Financial Support

Support, Tuition, Fees

A separate application for financial assistance is not required when applying to the PNB Graduate Program, as all applicants are automatically considered for financial support within the Department. All graduate students are supported by stipends from a combinations of external scholarships, departmental scholarships, research grants, training grants, and teaching assistantships. The minimum stipend for 2020-2021 is $24,168 (see below for breakdown). Hamilton is affordable for students.

This fees and payment link provides help with MacIDs, student accounts, payments, tuition, and deadlines.

• Department scholarships:

• PNB graduate students without External Scholarships receive a departmental scholarship; in 2020-2021 this is $15,000 for both M.Sc. students and Ph.D. students who do not have external scholarship support.
• PNB graduate students with External Scholarships receive the value of the external scholarship plus a smaller departmental scholarship; in 2020-2021 this is $2,500 for both M.Sc. and Ph.D. students with external scholarship support.

• Teaching Assistantships:

• Teaching Assistantships provide $9,168 per year (2020-2021) and are available to all in-time graduate students in our department.

• Estimated sums:

• The sum of department scholarship ($15,000) plus teaching assistantship ($9,168) provides the minimum stipend $24,168 (in 2020-2021). Once you have paid tuition and fees (see below), the remaining amount is $16,958.63 before taxes.

• Domestic students Tuition and Fees:

• Tuition (2020-2021) for Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents (masters and PhD) for one academic year (September to August) is $6,307.20 plus supplemental fees of $905.17 (total = $7209.37 in 2020-2021).

• International students Tuition and Fees:

• International PhD students: Tuition for international graduate students in PhD programs at McMaster was equated to domestic tuition rates in 2018 ($6,307.20 in 2020-2021) plus supplemental fees of $905.17 (total = $7209.37 in 2020-2021).
• International Masters students: Tuition for international graduate students at the masters level ($17,096.22 in 2020-2021) is higher than domestic tuition rates. We provide a tuition bursary ($10,789.00 in 2021-2022) to our international masters students to offset this difference. International masters students also pay supplemental fees of $905.17.
• Health Insurance is mandatory for all Visa students (masters and PhD) and is provided through the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) at a current cost of $636 for one person. Please refer to International Students for more details about tuition and fees.

• Planning for payments and tuition/fees deadlines:

• Payments for Teaching Assistantships are treated as income and will be taxed; scholarship funding (both departmental and research) is not taxed.
• Scholarship funding is paid in 3 installments at the beginning of the Fall, Winter, and Spring/Summer terms. TA hours are paid biweekly through Fall and Winter terms.
• Tuition and supplementary fees are due at the beginning of each term (deadlines September 25th, January 25th, May 25th). Students are not charged interest until the end of the month so that there is enough time to receive scholarship funding to pay tuition. Please read these additional Details about Tuition and Fees at McMaster.
• Information on charges and payments is updated about mid-July for September's new and returning students. Visit the Student Accounts & Cashiers website for detailed information about paying fees, UHIP (for international students), deadlines, etc.
• Scholarship and TAship payments are distributed using the direct deposit system (this is mandatory). This means that to get paid, you must complete a form for Direct Deposit and have a valid Canadian bank account. You should also fill out the TD1 and TD1ON Personal Tax Credit Returns. Detailed information and forms can be found on the Working at McMaster teaching assistants site. Reach out to Emily Thomas (Grad Admin, pnbgrad@mcmaster.ca) if you have questions about this paperwork.

External Scholarships

Prospective students are strongly encouraged to apply to external granting agencies in the autumn before they apply to the Department. Financial support from these (Tri-Council) agencies is often substantially greater than can be offered by the Department. Canadian citizens or landed immigrants may apply to the Federal Tri-Council agencies: (1) Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), (2) Canadian Institutes of Health Sciences (CIHR), or (3) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Ontario residents may also apply to the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) program; students who apply for one of the Tri-Council scholarships are automatically entered into the central competition for OGS. Details of these and other assistance programs are available on our External Scholarships page, and from the McMaster University School of Graduate Studies scholarship page, or for new students just arriving at McMaster, from your own University Graduate Office.

Current Students: ALL graduate students, if eligible, are required to apply for External Scholarships. The season for submitting most scholarship applications is late summer into the fall term (with some exceptions). Please refer to External Scholarships for more details.

PNB graduate students with External Scholarships receive the value of the external scholarship plus a departmental scholarship of $2,500 (2020-2021). They also have the same opportunity as other students for the 200 hours of TAships, which provide $8,902 per year (2020-2021).

Teaching Assistantships

Follow this link for detailed information about Teaching Assistantships.

PNB Graduate Travel Support

Graduate students can apply to receive financial support to attend scientific conferences. Please refer to PNB Graduate Travel for more details.

Additional Support

If you are having trouble making tuition and other scheduled payments, we refer you to a couple of websites that contain important information:

• Student Accounts & Cashiers website
• Student Financial Aid & Scholarship Office
• OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) loans are available to residents of Ontario. If you are coming from out of province, you must apply for assistance through your home province.

Maximum Number of Hours You Can Work

McMaster University regulations state that the maximum number of hours that full-time graduate students can work on campus is 10 hours/week; this includes work from Teaching Assistantships. It is the responsibility of the graduate student to make sure that any work above the teaching assistant duties falls within the guidelines set out by the university and the union (CUPE 3906). If you work more than the allowed 505 hours per academic year, you risk losing your full-time student status, and therefore, not only your scholarship, but also the high pay rate for Teaching Assistantship work.