The Department of English employs teaching assistants in its program for a stipend plus full tuition remission per academic year.  Students will be required to teach a twelve credit hour load split between fall and spring semesters.  Students will teach their own classes if they are SACs qualified which requires 18 credit hours of graduate classes.  First-year MA teaching assistants are paid for the equivalent of a 12 credit hour teaching load while tutoring at the Writing Center and participating in mandatory orientations, workshops, class visitations, student teaching, and pedagogy classes.   Assistantships are renewable for three years while in the MA program and for five years while students earn the PhD provided that the student has made satisfactory progress toward a degree, and is performing satisfactorily as a teacher.

The Graduate School also offers a number of non-service fellowships, for which English graduate students are eligible. These may be awarded in conjunction with a teaching assistantship.