Aid and Awards

Standard Financial Support

A full, five-year competitive funding package is available for every Ph.D. student. Graduate students admitted with assistantships are granted tuition remission, health insurance benefits, and a competitive annual stipend.

A standard teaching load for graduate students is one course per semester. All first-year students are exempt from teaching duties. Students in their fifth year often co-teach upper-division literature and culture courses, and some teach their own class, depending on departmental needs.

Additional Support Options

• Vanderbilt University scholarships, offered to the most highly qualified candidates to supplement the standard annual stipend
• Vanderbilt Travel Grants, for students presenting their research at major conferences
• College of Arts and Science graduate student funding opportunities
• Robert Penn Warren Center Graduate Student Fellowship: A service-free fifth or sixth year with a stipend and a research budget
• Center for Teaching (CFT) Graduate Teaching Fellows Program: Work with the CFT to develop strong teaching skills
• Summer and Travel Awards from the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies:
  • FLAS Summer Awards to study Portuguese, Quechua, or other indigenous languages
  • Simon Collier Travel Award for research in Latin America, especially Argentina and Chile
  • Tinker Field Research Grant to support summer travel expenses related to field research in Latin America or Iberia
• Arts and Science Summer Research Awards
• HASTAC: Center for Digital Humanities stipend opportunity