Fellowships & Funding

For the First Year

We are proud to not only offer our students among the most substantial stipends of any Writing Program in the country, but to provide full and equal funding to every student we accept.  We feel this contributes substantially to the sense of fairness and collegiality in our workshops.  First year awards consist of scholarships, which cover the full cost of tuition (for 2012-13, $40,950 for 2 semesters of 12 units each), plus University Fellowships to cover living expenses, with stipends which vary slightly from year to year but are $20,000 for 2012-13.  In addition, summer funding of $2,500 is provided between the first and second years. Most students will find Saint Louis a relatively inexpensive city.

For the Second Year

Support in the second year is also full and equal among all of our students, providing they complete the first year in good academic standing and are deemed fully prepared to teach by the Writing Program faculty.  That support will consist of a tuition scholarship (again, our students pay no tuition) and an assistantship to teach sections of Fiction or Poetry Writing 1. The stipend for the teaching assistantship also varies slightly from year to year, but for 2011-120 is $19,250. Prior teaching experience is neither required nor expected. The teaching load is one section of 12 students in each semester.  We believe this is enough to provide our students with valuable experience in the classroom while leaving them ample time for their own writing.

Other Forms of Support

There are also two highly competitive university-wide fellowships which Writing Program students are urged to apply for separately.  (The only students in the Writing Program who receive a different level of support are those who win these fellowships.)  Women who graduated from (or will graduate from) an undergraduate institution in the United States should consider applying for the Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellowships for Women in Graduate Study.  In addition to the same full tuition scholarships, the Olin Fellowships in 2011-12 carry a stipend of $28,000 per year and, if academic performance is satisfactory, they are renewable for the length of the degree program.  More information and application instructions are available at http://artsci.wustl.edu/~olin.  The deadline for applications is January 25, 2012.  

The Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship Program is for students who graduated from (or will graduate from) an undergraduate institution in the United States who would contribute to the diversity at the university.  In addition to the full tuition scholarships, the Chancellor's Fellowships for 2010-11 carried a stipend $26,000 per year.  More information and the application may be found at http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cgfp/. The deadline for applications is also January 25, 2012.  

There are no special awards for foreign applicants.  Except for the Olin Fellowship and The Chancellor's Graduate Fellowship Program, there is no special application form for applying for financial aid.  The financial statement referred to in the application form is not required for first-year support, but you may request it from the Graduate School (after January 1st) if you wish to apply for a loan to supplement any award you might receive.