Financial Support

The Department does not guarantee any form of support during the summer months, so students should plan ahead accordingly.  Students may apply to available employment opportunities across campus, including Teaching Assistantships, Research Assistant positions, and Associate-In positions (teaching their own course). Each Fall Quarter, the Literature Department sends out a call for proposals for Associate-In positions for the following summer.  Any ABD student in the PhD Program may submit a proposal.  Not all proposals may be granted, as the number of course offerings is determined by the Summer Session office and may be limited.  If approved, Associate-Ins will be the sole instructor of their course, while being supervised and supported by a faculty mentor.

All UCSD graduate students are charged tuition and fees each quarter.  These can vary slightly year-to-year, and students can view the detailed breakdown of fees for specific years on the GRAD DIVISION website: http://grad.ucsd.edu/financial/tuition-fees.html.  Several types of support will cover the cost of tuition and many of the fees.  In those cases, the fees students must pay will be reduced significantly:

• Teaching Assistantship or Readership position of 25% time or greater: will cover all but $231.17 of tuition and fees per quarter
• Research Assistantship of 25% time or greater: will cover all but $231.17 of tuition and fees per quarter
• Fellowships: vary, students should refer to the details of a specific fellowship to see what tuition and fees it may cover

Students should refer to the Enrollment & Registration calendar for the fee payment deadline each quarter: https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/enroll/index.html.  Tuition & fee payments from employment positions will post approximately ten days before the fee payment deadline.  Students may access their bill online (https://students.ucsd.edu/finances/billing-payment/index.html), and tuition & fee payments from campus sources will appear in a “Pending Awards” box.  It is the student’s responsibility to ensure all tuition & fees are paid by the fee payment deadline, to avoid late fees and possible dropped enrollment.  Students should check their bill online well in advance of the fee payment deadline, and they should reach out to the PhD Coordinator if they do not see an expected tuition & fees payment posted.

Non-California residents are required to pay Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition each quarter, which is charged in addition to the tuition and fees that all students pay (see Grad Division’s website for details: http://grad.ucsd.edu/financial/tuition-fees.html). 

• For domestic non-California residents, the Department covers the cost of Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition for one year. These students must establish California residency after their first year at UCSD.  If a student fails to establish (or elects not to establish) California residency after one year, the student will be responsible for paying the Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition.
• For international students, the Department covers the cost of Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition for the first ten quarters of enrollment (or through the quarter of advancement to candidacy, if that happens before the tenth quarter). After the student advances to candidacy, Grad Division waives the Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition for the next nine consecutive quarters (regardless of leaves or other absences).  If an international student fails to defend their dissertation within those nine quarters, the student will be responsible for paying the Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition each subsequent quarter.

The Department considers apprentice teaching an integral part of professional training for a PhD degree in Literature.  Every doctoral student is required to be a 50% teaching assistant for at least three academic quarters.  Duties of a teaching assistant usually include attending the lectures for the course, reading and grading papers and examinations, meeting with the supervising professor to discuss the progress of the course, conducting discussion sections, and holding office hours.

Supervising professors write formal teaching evaluations for each teaching assistant who works with them, and students enrolled in the course will often complete online evaluations of their assigned TA.  Students may access completed teaching evaluations by logging in with their Single Sign-On or Student PID/PAC: http://academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/Modules/Evals  (be sure to select “Student SSO” as the “Sign on with:” option).  If students cannot access their evaluations for any reason, they should contact the Student Affairs Coordinator for assistance.

Teaching assistants are expected to take very seriously their responsibilities to their students.  Poor teaching evaluation ratings may result in the loss of support. 

Students who are not native English speakers may be required to pass an English Screening Examination before they can teach courses conducted in English.  Courses designed to enhance English language skills are available to assist students in passing the screening so that they may teach.  Contact the PhD Coordinator for detailed information.

Full-time doctoral students in good standing are eligible for 50% Teaching Assistantships on campus, as long as they are within their Support Time Limit (or their Normative Time Limit for appointments within the Literature Department).  However, the maximum number of quarters a student may have Teaching Assistant (or Associate-In) appointments is eighteen.  Appointments during Summer Session do not count towards this total.  This is a strictly enforced UC policy, and time spent as a TA in a previous graduate program (within the UC-system) is included in this total. 

The maximum academic employment appointment a student may accept is 50%.  Anything over that must be petitioned as an exception and only up to 75% time.  No first-year students will be considered for over-50% exceptions.  International students may not be employed over 50% during the academic year.

Entering PhD students and students early in their courses of study generally find employment in one of the six campus College Writing Programs or in language courses taught in Linguistics or Literature.  Most of these programs offer pedagogical training. 

Some students will find employment as teaching assistants in other campus departments/programs (i.e., Critical Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies, Japanese Studies) and in the Literature Department; however, there are significantly less of these positions available than positions in the College Writing Programs.  These positions are generally filled each Spring Quarter, and students will be sent application instructions via the Department listserv. 

Readerships

Departments across campus sometimes hire Readers to assist professors by grading papers and examinations.  Their workload is prorated according to the enrollment of the courses.  Readers are paid an hourly rate for their work, and it is recommended that Reader positions be considered as a possible supplement to a Teaching Assistantship (rather than a primary source of income).

To be considered for a Readership, please apply online to the open positions.  Email notifications will be sent to the Department listserv to keep students up-to-date on when these positions become open, but students should also refer to the full list of available positions posted on the IA System Open Positions page (https://academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/Modules/ASES/OpenPositions.aspx). 

Other Employment

The Graduate Office regularly receives requests during the academic year for tutors, editors, writers, translators, and other various positions across campus (and off-campus).  Announcements of this type will be sent via the Department listserv or posted on the bulletin boards within the Graduate Lounge.

Students working as Teaching Assistants and Readers are covered by a collective bargaining agreement between the University and the UAW.  Their names and addresses will be released to the UAW each term that they are employed in the bargaining unit.  The Union Agreement can be retrieved electronically at: https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/labor/bargaining-units/bx/contract.html.

Students are encouraged to apply for relevant fellowships through the University and through other granting institutions. 

A number of fellowships (both UC-based and extramural) are available annually.  Information about these fellowships is available from the GRAD DIVISION.  The GRAD DIVISION website: http://grad.ucsd.edu/financial/fellowships/funding-opportunties/index.html lists a wide variety of information about UCSD and UC need-based and merit-based financial assistance, as well as numerous extramural fellowship opportunities.  These sites are regularly updated.  Please contact the GRAD DIVISION for information on extramural fellowships at 534-3555.

There is also a list of funding opportunities for graduate students posted on the Division of Arts & Humanities website (http://ah.ucsd.edu/_files/Final%20Calendar%20UC%20Internal%20Grants%2018-19%20graduate%20students.pdf).  Information about extramural fellowships and awards is also available in the reference section of the Central University Library under Contracts and Grants.

For a useful listing of Literature- and language-related extramural fellowships, see the September issue of PMLA.

A wide variety of local (system-wide and UCSD) awards are available from various agencies, Departments, and programs.  Enrolled graduate students receive regular notification about available fellowships from the Graduate Office and from GRAD DIVISION through the Department listserv.

Departmental dissertation-year fellowship: Depending on availability of funds, the Department of Literature annually awards year-long dissertation fellowships that include a stipend, fees, and health insurance.  Students who receive these awards must have passed their qualifying examinations and begun substantial work on their dissertation research and writing.  These awards are available subject to funding and are awarded competitively.  Calls for applications are circulated annually during the Spring Quarter through the Department listserv.

When funding is available, the Department may also offer mid-year and summer research grants or support awards.

Post-doctoral support: The sources listed above also offer information about post-doctoral support. 

The Department of Literature administers and allocates funds for graduate students’ travel for research and/or presentations at conferences.  Each student may apply for up to a maximum of $2,000 total in cost reimbursements.  These funds are available to students who are currently enrolled in the program, in good academic standing, and within their normative time. For PhD, normative time to degree is six years. A completed application (online form found on the "Forms" page) must be submitted at least two weeks prior to your trip. If you have any questions about the application and/or proper use of funds, please consult the Director of Doctoral Studies before submitting the application.

The funds can be used to reimburse the cost of:

• City-to-city transportation (airfare, train, mileage reimbursement if you drive your own vehicle)
• Specific ground transportation for minor travel needs (home-to-airport, airport-to-hotel, hotel-to-conference, etc.). This must be a formal type of ground transportation with receipts (taxi, airport shuttle, Uber, Lyft, subway).
• Formal lodging (hotel only)
• Conference registration fees

Funds cannot be used for informal lodging (room rental, hostel, vacation rental, etc.), rental car, food or supplies.

Within the application, you must attach:

• Clear, itemized receipts (showing the total cost and your method of payment) for all reimbursements you are requesting. Reimbursements can only be processed if the costs were paid for out-of-pocket (not with credits, gift cards, airline miles, etc.).  For ground transportation, it is the student’s responsibility to turn in all final receipts to the Financial Manager within seven days of the end of the trip.  Failure to submit the receipts on time may result in a lack of reimbursement (due to campus policy and processing guidelines).
• For airfare, we also need a copy of your flight itinerary.
• If you drove your own vehicle and are getting a mileage reimbursement (based on a university-set rate), we need your starting address and the address of the conference location.
• For travel to present at a conference, you also need to attach the letter of acceptance from the conference organizer, including the title of your panel and presentation and officially inviting you to present your work (or a copy of the conference agenda/schedule, showing your name and UCSD affiliation).

POLICY GUIDELINES

• You must apply for reimbursement (and be approved) prior to your trip. The online application form (including all necessary attachments) should be filled out at least two weeks before your trip.
• Funds are to be used during normative time only; no funding after the 6th year will be approved.
• Funds must be used for conference or research travel only and cannot be combined with any other activity (vacation, for example). You must travel immediately before and return to UCSD immediately after the conference/research to qualify for the reimbursement.
• Graduate student institutes may count as conferences for travel reimbursement purposes if and only if they include student presentation of their own work and a formal Q&A or feedback component.
• For ground transportation costs, you will estimate your costs and request the amount you plan to need. The amount you enter, once approved, will be the maximum amount reimbursed once receipts are submitted (after the travel is complete). If the total of the receipts is less than the original estimate, only the total of the receipts will be reimbursed.
• Funds are available in the form of reimbursement after travel has been completed; no advance funds are available.
• Reimbursement may be denied if the type of travel or lodging chosen is not seen as an economical choice (from the options available).  

Funds are also available for travel to other University of California campuses to conduct research, which are not counted towards the $2,000 limit above.  Students can apply for these funds (up to $250 per trip) by completing the UC Intercampus Travel Funds application (see the “Forms” page of the website). 

Students may also apply for funds from outside the department, and some of these funds may be able to be applied to additional travel costs not traditionally covered by the department funds.  The two most common examples of these funding sources are the Dean of Arts and Humanities Travel Fund (http://ah.ucsd.edu/students/current/dean-travel-fund.html) and the GPSA Travel Grants (https://gradsa.ucsd.edu/grad-resources/travel-grants.html).  Some funding sources from outside the department (including the Dean’s Travel Fund and GPSA Travel Grants) will send the awarded funds to the department for processing.  The PhD Coordinator will contact the students to collect the applicable paperwork and receipts.

Tax Liability

Teaching Assistantships, Readerships, Research Assistantships, and most fellowships are taxable. For additional tax information, refer to the following pages:

• 1098-T Tax Form Information (ucsd.edu)
• Tax Resources (ucsd.edu)
• Form 1042-S (ucsd.edu)
• Taxation of Fellowship Payments to Internationals (ucsd.edu)

Employment Documentation & Benefits

PhD students employed by UCSD have access to benefits and employment information through the UCPath Online Self-Service Portal (https://ucpath.ucsd.edu/self-service/index.html) and the At Your Service Online website (https://atyourserviceonline.ucop.edu/ayso/).  For instructions on how to setup your access to At Your Service Online, students should follow the instructions here: https://blink.ucsd.edu/HR/benefits/AYSO/SSO.html.