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Financial Aid

The Graduate School at Northwestern is committed to supporting each doctoral student through five years   of study (including summer). In conjunction with your admission, you are offered a University Fellowship funded by The Graduate School in your first year. If you choose to accept your offer of admission, this fellowship will provide a stipend, paid monthly, and full tuition for the academic year and summer. You will receive a comparable level of funding in years 2 -5, made up of teaching assistantships, research assistantships and/or university fellowships. As a full-time registered funded graduate student at Northwestern, you will be eligible to receive a full health insurance subsidy for single coverage if enrolled in the Northwestern Student Health plan. TGS also offers additional sources of funding including internal fellowships and grants.  During the five years of funding, students have their health insurance subsidized at 100%. All financial aid is contingent upon the student remaining in good standing.

Additional information on graduate student funding can be found on the TGS website

TA Equity


Teaching is an essential element of the education and training experience of Ph.D. students at Northwestern. The Graduate School requires that all Ph.D. students serve in some instructional capacity for at least one academic quarter during their graduate education at Northwestern. This teaching requirement is unique to American higher education, and is an integral aspect of professional development. Students are expected to do comparable teaching work to others students within their program. The Graduate School strives to ensure teaching demands are as similar as possible across academic programs.

Over the course of their studies, graduate students in French and Francophone Studies are offered the opportunity to teach or assistant-teach language, culture, and/or literature courses. Students receive expert training in language pedagogy and have access to a Multi Media Learning Center (MMLC) equipped with state-of-the-art technology. Responsible for language training are Patricia Scarampi and Thao Nguyen.

The typical teaching assignment begins fall quarter of the student’s second year and extends through spring quarter of their 4th year, excluding summers.