A limited number of Teaching Assistantships is available to the Geography Department each year. The Department awards these on a competitive basis to both incoming students and presently enrolled students for the forthcoming academic year. It should be kept in mind that these are part-time university jobs, and as such satisfactory performance in the work is expected. Assistantship positions carry the protections of a union contract through the Graduate Student Employees Union.

A Teaching Assistantship is an instructional position. The assigned teaching responsibilities may include conducting laboratory sections, grading, and proctoring examinations. Full responsibility for teaching a course is usually undertaken by advanced Ph.D. students. Students who hold a Teaching Assistantship are expected to spend no more than twenty (20) hours per week on their assigned responsibilities.

Teaching Assistantships carry a stipend of $8,400 for the academic year 2002-2003; the amount usually increases in successive years. Assistantship holders do not pay tuition (which is $5,100 for New York State residents, and $8,416 for out of state residents, in 2002-2003), though they pay a small amount in fees. The total value of a Teaching Assistantship may therefore exceed $16,000.

There are also some special financial awards that are given to highly qualified students on a competitive basis. These include:

Presidential Fellowships -- $8,000 more than the TA amount
Dean's Scholarships -- $4,000 more than the TA amount
College Scholarships -- $2,000 more than the TA amount
Dissertation Fellowships -- $4,000 each

Presidential Fellowships, Dean's and College Scholarships are renewable, subject to satisfactory performance, for three more years beyond the first year in the program. The Dissertation Fellowship is given for just one academic year when the student has reached the stage of writing and putting together the doctoral dissertation. The Dissertation Fellowship does not entail any teaching or other form of obligation and, to be eligible, one need not be an assistantship holder. Teaching Assistantships are usually not available to applicants to the Masters program.

The Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT), funded by the National Science Foundation, supports a limited number of students in a new interdisciplinary doctoral concentration in Geographic Information Science.

Aid renewal is not guaranteed. Aid renewal eligibility extends to the end of the fourth year of the program. Assistantships are awarded through a competitive process which seeks to support students entering the program and continuing students most likely to complete successfully our Ph.D. program, particularly those already on aid, and, in any case, conditioned by the level of university funding.

Research Assistantships associated with sponsored research projects are also available periodically with competitive stipends and tuition awards. Masters and doctoral students, whether incoming or presently enrolled, are eligible for a Research Assistantship. Students who hold a Research Assistantship are expected to spend no more than twenty (20) hours per week on their assigned responsibilities. Through Research Assistantships, students are closely involved in cutting edge research conducted in the Department and in Research Centers associated with the department.

It is a rule of the UB Graduate School that all foreign students who have been awarded Teaching or Research Assistantships must take the SPEAK test of English proficiency upon arriving on campus.

A Tuition Assistance Program is open to legal residents of New York State. For information and application forms, you may write to:

New York State Higher Education Services Corporation
Empire State Building
Albany, NY 12255

For additional information on financial aid for graduate students including Financial Assistance for Minority Graduate Students, Student Employment Program and the College Work Study Program, students should contact the UB Graduate School.

As a state university, the University at Buffalo offers quality education at a price that is moderate. Current tuition information is available online at the Office of Student Accounts. A comparative view of these costs in some select cities in the United States can be obtained from http://homeadvisor.msn.com/PickAPlace/CompareCities.asp. Estimated costs of graduate education at UB are available online: http://studentresponse.buffalo.edu/financialaid/gradcost.shtml.