departmental teaching responsibilities. Students awarded training stipends are required to enroll in a full load of academic courses as determined by their program or department.

Stipend Amount	Amounts vary*
Payment Period	Fall: September-December Spring: January-April
Payment Structure	Stipend is paid monthly, on the 4th Friday of the month.

*International students may have 14% withheld in taxes.  Refer to our Tax FAQs.

A Teaching Fellowship provides both a stipend and full scholarship and an opportunity for graduate students to gain classroom experience under the close supervision of the faculty members who have the formal responsibility for the courses to which the teaching fellows are assigned. Your obligation in this fellowship would include instructional duties assigned by your department and for some programs, participation in a specific course in the pedagogy of your discipline. Instructional and other duties total approximately 20 hours per week.

Stipend Amount	$15,000/semester*
Payment Period	$865.38/week, September-August
Payment Structure	Stipend is paid weekly, on Fridays.

*Service stipends are considered earned income for tax purposes and the University will withhold and report the earnings per IRS guidelines. Refer to our Tax FAQs.

For information on stipend payments, please visit our Stipends FAQ page.

Information regarding your stipend and taxes can be found here.

For a breakdown of the tuition and fees for an academic year at Boston University as a student in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences as well as an estimated cost of attendance, please check the Cost of Attendance (COA) page.

Your funding includes a qualified tuition scholarship as defined in 26 USC Section 117(a) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code; it is contingent upon you maintaining Good Academic Conduct, maintaining Good Academic Standing, and making Satisfactory Academic Progress; it is not contingent upon your appointment as a teaching or research fellow and is not taxable to you as the recipient.

Your fellowship covers the cost of tuition for up to 18 credits per semester, as long as they are required by your degree or are necessary for your research (with approval from your DGS and advisor).  It does not cover the cost of courses that are not required (ex: Physical Education (PDP) course).  The tuition for 11 or less credits is calculated on a per credit rate; whereas the cost for 12-18 credits is a flat fee. For example:

• If a student enrolls in 14 credits that are degree requirements, then adds 1 to 4 credits that do not count towards their degree (ex: a Physical Education (PDP) course), and the total credits does not exceed 18, the additional 1 to 4 credits will not generate an additional tuition charge.
• If this student (who has 14 credits of degree requirements plus 1 to 4 credits that do not count towards their degree) decides to drop a 4-credit degree requirement, this leaves only 10 credits of degree requirements and only this 10 credits will be covered by scholarship.  In this case, the student will be responsible for the payment of the additional 1 to 4 credits (ex: a PDP course). Please keep this in mind when adding and dropping any of your courses.

Each semester, once you have registered, you will need to make sure your student account is “settled” by the semester’s payment deadline.  Please log in to the MyBU Student Portal and click on the “Money Matters” tab to view your charges & credits once you have finalized your spring registration.

You may have receive an automated email (“e-bill”) from Student Accounting Services (SAS).  SAS sends out automated email notifications to all undergraduate and graduate students (and may apply late fees) as most students at Boston University are not in a fully funded PhD program and are therefore responsible for payment.  While GRS PhD students should never ignore emails from SAS, as there could be a legitimate reason for the balance (Physical Education (PDP) course, sports pass, convenience points, MBTA pass, something that is not covered), they do not need to worry about any late fees if all we had to do is adjust their scholarship.

GRS generally applies the same amount of scholarship to the fall and spring semesters assuming the student will continue to enroll in the same number of credits in both semesters.  Once the initial scholarship has been applied, we wait until the end of the spring semester’s add/drop period (mid-October/late February) to manually reconcile everyone’s registration and scholarship.  The majority of our PhD and MFA students will continuously add and drop classes over a six-month period which is the reason why our office waits until the end of the add/drop period before we start reconciling any scholarships.  You may email us at grsaid@bu.edu as soon as you have finalized your course selection for the semester so that we can adjust your scholarship right away.   Please include your BU ID when emailing our office.

If you have questions about your student account, your scholarship, stipend, or insurance credit, please contact GRS Financial Aid at grsaid@bu.edu (and include your BU ID).  Please note that Student Accounting Services, the Payroll Office, Student Employment, and the Registrar do not have any information regarding students’ funding or fellowship.  Please contact GRS Financial Aid instead.

Students who enroll full-time (or are certified full-time) are automatically enrolled in the Sports Pass each year.  The Sports Pass is not a membership to the University’s FitRec Center (that’s already included in your Health & Wellness Fee and it is covered by your fellowship).  The Sports Pass costs $140 per year and it allows you admission to all home events at the Agganis Arena.  The cost of the Sports Pass is not covered by your fellowship.  For individualized information regarding your Sports Pass, or to cancel your sports pass prior to September 1, visit the MyBU Student Portal and go the Money Matters tab.  To cancel your Sports Pass after September 1, please bring your BU ID card to the Agganis Arena Ticketing Office to ensure your Sports Pass has not been used.  For additional questions regarding the Sports Pass and the charge on your account, please contact the Agganis Arena Ticket Office at 617-353-4628.

As part of your fellowship award, the University will cover the cost of your individual participation in the Boston University Basic Student Health Insurance Plan ($3,401 in AY24-25). Students who opt to purchase the Boston University Student PLUS Plan ($4,567 in AY24-25) will be responsible for payment of the difference in the premium amount ($1,166 in AY24-25) by the payment deadline for the Fall semester. Please refer to Student Health Services for more information. The University will not cover any health insurance costs for dependents. Family coverage is available at an additional cost to the student.

Health insurance coverage extends from August 15, 2024, through August 14, 2025, for students who are enrolled in the Fall semester 2024. Please note that coverage takes effect once fall registration has been processed or on August 15, whichever is later.

Students who are required to have health insurance are automatically enrolled in the Boston University Basic Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP).

Who is required to have health insurance?

Under the laws of Massachusetts, the following students are required to participate in a qualifying health insurance plan:

• Students certified as full-time
• Students who are registered for 75% or more of a full-time course load (nine or more credit hours for most schools)
• International students (students who are not U.S. citizens and who do not have approved refugee or permanent resident status)

Part-time students are not automatically enrolled but can request to be enrolled. If a student wishes to waive the insurance, a health insurance waiver form must be submitted. For more information about insurance coverage and deadlines for enrollment/waivers, please consult Student Health Services.

Graduate students receive an insurance credit of half the cost ($1,701 in fall 2024/$1,700 in spring 2025) in each semester that they receive a stipend of at least $5,000 (refer to insurance credit info for service stipends and non-service stipends). Students who do not receive a stipend of at least $5,000 in both fall and spring may be responsible for the payment of any remaining balance by the December payment deadline. Students who graduate in January or who go part-time in spring can enroll in fall only coverage before December 31; in this case, the coverage will end on December 31 but they will not have to pay the full annual premium.

For questions about your insurance credit, please email GRS Financial Aid at grsaid@bu.edu (and include your BU ID).  For questions about enrollment in student health insurance, please contact the Student Health Insurance Team at insmed@bu.edu.

Students have the option to purchase Dental Care through the University, which is not included in the fellowship award.

Boston University requires PhD students and MFA students with fellowship support to be present on campus unless their research or fieldwork requires them to be elsewhere. This requirement is in place to ensure that students can focus on their full-time studies and regularly engage with faculty members. Those pursuing a PhD or MFA with fellowship support from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences must live in the Boston region during the semester(s) in which they receive GRS support, and they are expected to participate in departmental and University activities. Students who leave the Boston region outside of required research or fieldwork during their first five years may forfeit their guaranteed fellowship funding. We understand that students may have personal reasons to leave the area, but such arrangements often violate policies and laws that prohibit payments. Students beyond their fifth year of study who leave the Boston region will not be eligible for fellowship, unless required to be elsewhere for their research or fieldwork.  All teaching fellows must be in residence.

The purpose of fully supporting our graduate students is to allow them to engage wholly in their scholarly work and to devote the attention necessary to complete their studies in a timely fashion. We expect that you will not be employed outside of Boston University during semesters in which you receive GRS support. The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences policy limits the amount of additional work that may be assigned to graduate students in any semester when they are appointed to a Teaching, Graduate Research, or Non-Service Fellowship. For this reason, we expect students to devote no more than 20 hours per week to their assigned fellowship activity.  For this same reason, students are not eligible to hold a Resident Assistant (RA) position, a Graduate Resident Assistant (GRA) position, or a Graduate Housing Assistant (GHA) position with Residence Life. While we occasionally permit PhD & MFA students to hold additional assignments, this is an exception and requires advisor and administrative approval (refer to Student Work Hours for Employment at Boston University Policy). Under this policy, such fully funded students may be employed as graders or other similar positions for additional payment only under the following conditions:

1. The assignment provides the student with an opportunity for professional growth in teaching and/or in expert knowledge of course topics or research; and
2. The assignment does not exceed five (5) hours/week averaged over the semester; and
3. The payment is set up as a weekly salary.

All students at the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences are expected to maintain high standards of academic honesty. It is each student’s responsibility to be aware of the content of the GRS Academic Conduct Code, which can be found on the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences website.

Please note: The GRS Academic Conduct Code is distinct from Good Academic Standing (Master’s, PhD) requirements and Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP). Please see the relevant Bulletin pages for additional information about those policies.

The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences requires graduate students to maintain Good Academic Standing in order to remain enrolled in their graduate program and/or to retain GRS scholarship and/or fellowship support. The GRS criteria for Good Academic Standing are as follows:

• Have no more than two failing or W grades.
• Meet all milestones of the degree, such as comprehensive exams, qualifying exams, and dissertation prospectus, on the schedule specified by the program.
• Meet all milestones of the degree with sufficient quality of work as specified by the program.
• Satisfactorily fulfill all service fellowship obligations, as specified by the program.

Please note: Good Academic Standing is distinct from Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) and the GRS Academic Conduct Code. Please see the relevant Bulletin pages for additional information about those policies.

Fellowships will continue for the duration of the five-year commitment if the student is making satisfactory academic progress each year, confirmed by the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.

The GRS minimum standard for Satisfactory Academic Progress is:

• Maintain a Cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0 or higher
• Have no more than 2 failing grades (lower than B- or an incomplete grade older than 12 months) and/or W grades
• Pass all milestones of degree on the schedule specified by the program
• Pass all milestones on the degree with sufficient quality of work as specified by the program
• Satisfactorily fulfill their service fellowship obligations as specified by the program