Sources of Financial Support

FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Expenses
University tuition costs for Hawaii state residents and non-residents may be found at this site . Applicants are referred to the University of Hawai‘i Catalog for information regarding residency rules. Student fees are in addition to tuition amounts.

Regulations of the United States Immigration Service prohibit foreign students from engaging in employment off-campus during their first year in this country. In the rare cases that such permission is granted after the first year, students are seldom able to earn more than incidental spending money.

Financial Aid
For the best qualified doctoral students, the Department tries to provide financial support as long as satisfactory and consistent progress is being made toward the degree. There are several sources of support.

Scholarship and Support Funds

• Ruth Crymes Fund [pdf file, word file]
  The Ruth Crymes Scholarship Fund provides funds to enable students in the Department of Second Language Studies to present papers at national or international professional meetings, as well as local conferences and meetings such as HCTE and HALT.
• Holmes-Carr Fund [pdf file, word file]
  The Elizabeth Holmes-Carr Scholarship Fund provides funds to enable full-time classified students in the BA Liberal Studies (concentration in ESL) and MA, AGCSLS, and PhD students in the Department of Second Language Studies to carry out degree-related research.
• O’ihana Maka’i Fund [pdf file, word file]
  The Second Language Studies Graduate ‘Oihana Maika’i [Endeavor of Excellence] Fund for Professional Development provides funding to graduate students who are carrying out pedagogically-oriented academic work.

Graduate Assistantships
Graduate assistants may serve as language instructors, for example in the English Language Institute or the HELP, or they may work as course assistants or research assistants. These duties occupy about 20 hours per week.

There are two categories of assistantships: full year, beginning only in the Fall semester, and one semester, either Fall or Spring. Remuneration for the full year is $13,827; for one semester, $6,914. Additional earnings may be made in the summer. Tuition is waived and health benefits are provided.

Graduate Assistantship application forms may be requested from the Department of Second Language Studies. Extensive teaching experience will be helpful in supporting an application for a teaching position. An applicant whose native language is not English will usually wait a semester before obtaining such an award. The complete form and three letters of recommendation must ARRIVE by February 1. Applicants will be notified as soon as possible after March 20.

Assistantships may be available in other departments besides SLS. Applicants qualified for assistantships in other fields should communicate very early with the SLS department, and separately, directly with other departments, as appropriate.

National Foreign Language Resource Center.
The College of Languages, Linguistics and Literature is currently operating in its fourth three-year federal grant for a National Foreign Language Resource Center, in which the graduate faculty of SLS and the Department of SLS have been extensively involved. Several projects involving research, curriculum development, and training are likely sources of funds for students, in the form of graduate assistantships, junior researcher positions, and part-time employment Inquiries should be directed to the Director, NFLRC,East-West Road Bldg. 1, Room 6A, Honolulu, HI 96822; (808) 956-9424, Also see the NFLRC webpage for information : http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/

East–West Center Awards.
The East–West Center, an independent, federally sponsored research institution on the University campus, offers a limited number of awards. The basic award consists of fees, housing, health insurance, a stipend toward living costs, and some fieldwork support. Work in a Center institute as a research assistant is required of each grantee, as well as participation in an educational program. Awards are available to students from East, Southeast, and South Asia, from the Pacific Basin, and from the United States. For further information and application forms, write to: Office of Student Affairs and Open Grants, East–West Center, 1777 East–West Road, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96848. The usual deadline for applications is October 15 for the following Fall semester.

The East–West Center application require several letters of recommendation. A copy of each letter can be sent to the Department of Second Language Studies to support the application for admission to the Ph.D. program in Second Language Studies.

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships.
For U.S. applicants interested in combining a doctoral program in Second Language Studies with the study of East Asian languages(Chinese, Japanese or Korean) or Southeast Asian languages (Burmese, Indonesian, Ilokano, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.), there area number of fellowships offering tuition plus support. The application deadline is March 1. For information, write directly to the FLAS Fellowships Coordinator, School of Hawaiian, Asian, and Pacific Studies, University of Hawai‘i, Moore Hall 416, 1890 East–West Road, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822.

Work Study.
A limited number of positions for U.S. citizens are available in the work study program. The work is primarily clerical, but there are other types of work—assisting in videotaping classes, supervising a department reading room, etc. Students are hired for these positions on the basis of both qualifications and financial need. For further information and application forms, write to the Director, Financial Aids Office,University of Hawai‘i, 2600 Campus Road, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822. Applications for the Fall must meet the March 1 deadline.

Loans.
Under certain conditions, U.S. students are eligible for government loans. For information, write to the Financial Aids Office at the address given above.

Part-time employment for tutors and teachers.
Hawai‘i’s immigrant population is large, so each semester there are requests for language tutors for varying numbers of hours per week. Two intensive ESL programs on campus hire each semester on a part-time basis, as do some community colleges, private colleges, federally-funded programs, and private language schools.

Tuition Waivers.
The Ph.D. in SLS is a WICHE approved graduate program. Applicants who are residents of WICHE states (most Western states except California) are eligible for tuition rates equivalent to those of Hawai‘i residents. Furthermore, each semester, a number of tuition waivers is awarded on the basis of academic achievement or promise. A student who is awarded a tuition waiver pays no tuition (but does pay about student fees per semester). All admissions applicants are automatically considered for these waivers if their applications(including transcripts and supporting documents) are completed by the application deadline. Chances are especially good if the student’s entering grade point average is 3.5 or better. Waivers are initially awarded for one semester and may be renewd for further semesters if the student remains in good standing.