Funding

Understanding your graduate student stipend

Your stipend/salary comes from three sources
1. TA (teaching assistant) income, which you get for your teaching in undergraduate labs. This money is paid on the 15th of each month and on the last day of each month (or earlier if these do not fall on a business day) and will have tax deducted at source. This is considered "employment income" by the University and by Revenue Canada (the government tax department). By the end of February, a T4 slip for the previous tax year (Jan-Dec) will be accessible from "Employee Services" under MyPage. The T4 is needed to complete your tax form for the previous year (by end of April).
2. RA (research assistant) money, which comes from your supervisor's research grant. The University and Revenue Canada consider this as "Scholarship Income" and will give you a a T4A tax slip for this. Payments are every month on the 18th.
3. Graduate Award - Academic Achievement (GA - AA, formerly also called AAA (Academic Achievement Award)). This money is conditional on your maintaining a GPA above 6.5. It is also scholarship income, and comes directly from the faculty of graduate studies. There is one payment in September and one in January.
These three components may vary over the year, but the TA and RA will add to an approximately equal amount every month. You may have additional UVic Fellowship or other Scholarship amounts which increase your salary and/or reduce your TA requirements. You may ask the Graduate Secretary for a table of the payment amounts per month.
Your supervisor is permitted to pay you higher RA amounts or "buy out" your TA; this is solely at their discretion.
Note that signing up for an additional TA section in order to get additional money is not permitted. This would take more of your time and since you would be spending less time on research, your supervisor could adjust the RA amount downward so that your stipend stays the same.
A draft of your individual monthly payment plan with all components included is available from the Graduate secretary.

The official policy about these pay components is below.

Chemistry Department policy on graduate student funding

Approved March 2015. [Note: The new name for the AAA is Graduate Award - Academic Achievement (GA - AA)]

Chem Graduate Funding Policy-March 2015.pdf

Tuition and Fees

Tuition fees are due at the end of the first month of term. Fee information, including how to pay and where is found here and FGS has a useful web page about tuition and fees.

Awards

University of Victoria Bursaries and Scholarships

The University of Victoria provides bursaries and scholarships to graduate students. A bursary is an award based on financial need. Since chemistry students receive a stipend, the case for financial need is harder to make than for students in departments that do not offer a stipend. Scholarships are awarded based on merit, and come in several types.

University of Victoria Fellowships are offered to entering students with high GPA (minimum of 7.0; an A- average on the last two years of course work). If funds allow, they may also be offered to continuing students. Students are selected by the GSC and do not need to apply. The awards are offered for one year only. They increase the stipend above that of a regular student, and also reduce the number of required TA sections from two to one. Incoming students who wish to receive a UVic fellowship should have been accepted by the cutoff date in the spring term.

University of Victoria Graduate Awards are offered to students with a GPA of 6.5 or more, in the form of GA - AA awards as described in the department policy above, as well as in the form of Graduate Awards - Research Achievement (GA - RA).

Presidents Research Awards are top up awards given to students who already have NSERC or CIHR Scholarships. Such students (and holders of UVic Fellowhips) are also eligible for Howard E Petch or David F strong Research Scholarships ($7500). The GSC will apply for these awards on your behalf.

Other major awards from UVic include the lieutenant-Governor's Silver Medal for the best MSc thesis and the Governor-General's Gold Medal for the best PhD dissertation.

UVic Graduate Awards - for research achievement

We nominate some students for UVic Graduate Awards meant to celebrate recent research achievements that are out of the ordinary, by students in a Chemistry graduate program. Types of achievements that will be recognized by the award include: remarkable publications, conference prizes, extraordinary mentorship, creative solutions to challenging or long-standing research problems, etc.

Nominations are ongoing.

Eligibility: (1) The student must be registered in a graduate program in the current term; (2) GPA must be above 6.5; (3) The student has not received an 'Unsatisfactory progress' evaluation in the current academic year.

Nominations should be sent to chemgsec@uvic.ca, and should include a 1-page CV and a 1-page nomination letter detailing the achievement, and making an argument for the importance of the achievement. Nominations can be made by faculty members or graduate students. Students can make nominations on their own behalf or can nominate another student. Students should obtain their supervisor's support of the nomination, in the form of an email to chemgsec@uvic.ca, stating "I support the nomination". These awards are given through the Faculty of Graduate Studies as UVic Graduate Awards.

Donor Awards

These are awards that come from funds given to the University by individual donors. They are ususally in the range of some hundreds of dollars, but there are many of them and in addition to their monetary values, they boost your CV. These are categorized below according to who makes the decision and whether or not you have to apply.

Chemistry: These are adjudicated by the Chemistry Graduate Studies Committee, who makes the applications on behalf of students who meet the criteria. More details are given on the donor awards page.

The Lewis J. Clark Memorial Fellowships (2 @ ~$1500) - Chemistry or Biology
Nora and Mark DeGoutiere Memorial Scholarship (amount varies, but this can be around $10K) - Chemistry
Mohamed and Prabha Ibrahim Graduate Scholarship in Chemistry (~$1000)
Sally McAuley Graduate Scholarship - Inorganic Chemistry (≥ 2yrs PhD)
Gerry Poulton Graduate Scholarship - Organic Chemistry (≥ 2yrs PhD)
The Dr. E. and Mrs. M. Von Rudloff Award - ~$750 - environmental/pollution
Dr. Elisabeth Dixon Scholarship in Chemistry

Faculty of Science: These are adjudicated by the Faculty of Science Graduate Advisory Committee. In general there is some flexibility in the area and there can be years when there are no applicants who meet the exact criteria, so students who meet criteria only tenuously will still be considered for these awards. You do not need to apply, the GSC applies on behalf of students who meet the criteria. More details are given on the donor awards page

Bob Wright Graduate Scholarships (2) - research related to oceans
David and Geoffrey Fox Graduate Fellowships - Greek and Roman Studies (even numbered years) or Science (odd numbered years).
Dr. Arne H. Lane Graduate Fellowships - marine science
Yvonne Allen Cancer Research Scholarship - preference for colo-rectal cancer
James A. & Laurette Agnew Memorial Scholarship - medical research

University of Victoria: These are adjudicated by the FGS Graduate Awards Committee (GAC). The Chemistry GSC makes a recommendation to the GAC on behalf of the student. The list below gives most of those that Chemistry graduate students are eligible for and those in bold have been awarded to chemistry students in the recent past. There are also a some for indigenous students. Take a look at the donor awards page; if you see another one for which you are eligible, or think that the GSC might not be aware of your eligibility, you should contact the Graduate Advisor. They are ususally in the range of some hundreds of dollars, but there are many of them, and you should hunt through the list for any that might meet your situation. Donors often have rather narrow criteria, and you might be one of few students that meet these criteria.

Edythe Hembroff-Schleicher Scholarships - female students intending to go to medical school
Dr. Julius F. Schleicher Graduate Scholarship - male student in chemistry, biology, biochemistry/microbiology or law.
Eileen Ford Wood and Alexander James Wood Scholarship - female student returning to university after an interruption of at least two years (previously with first-class standing)
The M.A. and D.E. Breckenridge Graduate Awards - outstanding graduate student
Cassels Shaw Graduate Fellowship - outstanding with financial need
Commander Peter Chance MASC Graduate Fellowship - maritime interests
The Robert W. Ford Graduate Scholarships - outstanding graduate student
Ian Evans Graduate Scholarship - outstanding graduate student
Melva J. Hanson Graduate Scholarship - outstanding graduate student
Albert Hung Chao Hong Scholarships - citizen of Hong Kong or mainland China
The Charles S. Humphrey Graduate Student Awards - outstanding Science or Engineering student
The Martlet Chapter IODE Graduate Scholarship for Women - woman entering 2nd yr masters
Alexander and Helen Stafford MacCarthy Muir Graduate Scholarship - outstanding graduate student
Jarmila Vlasta Von Drak Thouvenelle Graduate Scholarship - outstanding graduate student
John and Myrtle Tilley Graduate Scholarship - outstanding graduate student
David H. Turpin Research Scholarship - outstanding graduate student
Donald Wagg Graduate Scholarships - outstanding graduate student

Additional University of Victoria (direct application required): These are miscellaneous awards that require an application from you, with various application dates as described on the webpage.

Bruker Spectrospin prize - research paper in chemical instrumentation or applications of chemical instrumentation (UVic, UBC or SFU)
Frank Hori Foundation Scholarship - Japanese ancestry and financial need
The Leslie and Kaye Jowett Graduate Scholarship - physical disability
Rob and Tammy Lipson Research Scholarship - for international visits
Dr. Peter Montgomery Graduate Scholarship - Roman Catholic with financial need
Nimrod Mobility Award - Hungarian student
Professional Employees Association (PEA) Graduate Scholarship - PEA dependent
William Petrie Graduate Student Library Scholarship - 500 word essay explaining your use of library resources

External Awards

BC Graduate Scholarships, NSERC and CIHR - this section under construction.

Graduate Student Ambassador Award

This award will be given to current graduate students to visit their BSc alma mater for graduate student recruitment purposes (meetings with undergraduate students/seminar/etc). The department will provide funding in support of the student's visit as follows:

60% of travel (air/bus etc) costs to a maximum of:

$100 on Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver
$200 for other areas of BC
$300 for Alberta
$400 for Saskatchewan and Manitoba
$500 for Ontario and Quebec
$600 for areas east of Ontario

and 100% of reasonable local expenses (hotel for 1 night if necessary, local transportation, meals).

Interested students should submit the following to the Graduate Secretary (chemgsec@uvic.ca):

A current CV
A short (1 paragraph) description of where/when the planned travel activity is to take place and any (faculty) contact at the institute of interest.

Applications can be submitted at any time. The Chemistry Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) will select recipients based on qualifications and strategic value of the proposed University. The GSC will provide guidance and assistance to successful applicants on what sort of activities can/should be undertaken during the student's visit. The student shall provide a short summary to the GSC after their visit is complete.

Conferences

If you’re going to a conference to present your work, there is partial funding available from several sources. This needs to be arranged well in advance.

The FGS and GSS coordinate their travel grant funding, which you can apply for once in each year. You should apply 4 months ahead (but not more ahead than that or it will be rejected) because it is awarded on a first-come-first-served basis. See the FGS website for instructions and an application form
The chemistry department has a small travel fund for travel to CIC/CSC conferences. See the graduate secretary for the application form.
If you are a TA, the CUPE 4163 union has a conference fund.
Your supervisor may also have some funding.