AWARD DESCRIPTIONS
Creative and Performing Arts Fellowship
Tuition and partial fee waiver and stipend. These are awarded competitively. Criteria for selection are based primarily upon creative achievements rather than scholarly qualifications. New admissions applicants receive priority. Brochure and reference letters are particularly important and must indicate that creative achievements are extraordinary when rated against those of a peer group. These may be for whole year, one semester only, or in conjunction with an assistantship.
Diffenbaugh Trust Fund Fellowship
This fellowship is available to legal residents of the State of Missouri (past or present) or any graduate of a high school, college, or university located in the State of Missouri. Fellows and alternates will be selected on the basis of academic excellence and scholarly, scientific, or creative promise. Two fellowships per year are provided in a university-wide competition. Preference is given to incoming students but continuing students are eligible.
Graduate College Fellowships
These provide a stipend plus full tuition and partial fee wavier. Recipients are minority graduate students who show potential for success in graduate study, but who, because of deficiencies in their undergraduate preparation, are not ready to serve as assistants or to compete successfully for awards based on academic achievement. These are also awarded in an all-University competition for which the Department may nominate a limited number. Reference letters are particularly important.
Kluesing Fellowship
Full tuition and partial fee waiver, plus annual stipend of $5,000. Given by the Department in memory of Cherie Kluesing (a former faculty member). Selection based on portfolio and statement. May be awarded for up to three consecutive years (contingent upon progress toward completion of degree).
Teaching and Research Assistantships
TA and RA positions include a full tuition and partial fee waiver along with a salary. Most assistantships are 25% of full time, but some are greater percentages.. Assistantships are employment contracts between a student and the Department, and are awarded on the basis of the applicant's ability to perform the expected assignment. They are usually awarded on a one-semester basis. Continuing students receive priority although a limited number of assistantships may go to new students with exceptionally suitable backgrounds for the work to be done.
Teaching and Research Assistantships vary in number from semester to semester and are usually awarded for one term only. Possibilities for continuation of an assistantship are contingent upon performance and the availability of funds. Assistantships for an entire academic year are awarded in some cases where the assignment requires personnel continuity. It must be remembered that the overriding criterion is the ability to do the job, and that previous experience in a course, in similar research, or with the faculty member, can both contribute to, and serve as a measure of, said ability.
Tuition and Partial Fee Waivers
These waivers are awarded competitively on the basis of GPA's and reference letters. They are allocated to the Department each year by the Graduate College. The Graduate Coordinator reviews the academic performance of both new and continuing students and ranks them. Preference is given to new students.
University Fellowships
These fellowships include a tuition and fee waiver and are allocated through a complex campus competition system. The Department normally nominates a candidate and an alternate; an extremely high GPA (e.g., above 3.85) and outstanding references are required. A Fellow is also expected to perform teaching or research duties for a part, but not all, of his or her stipend.
Work-Study Assistantship
Assistantships under the Graduate College Work-Study Program can be for research or administrative duties but not for teaching. The student must demonstrate financial need to be eligible for this program. The process required is detailed and time consuming; students who think they are eligible for the program must fill out all the forms (available in the University Fellowship Office) required several months before any anticipated support, in other words, by February for Fall support. Given financial eligibility, the criteria and evaluation are the same as for any non-teaching support. It is to the advantage of the student that students potentially eligible for such support apply in time.
Other Forms of Aid
Other forms of aid are brought to the attention of the Department from time to time. These will be posted along with application instructions. When it is required that applicants for such aid be screened by the Department, decisions will usually be made by the Coordinator of the Graduate Program according to his/her interpretation of the criteria which accompany the announcement.
Students are also encouraged to apply for aid and assistantship opportunities elsewhere in the University. Notices of assistantships are often posted on bulletin boards near department offices near a semester's end or beginning.. In addition, a variety of special scholarships, fellowships, and grants are available to students who fit the specific criteria outlined for those awards (a particular ethnic background, a female who has had a substantial interruption in her education, etc.). Students should visit the University's financial aid office or Student Services to see if one of these special grants might apply to their situations.
Buell Hall Skyscape 
