Financial Aid, Research Support, and Prizes

Academic Year

Students accepted into the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in Latin American Studies are eligible for two types of aid: Tulane University Graduate School Fellowships and U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Study (FLAS) Fellowships. Although the amount of financial aid and the general policies and procedures for students holding these fellowships are similar, there are fundamental differences. Graduate School Fellowships include a service requirement as Project Associates for M.A. students and as Teaching Assistants or Project Associates for Ph.D. students, while FLAS Fellowships require that fellows remain continuously enrolled in Portuguese or Haitian Creole. Both are subject to the same regulations regarding incompletes and the maintenance of minimum grade point averages.

All fellowships are awarded on a yearly basis. Recommendation for fellowship continuation is made to the Graduate School every spring semester following an evaluation of student performance over the course of the academic year.

M.A. students in good standing may receive no more than four continuous semesters of funding; three continuous semesters if they take the non-thesis option. If a student chooses to transfer two courses from another Tulane department or another university towards his/her M.A. course requirement, he/she may receive no more than three continuous semesters of funding with a thesis, and no more than two continuous semesters without a thesis.

Joint M.A./M.B.A and joint M.A./J.D. students in good standing receive no more than two continuous semesters of funding. This funding is exclusively for study in the School of Liberal Arts and is not transferable to either the Freeman School of Business or the Law School. Joint degree students should seek funding for the M.B.A. or J.D. portions of their program from the respective professional schools.

Ph.D. students in good standing who already possess an MA degree may receive no more than four continuous years or eight continuous semesters of funding. Eight semesters of funding are not an entitlement and the number of semesters of funding will vary not only according to faculty recommendations about a student’s program of study, but also according to the transfer credit hours awarded to the student for previous graduate level work.

Joint LAST/Art History Ph.D. students in good standing who already possess an MA degree may receive no more than four continuous years or eight continuous semesters of funding. Eight semesters of funding are not an entitlement and the number of semesters of funding will vary not only according to faculty recommendations about a student’s program of study, but also according to the transfer credit hours awarded to the student for previous graduate level work. Joint LAST/Art History Ph.D. students who are admitted directly to the program with only a Bachelor’s degree and no transferable graduate credit hours may receive no more than five continuous years or ten continuous semesters of funding. Ten semesters of funding are not an entitlement and the number of semesters of funding may vary according to faculty recommendations about a student’s program of study.

Students who take a leave of absence for whatever reason during their continuous fellowship period are not guaranteed funding for future semesters beyond the terms required to earn the corresponding degree. For details on Leaves of Absence, please consult the appropriate section below.

Summer

Tuition waivers do not apply to courses taught on-campus in the summer. The only exception to this general rule is the extremely rare situation when a summer course completes the number of credits required for graduation in that same summer. And even in such a rare situation, students must seek explicit approval for this from the Graduate Advisor and the Dean of the School of Liberal Arts. FLAS fellowships are available for intensive summer language study in Less Commonly Taught Language (i.e. Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Kaqchikel Maya, Yucatec Maya, Nahuatl, etc.). See section on Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS) for more information.

Stone Center Summer Research Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis for research projects in Latin America. Graduate students from any discipline may apply as long as their research has a Latin American focus. Application forms and instructions are available online at the Stone Center’s website. In short, applicants must provide a detailed outline of their project goals, methodology, itinerary, schedule, and work plan. Applications are due usually in early March. Preference will be given to projects that are feasible, well-conceived, and have strong faculty support. Applicants who have not previously received a Stone Center Summer Research Fellowship will have first priority. Award amounts usually cover round-trip airfare plus modest living costs. No awards are given to students with outstanding incompletes. Recipients are required upon their return to present their findings at a symposium organized and sponsored by the Latin Americanist Graduate Organization (LAGO); and recipients must also prepare and submit electronically a brief, 1-2 page report on their summer research experience to be posted on the Stone Center website.

Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS)

With funding for the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI program, the Stone Center for Latin American Studies is able to offer a special fellowship program to a select group of students. The goals of the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program include: assisting in the development of knowledge, resources, and trained personnel for modern foreign language and area/international studies; stimulating the attainment of foreign language acquisition and fluency; and developing a pool of international experts to meet national needs. FLAS fellowships are available to those graduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, and are in need of attaining language proficiency in Portuguese, Haitian Creole, or an indigenous Latin American language. There are awards available for both the academic year as part of the regular admissions process and for summer intensive language study for currently enrolled graduate students.

Academic year FLAS fellowships are awarded to those graduate students in Latin American Studies, Humanities, Social Sciences, or professional school programs at Tulane University whose program of study requires Portuguese or Haitian Creole. Benefits of an academic year FLAS fellowship include: a service-free fellowship stipend and, for graduate students enrolling in the School of Liberal Arts, a tuition waiver provided by the School of Liberal Arts. Graduate students not enrolling in the School of Liberal Arts are not eligible for the corresponding tuition waiver. Those students receiving a FLAS fellowship during the academic year must register for their required language course over and above the normal course load of nine hours. Priority for funding of academic year FLAS fellowships goes to those students who demonstrate a need for proficiency in Portuguese or Haitian Creole.

Summer FLAS fellowships allow graduate students to engage in intensive study of less commonly taught languages such as Kaqchikel Maya, Portuguese, Yucatec Maya, Nahuatl, Quechua, or any other indigenous Latin American language for which an approved summer program is offered. Summer FLAS fellowships consist of funds for tuition and fees; a subsistence allowance; and, when available, funds for round-trip airfare. Priority funding is given to those students who wish to attend Tulane’s Kaqchikel Maya Intensive Summer Institute, or Tulane’s Summer Portuguese language program. Information on these programs is available on the International Programs page of the Stone Center website. The competition for funding occurs early in the Spring semester. Students who are interested in applying for summer FLAS funding should consult with the Graduate Advisor.