Financial Support for Graduate Students

All applicants to the PNB Graduate Program are automatically considered for financial support within the Department. There's no need to complete a separate application for financial assistance.

Graduate students are typically supported by a combination of departmental scholarships, research grants, training grants, external scholarships and teaching assistantships. For example, the minimum stipend for 2021-2022 is $24,259. Hamilton is affordable for students and thus the stipend affords a comfortable lifestyle. More details on financial support can be found on our PNB Graduate Student Handbook. We’ve highlighted a few key elements below, with specific links to the Handbook.

• Prospective students are strongly encouraged to apply for external scholarships in the autumn before they apply to the Department.
• All graduate students, if eligible, are expected to apply for external scholarships PNB graduate students with external funding receive the value of the external scholarship plus a departmental scholarship of $2,500 (2012-2022).
• The Department also provides the opportunity to apply for travel support to attend conferences. Please refer to our Graduate Travel section for more details.
• Students from outside Canada can receive either a supplementary departmental scholarship or a tuition differential waiver, which reduces their financial costs. In 2018 tuition for international graduate students in PhD programs at McMaster effectively became the same as domestic tuition rates.
• Health insurance is mandatory for all visa students and is provided through the University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP), at a current cost of $756.00 for one person. Please refer to the International Students section of the Graduate Handbookfor more details about tuition and fees.

Our Financial Support wiki page from the PNB Graduate Handbook is a great source of information. If you have further questions, please contact our Graduate Studies team.