Funding Opportunities
All students coming to graduate school have obvious questions about how they will pay for school, housing, and so on. Graduate students have access to several types of funding.
In addition to the links provided here, visit the Graduate School Funding page for additional sources of potential funding.
Graduate Assistantships
A limited number of Graduate Assistantships are available for Instructional Design and Technology graduate students. Students who are interested in an assistantship should notify their advisor of their interest as soon as possible. A separate application is not required.
We view an Assistantship as an opportunity for students to gain valuable professional experience. Generally, students will not be employed as Graduate Assistants for more than three years of their doctoral program. A variety of employment opportunities exist. Students may be employed as lab assistants, instructional designers or developers, or in other support positions. Typically, students should not stay in one position for more than two years. Due to the limited number of Graduate Assistantships available, interested students will be employed in the following order of priority:
- Advanced doctoral students
- Beginning doctoral students
- Advanced Masters students
- Beginning Masters students
Generally, an assistantship provides a stipend and covers tuition. It does not pay for university fees (for a full-time student, fees are about $450 per semester) or books. For detailed assistantship information, including the stipend amounts, visit the Graduate Assistantship page. Most new doctoral students enter at Step 7.
If you get an assistantship (from any department), you will receive a formal letter outlining the terms of work. Graduate School regulations limit students on an assistantship to working 20 hours per week. In addition, they require that students on an assistantship be enrolled for 12 hours each semester.
It is important to note that not all students who are accepted receive an assistantship in Instructional Technology. Typically, all Graduate Assistantships are filled by Doctoral students.
Should you get accepted without an assistantship, you can still come to Virginia Tech.
Students needing financial assistance who do not receive employment through Instructional Technology are are encouraged to pursue other funding opportunities. Graduate students in the IT program may take an assistantship outside the Department or College or get a wage job on-campus. In most cases, international students can not take a job off-campus due to visa regulations. International students should see the Grad Schools' IGSS page for visa information. Other types of financial aid such as loans and fellowships are available through the Univeristy Graduate School.
Scholarships
Since the instructional technology program is housed within the School of Education, which is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, students should check the following links to determine if there are any scholarships for which they are eligible:
- Scholarship information for the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences
- Scholarship information for the School of Education
Conference Travel
CITSE Travel Grants
Instructional technology graduate students may apply for conference travel funding from our own CITSE program. The amount of funding varies each year and is subject to the availability of funds in any given year. The availability of these funds should not be assumed. For more information, please see the CITSIE Travel Grant Information page.
GSA Travel Fund Program
The Travel Fund provides Virginia Tech graduate students with funding for travel, accommodation, and meal expenses so that they may present their research at professional conferences, symposiums, and other similar events. Any graduate student who has a research paper or poster accepted for presentation or such an event is eligible to apply for the funding.
The maximum award a student can receive is $300. Funding for TFP is distributed during two cycles per year: Cycle I (July 1 to December 31) and Cycle II (January 1 to June 30).
Travel fund details can be found at http://gsa.uusa.vt.edu/travelfund/travelfund-index.htm.
A.E.C.T. Conference Scholarships
Each year, A.E.C.T. sponsors selected I.T. graduate students who have been gone through an application process. Full conference fees are paid, as is lodging. Travel is partially funded. Students also receive a monetary scholarship. Students who sign-up to volunteer at the annual conference may also have their conference fees paid. See the AECT site for details on each.