BME Funding Policies

Background

Students in the master’s or doctoral research program receive a guaranteed minimum stipend for two or four years, respectively, if they remain in good academic standing. The Institute regulates the minimum stipend, but the maximum amount is decided by the student’s own supervisor(s). All research-program graduate students at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering are funded under the following policies:

Policies

General policies

• Students must submit a student–supervisor funding agreement form (every year) to activate pay instalments. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the agreement form is submitted to the Graduate Office in a timely manner. The student is responsible for all penalties incurred because of late submission or delinquency.
• If an amendment to the student’s annual funding agreement is required (e.g., if the student should win a mid-session award that was not included in the original agreement), then the student must complete a new funding agreement form and it submit to the Graduate Office as soon as practicable.
• Whereas supervisors can choose to pay students more, supervisors cannot pay students less than the guaranteed minimum stipend amount specified by the department.
• Master’s students in the research stream who intend to reclassify (bypass) to the PhD program must complete the transition before entering the fourteenth month of the graduate program. For example, a master’s student who entered the program in the Fall term must complete the bypass exam and qualify for the PhD program before November 1 of the following year. This is a strict deadline, which means that students who spend more than fourteen months in the program must complete the master’s program before applying for doctoral studies — no exceptions. Non-compliance with this timeline may result in the reduction or termination of departmental funding support.

Student stipend, also referred to as research assistantship (RA)

• Master’s students will receive a guaranteed minimum stipend for up to two years. A stipend for the master’s program after year two is not guaranteed but may be available at the supervisor’s sole discretion.
• Doctoral students, regardless of standard, transfer, or direct entry, will receive a guaranteed minimum stipend for up to four years. Master’s students who transferred to the PhD program by successful completion of a bypass/qualification exam after their first year will receive guaranteed funding for three additional years to total four years of support. A stipend for the doctoral program after year four is not guaranteed but may be available at the supervisor’s sole discretion.

Departmental contribution to student stipend

• Although the departmental contribution to the stipend (also known as “U of T Fellowship – BME”) is categorized as a fellowship, the nature of this funding is not competitive. Whereas major award holders will have the departmental contribution replaced by award funds, the departmental contribution is provided indiscriminately to all domestic students without any major award(s). As part of the stipend, doctoral students will receive up to four years of departmental funding. After this period, the supervisor(s) is/are responsible for providing the full stipend amount.
• International students who obtain permanent residency may be eligible for the departmental contribution after providing proof of legal status change to the School of Graduate Studies. Students in this category may receive the departmental contribution if they complete the status change within eligible years (i.e., PhD students in year four or earlier).
• Departmental support for doctoral students in year five (including the “Doctoral Completion Award”) is not guaranteed and will only be provided to students in good academic standing (e.g., who have met the annual committee meeting requirement) based on funding availability, which may vary in value from year to year.

Fellowships and awards

• Both the student and supervisor(s) will make every reasonable effort to obtain external (e.g., award) funding for the student equivalent to the guaranteed minimum stipend or better.
• Funding awarded to investigators from Tri-Agency or industry sources (e.g., NSERC CREATE) that are meant to fund internships and/or trainees are not counted as student awards.
• September should be the start-session of all major student awards.

Teaching assistantship (TA)

• TA income is extra and has no impact on the student stipend.
• Students are not required to teach. However, several optional TA positions are available to research-program students.
• Students seeking TA positions must first discuss this intent with their primary research supervisor before applying. This discussion ensures that the teaching opportunity aligns with the supervisor’s training objective for the students.
• TAs are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE Local 3902) and must comply with all terms and conditions set within the collective agreement between the union and the University of Toronto’s Governing Council.
• Information about vacant TA positions becomes available on the BME website approximately one to two months prior to the beginning of each term.

Glossary

• Basic funding: Also referred to as the “guaranteed minimum stipend,” the base-level funding provided to all eligible students within the funded cohort.
• Major award: An award (or the sum of multiple awards) with monetary value that is equal to or greater than $10,000 CAD. A Tri-Agency award represents the most common type of major award. However, if a student were to receive multiple awards whereby the sum of all awards was equal to (or greater than) $10,000 CAD, then that student would also be considered the holder of a major award.
• Award funding: The minimum funding support for students with major awards valued at/over ten thousand dollars (CAD).
• Funded cohort: The group of students that are receiving a guaranteed minimum stipend (i.e., MASc years 1–2; PhD years 1–4).

Supplemental data

S1. BME funded cohort. Master’s (M) and doctoral (D) level funding per year is indicated. Years without guaranteed funding (NA) are also marked. Note that the guaranteed minimum funding for all students ends after year four. The first year of doctoral-level basic funding [1] is guaranteed only for master’s students receiving basic-level funding who successfully complete the program transfer process, which includes passing the MASc bypass exam, within the accepted time limit (i.e., transfer to PhD before the end of the fourteenth month of study). Non-compliant students may have their departmental funding partly reduced or fully withheld at the Director’s discretion. This change is not available to master’s students categorized under award funding in their first year because those students would have received a stipend that is equal to or greater than doctoral-level basic funding.

S2. Sample payment processing schedule. A general representation of student payment processing schedule. Common fund sources (payer) and fund processing methods are indicated. The lists of payers and processing methods are not exhaustive; rather, the above table is meant only to serve as a quick guide. Students are highly encouraged to personalize the table according to their own financial arrangement.

Contacts and additional resources

• BME student awards: https://bme.utoronto.ca/current-students/student-awards/
• How to check your invoice on ACORN: https://help.acorn.utoronto.ca/blog/ufaqs/check-invoice/
• U of T Employee Self-Service: https://ppm-wd.utoronto.ca/irj/portal