Funding FAQ

For answers to frequently asked questions about funding, please click on the text accordions below.


Base funding is the graduate unit’s funding commitment. Faculties and graduate units determine Base Funding amounts for doctoral stream programs and the number of years that students will be eligible. Base Funding amounts vary across graduate units. For example, the 2020-21 Faculty of Arts and Science Base Funding package will range from $18,000 to $25,896, plus tuition and fees, for eligible students. The composition of Base Funding, e.g., employment income as Teaching or Research Assistants (TAs and RAs), research stipends, and fellowships, also varies among graduate units.

In addition to the base amount, all eligible students receive the cost of academic tuition and fees. In graduate units where a partial funding package is offered (e.g. 0.5), this is normally reflected in both the base amount and tuition.

Students often have the opportunity to earn additional income through research stipends, internal and external fellowships, RA employment income and TA-ships. Therefore, the average Actual Income of students in a program is typically higher than the Base Funding amount in that program. The detailed funding information provided at the links below reflects the average Actual Income received by full-time PhD students. The income information includes only those funds that are recorded through the University information systems; some external income may not be recorded in these systems and therefore is excluded.

Average time to completion (TTC) of a PhD degree is calculated in years, and is based on a student’s first to last registration in their program. TTC calculations only include sessions in which students are registered; i.e., approved leaves of absence are not counted. For students who transfer from a research master’s to a PhD degree, the TTC is counted from the first session of the master’s program to the last session of the doctoral program.

To learn about strategies to improve Time to Completion, read our Best Practices documents for doctoral students and graduate units.

The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) and the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU) have collaborated to create a Funding Complaint Process. Visit the page by clicking the button below: