Each fall the Department awards fellowships that include a stipend, tuition remission, and partial health care coverage to its entering students. Normally, Fellows who enter with either the B.A. or M.A. and maintain a high level of performance can expect five full academic years of financial aid through the Department.
A. Departmental Fellowships
Fellows do not normally teach in the first year, and are thus able to concentrate fully on course work. Their stipends are paid in 9 installments on the last working day of each month, from September through May.
In their second year, students on departmental fellowships usually work as Teaching Assistants in accordance with the Graduate School’s Teaching Assistant Training and Teaching Opportunity (TATTO) program. They work with faculty members who teach large undergraduate survey courses or smaller, upper-level courses for English majors.
Because the Department’s own policy conforms with the Graduate School’s in stipulating that every graduate student leave Emory with some independent teaching experience, departmental fellows serve as Teaching Associates in their third year. Teaching Associates are responsible each semester for either a section of English 101, Seminar in Writing, or one of English 181, Writing about Literature. They are paid monthly from September through August.
Fellows who have reached the point of beginning formal work on the dissertation--in practice those who have satisfied the foreign-language requirement and have passed, or expect to pass, the Oral Examination by the end of their third year of residence--can expect to be classified as Dissertation Fellows. Dissertation Fellows have no teaching obligations in their fourth year at Emory, and teach one course during their fifth year.
Since the purpose of the Dissertation Fellowship is to provide for uninterrupted study and writing, Fellows should not hold teaching positions or other employment outside the Department during the tenure of the award. Dissertation Fellows are paid in 12 monthly installments from September through August.
B. Woodruff Fellowships and Graduate Arts and Sciences Fellowships
These fellowships are awarded to entering students by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and provide an additional monetary award beyond the standard fellowship package. Stipends are paid over 12 months, on a monthly basis. Please see the website of the Graduate School for a more complete description of the qualifications.
C. Emory Diversity Graduate Fellowships
Emory Diversity Graduate Fellowships (EDGF) are awarded to exceptional minority applicants who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents who plan to pursue doctoral degrees. Currently, the EDGF covers tuition and provides an annual stipend of $19,500 for five years. Stipends are paid over 12 months, on a monthly basis.
D. Loans and Work/Study
Information concerning loans and Work/Study employment will be furnished by the Emory Financial Aid Office upon request. (404) 727-6039.
E. Outside Aid
For information on grants and fellowships from sources outside the University, students should contact the Graduate School’s Grants and Fellowships Advisor. Students are also encouraged to attend the Grants and Fellowships Workshops sponsored by the Graduate School. In the past a number of fifth- and sixth-year students have obtained research funding from outside sources like the Mellon Foundation and the American Association of University Women. Moreover, the Department strongly encourages its students to apply for outside funds from libraries and research centers to support travel and research expenses.
Income Taxes
Students receiving any form of income-- including stipends-- from the University need to fill out W-4 and G-4 (State of Georgia) tax withholding forms before or immediately upon arrival. Until these forms, as well as the I-9 Employment Eligibility Form, are completed and on file, no payment is possible. (The graduate coordinator has all the necessary forms, should you misplace the ones provided by the Graduate School.)
No one at the University can offer personal tax advice. Books such as J. K. Lasser’s Your Income Tax can be helpful, and of course you may always ask the IRS about current regulations (and certainly should if you have a complicated tax situation). In past years, the Graduate School has sponsored a spring workshop on taxes, conducted by a representative of the IRS.
The graduate coordinator may be able to respond to broad questions about general tax principles. The following is some general information:
- All income, regardless of source, is taxable income. This means fellowship money, assistantship money, and anything else you earn. Students have no special status where taxes are concerned (though full-time students are exempted from Social Security contributions on Emory income).
- Emory University is only allowed to withhold taxes (in an amount determined entirely by the W-4 and G-4 forms you turn in) on work income (assistantships, etc.). This means that fellowship money will be paid to you entire, and although your pay stub will say “NONTAXABLE INCOME,” this does not bind or even apply to the IRS. This income is taxable, and the IRS requires not only payment of taxes, but timely payment. If too little money is being paid to the government through withholding, you can do a new W-4 form and specify an exact additional amount you would like to have withheld from each work paycheck. Students receiving only fellowship money might consider making quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS if a tax liability is foreseen. What you are trying to avoid in either case is a penalty for underwithholding when you file your tax return in April.
The English Department's Graduate Handbook
