Incoming graduate students can be nominated upon application for financial awards from the university-wide multi-year fellowship competition. This program is for entering students only, and is highly competitive. Special fellowships exist within this competition for diversity candidates, so such students are especially welcome to apply for admission to the department. See the web site of the Graduate Fellowships Office for more detailed information about available multi-year fellowships for incoming students.

The Department of Scandinavian also has a small amount of discretionary Block Grant money that can be used for support of graduate students. These funds typically take the form of stipends and tuition waivers. Non-residents of the state of California are required to add a substantial non-resident tuition to other registration fees during their first year, after which they can establish California residency by fulfilling certain criteria.

At some point in graduate school, all students support themselves through appointments as Graduate Student Instructors. The department typically has about 7-8 of these appointments available every semester, one in each of the modern language classes (Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish), and several more in Reading and Composition courses. Scandinavian students sometimes teach in other programs and departments as well. According to the most recent GSI contract, most registration fees (but not Non-Resident Tuition) are waived during the time of appointment as a GSI.

In addition, the Scandinavian Department employs one graduate student per semester as the Departmental Librarian. This position is paid as a Graduate Student Researcher (GSR), and involves work on cataloging and development of the Scandinavian collection of the Lundberg Library, as well as work staffing the library's reference desk. Other students are also employed as GSRs for individual faculty members or as readers/graders for the larger undergraduate courses.

When graduate students finish their Ph.D. coursework and Qualifying Exam in a timely fashion (meeting the standard of Normative Time) they also qualify for a number of incentive fellowships called Dean's Normative Time Fellowships. Normative Time to QE for the Scandinavian Department is currently 8 semesters (4 years). Students who complete their exams and advance to candidacy within the specified academic term qualify automatically for a year-long Normative Time Fellowship during the period of their dissertation research. Students finishing within the academic year following the deadline (by the end of semester 10) qualify automatically for a one-semester fellowship.

For more information about multi-year fellowships, GSI/GSR salaries, and other financial aid information is available on the Berkeley Graduate Division web site.

Go to: Research Funding Sources