Financial Resources
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 $9,300/9 months and for PhDs $11,600/9 months. The TAship brings with it medical benefits and tuition remission. The tuition remission is guaranteed for all 3 years of the MFA TAship and for the first 3 years of the PhD TAship. While tuition remission is not guaranteed by the final 2 years of the PhD TAship, the Department of English has a strong commitment to securing tuition remission for those years, and it has been successful in meeting that commitment.
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 3 fellowships of $10,000—one in fiction, one in poetry, one in nonfiction, 2 fellowships of $5,000—one in poetry and one in fiction, and 3 fellowships of $2,500—one in poetry, one in fiction, and one in nonfiction. The Creative Writing Program and the Dept. of English can nominate in-coming students for UH Presidential fellowships. In nominating students for a UH Presidential Fellowship, the faculty of the Creative Writing Program consider the quality of the student’s past academic performance; the student’s potential for exceptional creative and/or scholarly work in graduate school; and the student’s potential to contribute to the writing community at the University of Houston. And there are also a limited number of Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center fellowships for students who are particularly in collaboration among the arts.
Loans
Students interested in information about student loans should consult the Student Financial Service Office at the University of Houston . The phone number is 713-743-1096, or click on the link to the office.
www.uh.edu/admissions/financial/graduate
HR job listings
The University of Houston’s Office of Human Resources lists available on-campus jobs. Students interested in employment should consult the HR site..