How a Graduate Student Can Reduce the Cost of Studying in Canada

If you are planning on studying a graduateprogram in Canada, you may come across this term, graduate funding.  Graduate studies in Canadaare generally research intensive and the graduate students they take in oftenare eligible to work through some funding from the university or department.  If you can land one of these positions youcan considerably reduce the cost of your studies

Whatkind of funding is available?

Guaranteedfunding – This is basically what it states.  There is usually a base amount that isguaranteed, somewhere around $12,000 to $18,000 depending on the universityand/or the department.  The funds willcome either through the department’s operating account or from grantfunding.  In some cases, if thedepartment cannot offer you any funding, they will not even accept youradmission.  So if you are admitted, youautomatically get a base amount.

Researchassistantships – The student usually works on someresearch being conducted in the department. He/she will be paid either by his or her supervisor or by thedepartment, depending on which research project he/she is assigned to.  Beware that the sciences, medicine andengineering are heavily funded disciplines so there is more research dollarsallocated to these areas.  Not as much ishanded out to the humanities, education other similar disciplines.

Teachingassistantships – As a graduate student you willwork as a teaching assistant either in a lab or seminar setting, teachingundergraduate students.

Awardsand Scholarships – There are basically two types ofawards or scholarships.

Internal – these areawarded from the university itself.  Youmay or may not have to apply for them, so make sure to check out this informationwhen choosing your university.

External – these areawarded from external sources such as governments, private foundations orcorporations or from world organisations. For example the Commonwealth Scholarship is an external one, anyone froma commonwealth country can apply for this one. In all cases, with the external scholarships/awards, the student mustfill in an application.  This is not donethrough the university.

These are the most common funds availableto help reduce the cost of your graduate program.  To find out more about studying in Canada,contact a Canadianconsultancy firm located in Lahore.