Financial Support

Assistantships

Financial support for graduate students takes two primary forms: assistantships and fellowships. A few fellowships are awarded through UNM's Office of Graduate Studies and they are open on a highly competitive basis to all graduate students in the university. A very limited amount of financial aid may be available through a small number of assistantships administered by the Linguistics and LLSS Departments. These assistantships are usually awarded to students who have been in the program for at least one year.. 

Several assistantships also may be available to students in the College of Education & Human Sciences, depending on needs within the College each semester. These include both teaching and graduate assistantships. Information on these opportunities are often posted on flyers in the College of Education & Human Sciences and/or distributed on the various list serves. Students should let their faculty advisor know of their interest, as well as inquire at the LLSS Department office on a regular basis. Opportunities for assistantships in the Linguistics and LLSS Departments, as well as those in other departments in the College of Education & Human Sciences, are open to Educational Linguistics students. 

In addition, research assistantships and project assistantships are occasionally available to graduate students to work on funded research or public service projects. Selection of assistants is made by the faculty member, who serves as the project's principal investigator, and the primary basis for selection is the student's ability to handle the specific project assignment. Examples of recent funded projects include:

• Jicarilla Apache Language Immersion Program (funded by the Native Americans Languages Act and directed by the Jicarilla Apache Tribe with the assistance of Melissa Axelrod).
• Modeling durations in connected discourse (Funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Caroline Smith).
• Center for Visual Language and Visual Learning (funded by the National Science Foundation and directed by Jill Morford).
• Sentence-final Prosody in French Questions and Statements (funded by the UNM Research Allocations Committee and directed by Caroline Smith).
• Tequio Pedagógico: Pedagogical collaboration in community (funded by the Spencer Foundation and directed by Lois Meyer. in collaboration with the Coalition of Indigenous Teachers of Oaxaca, Mexico).
• Academic Literacy for All (Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and directed by Holbrook Mahn).
• American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center (Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and directed by Christine Sims.) 

Graduate students in Educational Linguistics often receive support in other University programs, for example, as instructors in the Center for English Language and American Culture (CELAC) (505-277-7540) http://celac.unm.edu/, as tutors in the Center for Academic Program Support (CAPS) (505 277-7208) http://caps.unm.edu/, and as teaching assistants, project assistants, and work-study employees in various other programs.

Other Financial Support:

Other types of financial support are also available to graduate students, such as scholarships and travel awards. Opportunities for funding are posted to the Educational Linguistics student listserv as information becomes available. Below are several examples of such additional funding sources.

The Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) has multiple funding sources for graduate and professional students and organizations, including Student Research Allocations Committee (SRAC) grants, Specialized Travel (ST) grants, and Graduate Research and Development (GRD) grants. More information on these opportunities is available on the GPSA web site:  http://www.unm.edu/~gpsa/

The LLSS Department sometimes has limited supplementary funds for student travel and research projects; a "Travel Request" form is available from the program administrator. Additionally, the College of Education has more than 43 endowed/non-endowed scholarships. The annual application period for College of Education & Human Sciences scholarships is January 1 to March 15. The COEHS has developed an online application process for all its scholarships.  Please consult the COEHS scholarship website at http://coehs.unm.edu/current-students/scholarships/

As part of the Student Exchange Program of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, the Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP: http://wrgp.wiche.edu/) helps place students in a wide range of graduate programs, all designed around the educational, social and economic needs of the west. Through WRGP, residents of Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, California and Wyoming are eligible to enroll in available programs outside of their home state at resident tuition rates. Students need not meet financial aid criteria. The student must request WRGP status upon entering the doctoral program, either formally in the letter of intent or informally by phone or email.  The request should be directed to Rick Meyer, Chair, LLSS (e-mail: rmeyer@unm.edu, phone: 505-277-0437). For additional information, contact Mr. Matthew Hulett at (505) 277-0385, or mhulett@unm.edu.

Websites with more information on financial support:

Office of Graduate Studies financial aid website:
http://grad.unm.edu/funding/index.html

UNM financial aid website:
http://financialaid.unm.edu/