Funding

The department normally awards five graduate teaching assistantships each year.

Normally students aren’t admitted into the program unless we can offer them an assistantship. 

The assistantships provide in- and out-of-state tuition remission (except for fees) and a stipend of $25,200 per year on a 9-month contract (monthly: $2,800). This is currently one of the best financial packages offered by any MA program in philosophy in the United States. 

While there is no guarantee of summer funding, in recent years we have been able to provide limited summer funding in the form of research assistantships and other departmental work. 

The fees are approximately $1,435 per semester. You can arrange to pay them over time rather than all at once with a payroll deduction. 

Virginia Tech provides a health insurance subsidy of 88% for graduate students, which matches what the university offers other employees. As for what you would pay, the rate (as of last year), is approximately $458.16 per year, or $246.63 in the fall semester and $211.53 in the spring semester.