MSc Course Research Funding Clarification. Urgent help needed.

[Tresh]

My little story goes thus:

As we all know, for an MSc, a supervisor is required. so I applied to a potential supervisor from the department I want to apply but only one replied and told me her slots if filled up till 2022, but referred me to another supervisor with the same research area but a different department. Now I wrote to the supervisor I was referred to and after a while of emails and conversations, he accepted but said he is not in the department I want to apply. So I now wrote to the department I want to apply to seek clarification if the scenario can be possible been supervised by another supervisor from a different department. They replied with only 2 possible ways, one being that the supervisor has to apply to be a supervisor in the department I want to apply. I relayed the msg to my supervisor, he accepted to apply to supervise in my department and did so, and it was approved yesterday 09/11/2020.

Now here is where I need you all expertise advice

the graduate department wrote to me asking if I and my supervisor have discussed funding. That student needs at least $15,000 per year and so I need some way of paying for my cost. Then ended the mail with "that after my application have been reviewed, I and my supervisor will list how we will be supported".

Now, I need to reply to this mail and as well relay the feedback to my supervisor but am been skeptical about how to go about answering a question as regards funding. Yes, I can pay my full tuition (2-year course) at once if need be, but am been careful not to mention I have the money to pay for my tuition and all that and school may deny me funding or I say I don't have money and school will deny me admission for trying to rely on sponsorship in order to be able to study there.

So please my friends, how do I go about giving the reply and as well discussing with the supervisor so that I won't miss this opportunity.

Really need your inputs as I want to reply to the emails today. @jigzyy @canuck78 @tapperb and all please help me out

 

[canuck78]

My little story goes thus:

As we all know, for an MSc, a supervisor is required. so I applied to a potential supervisor from the department I want to apply but only one replied and told me her slots if filled up till 2022, but referred me to another supervisor with the same research area but a different department. Now I wrote to the supervisor I was referred to and after a while of emails and conversations, he accepted but said he is not in the department I want to apply. So I now wrote to the department I want to apply to seek clarification if the scenario can be possible been supervised by another supervisor from a different department. They replied with only 2 possible ways, one being that the supervisor has to apply to be a supervisor in the department I want to apply. I relayed the msg to my supervisor, he accepted to apply to supervise in my department and did so, and it was approved yesterday 09/11/2020.

Now here is where I need you all expertise advice

the graduate department wrote to me asking if I and my supervisor have discussed funding. That student needs at least $15,000 per year and so I need some way of paying for my cost. Then ended the mail with "that after my application have been reviewed, I and my supervisor will list how we will be supported".

Now, I need to reply to this mail and as well relay the feedback to my supervisor but am been skeptical about how to go about answering a question as regards funding. Yes, I can pay my full tuition (2-year course) at once if need be, but am been careful not to mention I have the money to pay for my tuition and all that and school may deny me funding or I say I don't have money and school will deny me admission for trying to rely on sponsorship in order to be able to study there.

So please my friends, how do I go about giving the reply and as well discussing with the supervisor so that I won't miss this opportunity.

Really need your inputs as I want to reply to the emails today. @jigzyy @canuck78 @tapperb and all please help me out

If they were going to offer you funding/scholarship they would have already offered it. You can ask the supervisor if he/she has any funding left in his/her budget but it sounds like this was a polite way of saying that you need to figure out how to pay for your studies with your supervisor if you want admission.

 

[sam.devilz19]

My little story goes thus:

As we all know, for an MSc, a supervisor is required. so I applied to a potential supervisor from the department I want to apply but only one replied and told me her slots if filled up till 2022, but referred me to another supervisor with the same research area but a different department. Now I wrote to the supervisor I was referred to and after a while of emails and conversations, he accepted but said he is not in the department I want to apply. So I now wrote to the department I want to apply to seek clarification if the scenario can be possible been supervised by another supervisor from a different department. They replied with only 2 possible ways, one being that the supervisor has to apply to be a supervisor in the department I want to apply. I relayed the msg to my supervisor, he accepted to apply to supervise in my department and did so, and it was approved yesterday 09/11/2020.

Now here is where I need you all expertise advice

the graduate department wrote to me asking if I and my supervisor have discussed funding. That student needs at least $15,000 per year and so I need some way of paying for my cost. Then ended the mail with "that after my application have been reviewed, I and my supervisor will list how we will be supported".

Now, I need to reply to this mail and as well relay the feedback to my supervisor but am been skeptical about how to go about answering a question as regards funding. Yes, I can pay my full tuition (2-year course) at once if need be, but am been careful not to mention I have the money to pay for my tuition and all that and school may deny me funding or I say I don't have money and school will deny me admission for trying to rely on sponsorship in order to be able to study there.

So please my friends, how do I go about giving the reply and as well discussing with the supervisor so that I won't miss this opportunity.

Really need your inputs as I want to reply to the emails today. @jigzyy @canuck78 @tapperb and all please help me out

Trust me, in academia speaking about money is considered taboo. I've been there and done that. So at some DLIs research based programs must be partially or fully funded and it's on you to convince a supervisor or a funding agency to fund you. Some DLIs may take you even if you're self funded student. So now the best bet you have is speak with your potential supervisor. Like he has accepted you as a student but you may wanna ask this question in your initial meeting itself as to how can you expect to be funded.

If your DLI expects you to be funded in some sort of way, then the only option you have left is to ask your supervisor. If "being funded" is a mandatory thing, then he must have accepted you because he has funding that he can give you, unless he specifically asked you to arrange for funding yourself?

 

[canuck78]

Trust me, in academia speaking about money is considered taboo. I've been there and done that. So at some DLIs research based programs must be partially or fully funded and it's on you to convince a supervisor or a funding agency to fund you. Some DLIs may take you even if you're self funded student. So now the best bet you have is speak with your potential supervisor. Like he has accepted you as a student but you may wanna ask this question in your initial meeting itself as to how can you expect to be funded.

If your DLI expects you to be funded in some sort of way, then the only option you have left is to ask your supervisor. If "being funded" is a mandatory thing, then he must have accepted you because he has funding that he can give you, unless he specifically asked you to look for funding?

Funding is far from guaranteed at the masters level. Many are self-funded. The school isn't providing funding based on the emails. essentially OP needs to figure out whether the supervisor has extra money left in their budget or is applying for some grants that may result in some funding. I would be prepared for no funding and hope you can get a TA job.

 

[canuck78]

Trust me, in academia speaking about money is considered taboo. I've been there and done that. So at some DLIs research based programs must be partially or fully funded and it's on you to convince a supervisor or a funding agency to fund you. Some DLIs may take you even if you're self funded student. So now the best bet you have is speak with your potential supervisor. Like he has accepted you as a student but you may wanna ask this question in your initial meeting itself as to how can you expect to be funded.

If your DLI expects you to be funded in some sort of way, then the only option you have left is to ask your supervisor. If "being funded" is a mandatory thing, then he must have accepted you because he has funding that he can give you, unless he specifically asked you to arrange for funding yourself?

Lots of programs are not funded. Domestic students and science students tend to have a better chance of funding at the masters level but many are self-funding and may get a TA job to make some money. With covid, funding is going to be really tough to get for at least a few years. PhD is a different ballgame.

 

[sam.devilz19]

Funding is far from guaranteed at the masters level. Many are self-funded. The school isn't providing funding based on the emails. essentially OP needs to figure out whether the supervisor has extra money left in their budget or is applying for some grants that may result in some funding. I would be prepared for no funding and hope you can get a TA job.

Yeah, agree with you on the fact that funding are not guaranteed and extremely hard to get.

 

[Tresh]

If they were going to offer you funding/scholarship they would have already offered it. You can ask the supervisor if he/she has any funding left in his/her budget but it sounds like this was a polite way of saying that you need to figure out how to pay for your studies with your supervisor if you want admission.

Yes I thought as much.

 

[Tresh]

Trust me, in academia speaking about money is considered taboo. I've been there and done that. So at some DLIs research based programs must be partially or fully funded and it's on you to convince a supervisor or a funding agency to fund you. Some DLIs may take you even if you're self funded student. So now the best bet you have is speak with your potential supervisor. Like he has accepted you as a student but you may wanna ask this question in your initial meeting itself as to how can you expect to be funded.

If your DLI expects you to be funded in some sort of way, then the only option you have left is to ask your supervisor. If "being funded" is a mandatory thing, then he must have accepted you because he has funding that he can give you, unless he specifically asked you to arrange for funding yourself?

Thanks, So you're suggesting I shouldn't ask him directly but as you highlighted if being funded is mandatory?

 

[Tresh]

Funding is far from guaranteed at the masters level. Many are self-funded. The school isn't providing funding based on the emails. essentially OP needs to figure out whether the supervisor has extra money left in their budget or is applying for some grants that may result in some funding. I would be prepared for no funding and hope you can get a TA job.

Please is research funding different from normal tuition and other fees listed on the school website? so far, I can pay for the tuition for 2 years and other ones listed on the website but if the research funding is different, then that's where I will need to look into. again what's TA? is it easily gotten?

 

[canuck78]

Please is research funding different from normal tuition and other fees listed on the school website? so far, I can pay for the tuition for 2 years and other ones listed on the website but if the research funding is different, then that's where I will need to look into. again what's TA? is it easily gotten?

Funding is either a scholarship or paying for your research time. You should only need to pay tuition for each semester. TA is a teaching assistant. Depending on the course you could have to run tutorials, grade papers, etc.

 

[canuck78]

Thanks, So you're suggesting I shouldn't ask him directly but as you highlighted if being funded is mandatory?

You need to ask but in a polite way. I would reference the first email and the fact that the school doesn't seem prepared to offer you any funding. I would ask if your supervisor sees any room in their grants/budges for any funding or whether you will need to be prepared to financially support your own studies. I would also bring up whether there would be an opportunities for being a TA. If the supervisor says they can't fund you, you should reply that you are prepared to support your own masters studies and are still very interested even without funding (of course if that's true).

 

[Tresh]

You need to ask but in a polite way. I would reference the first email and the fact that the school doesn't seem prepared to offer you any funding. I would ask if your supervisor sees any room in their grants/budges for any funding or whether you will need to be prepared to financially support your own studies. I would also bring up whether there would be an opportunities for being a TA. If the supervisor says they can't fund you, you should reply that you are prepared to support your own masters studies and are still very interested even without funding (of course if that's true).

Thanks, @canuck78 for your help.

As I said earlier, I can comfortably pay my 2year tuition and other fees listed on the website with no issues. Now, I just want to know if the research fund is different from the normal tuition. That is, do is still need to pay for research if I pay tuition fees, assuming I accept self-funding?

 

[canuck78]

Thanks, @canuck78 for your help.

As I said earlier, I can comfortably pay my 2year tuition and other fees listed on the website with no issues. Now, I just want to know if the research fund is different from the normal tuition. That is, do is still need to pay for research if I pay tuition fees, assuming I accept self-funding?

No there shouldn't be an extra research fee. You would just need to pay tuition even though there may be no courses for your last semester/year and just work on your thesis. You will have to look at the tuition information for your course.

 

[Tresh]

No there shouldn't be an extra research fee. You would just need to pay tuition even though there may be no courses for your last semester/year and just work on your thesis. You will have to look at the tuition information for your course.

Thanks. so grateful

 

[Impatient Dankaroo]

Canuck's advice is good