The Field accepts students on the basis of merit and compatibility of their interests with research and teaching in the Field, but once accepted the student must deal with the problem of adequate financial support. Historically, our students making solid progress toward their degree have been adequately supported through a wide variety of funding mechanisms. The breadth of the funding vehicles reflects the diverse interests of the students and faculty, and contributes to students professional development. Many students are funded by an RA, a TA, a Fellowship and funds they raise themselves through competitive grants at one time or another in their graduate school careers. The range of funding opportunities provides a means for students to match their funding sources with their professional and intellectual interests. We emphasize that our faculty, staff and our senior graduate students assist students in identifying suitable funding opportunities and making successful applications, but ultimate responsibility rests with the individual students.

The document "Graduate Student Funding" summarizes the various funding options available to students in Development Sociology. Department support consists of research assistantships and teaching assistantships. Current policy is to offer at least one full-year teaching assistantship to an incoming student. The document "Statement of Evaluation Criteria" (also referred to as 2-2-1 or 2-1-2) outlines the current criteria used to rank students applying for TAships. The research assistantships usually go to continuing students because their skills are known and their associations with professors have firmed up. The department policy is to favor those already in the system, a practice which provides a certain security for the whole graduate student body. After all continuing students have been offered support, there may be one or two additional teaching assistantships left over, and these are assigned to new students. Department teaching and research assistantships are only allocated to incoming foreign students when their facility in written and spoken English is known to be adequate to the assistantship requirements.