Financial Support for Incoming Students

All applicants to the PNB Graduate Program are automatically considered for financial support within the Department. There’s no need to complete a separate application for financial assistance.

Graduate students are typically supported by a combination of departmental scholarships, research grants, training grants, external scholarships and teaching assistantships. More details on financial support can be found on our PNB Graduate Student Handbook. We’ve highlighted a few key elements below:

• Prospective students are strongly encouraged to apply for external scholarships in the autumn before they apply to the Department.
• All graduate students, if eligible, are expected to apply for external scholarships. Students who receive an external scholarship of $15,000 or more will not receive a departmental scholarship in addition to their award. If the award is valued at less than $15,000, the department will supplement the award up to $15,000.
• MSc students from outside Canada can receive either a supplementary departmental scholarship or a tuition differential waiver, which reduces their financial costs. In 2018 tuition for international graduate students in PhD programs at McMaster effectively became the same as domestic tuition rates.
• Health insurance is mandatory for all visa students and is provided through the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP), at a current cost of $756.00 for one person. Please refer to the International Students section of the Graduate Handbook for more details about tuition and fees.

Students joining the department in the 2023-2024 academic year will receive the following support in each year of their program:

• All students will receive a $15,000 departmental scholarship OR equivalent award
• PhD students will receive a TAship of 100 hours in each term.
• MSc students will receive a TAship of 100 hours in one term only.

Information on graduate fees and tuition can be found here.

Our Financial Support wiki page is a great source of information. If you have further questions, please contact our Graduate Studies team.