Notes for 2022-23 Graduate Funding Chart

  • NOTE: there are many layers of bureaucracy School of Graduate Studies (SGS) – handles External awards, Faculty of Arts and Science takes care of UTF, student accounts takes care of ACORN and payments, Dimitri Thompson handles awards and Paul Tsang is business officer. If you have any questions about funding, please contact Paul Tsang and Dimitri Thompson in WGSI – they will direct you to the relevant persons/offices to resolve your questions.
  • You must set up Canadian banking information, so it is transferred as a credit from ACORN to your bank account to get this automatically deposited!!
  • All of the information is contained in the funding letter that graduate students receive.
  • There are four kinds of funding or payments: (1) TAship (2) top ups (beyond minimum guarantee funding, like in course scholarships, Connaught Awards, WGSI scholarships etc) (3) UTF (U of T fellowship – UTF stipend and UTF tuition), and (4) External Award (SSHRC, OGS, Vanier, Bombardier etc.).
  • Re tuition payments – no-one pays it. You defer the payment in August saying you have an external award as you are a funded graduate student, and the system will take care of it (when you get reminders, ignore it because it will be automatically paid through the university as you are funded).
  • Only graduate students beyond the funded cohort – like PhDs in 5th or 6th years – need to pay tuition directly.
  • Funding is mainly made up of three things (UTF, TAship and Top ups). Many graduate students will also have external funding.
  • On the Chart: UTF is represented by the line in Blue – the black line that runs across the bottom of the chart represents tuition (2021-22 it is $7,980), and your graduate funding takes care of it (half goes to tuition and is paid in September and January).
  • Graduate students get what is above the Black line September, January and May, in three installments of approximately $3,486.
  • TAship is $8,043 for a full year (MAs is primarily) in eight monthly instalments, direct deposited to ACORN account. This is also paid directly to you.
  • External awards are listed in green on the chart – eg. Vanier, FAST award, SSHRC Doctoral award, CGSM, OGS etc. The amounts are all different. The one difference to bear in mind concerns tuition payment for anyone getting external awards – this is paid automatically through ACORN but it is not paid until January. Graduate students with an external award will get a large payment through the external award in September, but the entire tuition of $7,980 will only be deducted in January.
  • Making sense of the payroll forms – re basic personal amount (TD1 is Federal and TD ON is Provincial). Once you are set up on payroll at U of T, there is just one form to fill out and unless your bank account changes, this stays the same. Employee number – this will be given to you once you get online.
  • If I have been employed by U of T before, do I submit a direct deposit form? Not if your banking information remains the same.
  • If you have filled out a TD1 form with a different employer, do you have to fill them out again? If the employer was U of T, then no.