Departmental Scholarships and Assistantships

Assistantships and Western Graduate Student Scholarships

To be eligible for funding, students must have a minimum admission average of 78% or B+, as determined by the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS), based upon grades from the last two years (20 half courses) of study.

Canadian students admitted to the PhD-stream MA program receive funding packages consisting of scholarships for tuition and fees and include a Graduate Teaching Assistant position (GTA) to help offset living expenses.

There are funding packages available to international PhD-stream MA students not sponsored by their government or in receipt of scholarships from other sources in their home country. These funding packages consist of scholarships for tuition and fees, as well as a Graduate Teaching Assistant position (GTA) to help offset living expenses.

All eligible Canadian Ph.D. students are guaranteed a support package of domestic tuition and fees plus a Graduate Teaching Assistant position (GTA), which for the 2025-2026 academic year amounts to $31,380, during the first 4 years of study. Eligible International Ph.D. students are provided a support package of domestic tuition and international fees plus a Graduate Teaching Assistant position (GTA), which for the 2025-2026 academic year amounts to $31,796, during the first 4 years of study.

Support for PhD students after the initial four years may come in the form of a graduate fellowship, summer teaching positions, and summer research positions.

Outside Scholarships

Candidates are also urged to apply for all outside scholarships for which they are eligible. It is very much in a student's interest to win an outside scholarship in addition to qualifying for assistance from the Department.

In the recent past, students in the Department of Economics have held many of the following scholarships, and candidates for admission are also urged to apply for any awards for which they are eligible. This is just a partial list of awards that are available to students. To obtain a full listing, see The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS) funding webpage. Since scholarship deadlines are generally early in the fall prior to the awards, candidates should apply during the fall of the last year in their currrent program.

Tri-Agency Scholarships CGRS D: SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR

Eligible: Canadian citizens, Canadian permanent residents and international students.

Value: CGRS D is valued at $40,000 a year for up to three years.

Deadline: September 22.

Address: School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Western University, or the candidate's university, or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, P.O. Box 1610, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 6G4

Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS)

Eligible: Canadian citizens or permanent residents. (International students must have been granted a Student Authorization to Canada and be in Canada at the time of application to OGS).

Value: $5,000 per term for up to 3 terms.