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Funding

It is the policy of the Department of Classics not to admit students to its graduate programs without funding, although exceptions may be made in very particular circumstances.  Although the available fellowships and assistantships vary to some extent in the level of support they provide, they all include a stipend, eligibility for full tuition, and health insurance.  With only a few exceptions, they all also involve service as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA).  The cost of living in Chapel Hill is relatively low compared to areas where other major research universities are located, so that funding packages from our department tend to go further, dollar for dollar, that those from other programs; see the Graduate School’s cost-of-living comparison.  For general information on graduate funding at UNC-CH, see the Graduate School’s Funding page.  For detailed and up-to-date information about tuition and fees, see the University Cashier’s Tuition and Fees page.

There are two main categories of funding packages: fellowships and assistantships.  The regular funding package is departmental Teaching Assistantship, but there are also possibilities for various types of enhanced support.  Every year the department may nominate a limited number of applicants for competitive fellowships offered by the Graduate School: Royster Fellowships and Merit Assistantships.  The Department’s own Reckford Fellowship, which normally becomes available every five years, provides the same benefits as the Royster Fellowship.  All these fellowships and assistantships are open to all applicants, and no separate application is needed; all applicants are automatically considered.  In addition, the Graduate School offers two more specialized fellowships that are limited to North Carolina residents: the North Carolina Excellence Fellowship, which supports diverse doctoral students (broadly defined), and the North Carolina Native American Incentive Grant, which supports Native American doctoral students.

Royster Fellowships provide full support for five years, including a substantial stipend, full tuition, fees, and health insurance.  The first and fifth years are non-service, meaning that Royster Fellows do not have teaching assignments in those years.  In the second through fourth years they serve as GTAs.  Competition for the fellowships is keen; the Graduate School awards only a dozen per year, across all fields.  For further information, see the Graduate School’s website.

The Department’s Reckford Fellowship provides the same benefits as the Graduate School’s Royster Fellowships.  The fellowship was created to honor Kenneth J. Reckford, who taught Greek and Latin in the department from 1960 until 2003.

Merit Assistantships are offered on a competitive basis by the Graduate School and provide an enhanced stipend for a student’s first year in the program.  Thereafter, the student holds a regular departmental Teaching Assistantship.  For further information, see the Graduate School’s Merit Assistantships page.

All students who hold a fellowship or an assistantship serve as Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) during each semester of their fellowship/assistantship.  The chief exception is that Royster Fellows and Reckford Fellows do not serve as GTAs in their first and fifth years.  GTAs have a wide range of roles, from Instructional Assistants who act as marker/graders in large lecture courses to Senior Teaching Fellows who teach their own lecture courses and supervise other GTAs.  Graduate students in their first year normally serve as Instructional Assistants in courses such as ‘Classical Mythology’ (CLAS 131) or ‘Ancient Cities’ (CLAR 120), and then move on in their second year to teach their own sections of beginning Latin or act as section leaders in courses such as ‘The Greeks’ (CLAS 121), ‘The Romans’ (CLAS 122), or ‘Women in Greek Art and Literature’ (CLAS 240).  Advanced graduate students may teach introductory or intermediate Greek, intermediate Latin, or courses such as ‘Classical Mythology’, ‘Ancient Cities’, or ‘Medical Word Formation and Etymology’ (CLAS 126).  For further information, see the section on ‘Teaching’ in the Department’s ‘Guide to Graduate Student Policies, Procedures, and Resources’.
All students who hold a fellowship or assistantship receive in-state tuition.  For those who are not considered residents of North Carolina for tuition purposes, however, the difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition must still be paid.  The Department can normally guarantee funds to cover the difference in tuition during a student’s first year in the program, but not beyond that.  It is accordingly important that students do all they can to establish North Carolina residency for tuition purposes by the beginning of their second year.  To be considered a North Carolina resident for tuition purposes, a person must have established domicile in North Carolin and have maintained it for at least 12 months prior to applying for residency.  For further details and links to other resources, see the Department’s ‘Brief Guide to North Carolina Residency for Tuition Purposes’. The Graduate Student Information page also provides residency tips directly from graduate students.
Various sources of funding, both within the Department and outside it, are available to help cover the expense of travel of education purposes, e.g., for fieldwork, research, conferences, or study programs.  These include the Berthe Marti Fellowship, which is an Affiliated Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome.  Offered in memory of Berth Marti, who taught at both Bryn Mawr College and The University of North Carolina, it is open to advanced students in Latin, medieval, and post-classical studies and provides full funding for one year at the AAR, ordinarily in support of work on a dissertation.  The fellowship is shared by UNC-CH and Bryn Mawr College, and becomes available for UNC students roughly every fifth year.