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The Department awards teaching assistantships, graduate assistantships, fellowships, and tuition scholarships on a competitive basis. The fellowships and assistantships include tuition remission for the fall and spring semester plus a living expense stipend. Teaching Assistantships normally require students to work up to 20 hours per week, leading discussion sections and grading in a lower-level survey course or grading for a large, non-sectioned lecture course. Graduate Assistantships are also required to work up to 20 hours a week at their assigned tasks. Graduate Fellows do not usually perform any additional duties aside from their academic studies. Financial awards can be withdrawn if students fail to progress satisfactorily in the program.
It is Department policy that during fall and spring semesters teaching and graduate assistants may not work more than the twenty hours a week and graduate fellows may not be employed. Graduate students who have passed their qualifying exams may teach during summer and winter sessions if such opportunities arise. Tuition scholars have no employment restrictions. A petition may be made to the Graduate Studies Committee for an exception to these policies.
Beginning in Fall semester 2014, matriculating students in the Ph.D. program will receive up to 5 years of funding. Renewal of funding normally occurs on a year-by-year basis, and it is based on taking 30 hours of coursework, timely completion of degree requirements, a satisfactory third-semester review, successful completion of the language and qualifying exams, defense of the dissertation prospectus by October 15 of the student's fourth academic year, and a supporting letter from the student's faculty advisor by February 15 of the student's fourth academic year explaining adequate progress is being made on the dissertation. All Ph.D. students are expected to make significant progress on their dissertation research and writing during their fifth year. Renewal of funding is also contingent on the History Department's ability to provide funding at this level.
Students matriculating in the M.A. program may receive up to 2 years of funding. Students who transfer into the Ph.D. program with a previously-awarded M.A. from our history program, or who pursue a Ph.D. in our department with one or more history courses accepted from another institution toward the completion of our 30 required hours, normally receive up to a total of five years of funding from all graduate degree-granting programs the student has attended that count toward the Ph.D. at UD.
Graduate students who have a grade of "Incomplete" outstanding for more than one course will not be considered for renewal of financial aid. The Graduate Studies Committee may, however, consider petitions for dispensation from this regulation.
