Financial Aid

The Creative Writing Programs works hard to provide financial support to all of its students. Last year 15 of our 16 incoming students received graduate assistantships—the 16th asked to have her assistantship deferred for a year, so that she could complete a manuscript. All 16 entering students received either an Inprint fellowship or a UH Creative Writing Program fellowship for $5,000. In addition, 12 of our 16 entering students received UH Presidential Fellowships for $10,000, and 1 student received a Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center fellowship for $5,000. We make a serious effort to locate a graduate assistantship for all who apply and seek such an assistantship. Graduate assistantships provide tuition remission and full medical benefits.

TAships

Through the Dept. of English the Creative Writing Program offers TAships to both MFA and PhD students. MFA students can receive a TAship for 3 years (6 long semesters); PhD students can receive a TAship for 5 years (10 long semesters). The teaching load is 1/2 the first year and then 2/2 the following years. Starting salary for MFAs is $15,000/9 months and for PhDs $17,169/9 months. The TAship brings with it medical benefits and a fellowship to offset tuition (though not fees). The fellowship is guaranteed for all 3 years of the MFA TAship and for the full 5 years of the PhD TAship.

Fellowships

Students in the Creative Writing Program have several types of fellowships available to them. Inprint, a nonprofit Houston organization that supports the literary arts, provides fellowships to students admitted to the graduate creative writing program. In addition, Inprint sponsors an annual student competition that awards 2 fellowships of $10,000—one in fiction, one in poetry, 2 fellowships of $5,000—one in fiction, one in poetry, and 4 fellowships of $2,500—one in fiction, one in poetry, and two in nonfiction. The Creative Writing Program and the Dept. of English can nominate in-coming students for UH Presidential fellowships, if the student has an exceptionable record. And there are also a limited number of Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center fellowships for students who are particularly in collaboration among the arts.

For additional fellowship/scholarship information, please download our fellowship guidelines overview and grad student overview.