Apply: Funding For Pharmacy Graduate Students

The School of Pharmacy guarantees a minimum amount of financial support, equal to or greater than the University of Waterloo minimum funding amounts, to all of our graduate students who:

maintain full time registration,
are within program time limits,
do not have alternate funding sources such as graduate scholarships, internships, or international student sponsorship.
Minimum funding is comprised of various funding sources, including Graduate Research Studentships (GRS), Teaching Assistantships (TA), and Science Graduate Student Awards (SGSA and SGEA). Details about these sources of funding are outlined in the following section.

Funding is automatically applied toward tuition expenses and any remaining funds are paid to the student, to be used toward their living expenses.

Funding sources
Science Graduate Student Award
The Science Graduate Student Award is given to full-time graduate students in research-based programs in the Faculty of Science, who are within time-limits, and without a major scholarship. It’s purpose is to reduce the Graduate Research Studentship (GRS) amounts required from supervisors, to encourage greater capacity for graduate students, and to encourage students and supervisors to work together to ensure timely completion of their programs. The SGSA is paid through Quest, normally in the first month of the term.

The SGSA is only eligible for full time students who are within program time-limits.

Teaching Assistantship
A teaching assistantship (TA) is a paid position whereby students are employees of the university, under the supervision of a course instructor. TAs are an important part of the graduate student experience, enhance the student’s CV, and offset the GRS funding amounts required by supervisors.

The School of Pharmacy guarantees TA positions for our graduate students as part of their overall minimum funding. TA are arranged by the department and paid

For more information about TA, including pay rate, eligibility, and how to apply for positions, see the pharmacy teaching assistantship web page.

Graduate Research Studentship
For students who do not receive competitive scholarships (e.g. NSERC, CIHR, OGS), the majority of their funding is provided by their supervisor, in the form of a Graduate Research Studentship (GRS).

The GRS amount is calculated on a term by term basis, and is determined by the number of TA units held in a given term. GRS funding is arranged by the department and paid through Quest.

For additional information about the GRS and TA, visit the graduate student employment website.

Internships
Students who are interested in partnering with organizations can find out more information about internships at Waterloo Pharmacy by visiting our internship web page.

Graduate scholarships
Students in graduate programs at Waterloo Pharmacy are encouraged to apply for major scholarship funding through agencies such as NSERC, CIHR, OGS, etc.

Students who secure such funding normally receive more funding than the posted guaranteed minimums, and are more successful in securing further scholarships and awards, as such awards greatly enhance their CV. Graduate scholarship funding also helps to offset the GRS amount required by the supervisor.

See the graduate studies awards and funding web page and the School of Pharmacy graduate awards web page for additional information about awards and funding for graduate students.

Scholarship Link: https://uwaterloo.ca/pharmacy/graduate-students-0/funding-pharmacy-graduate-students