Graduate Stipends

2025-26 Stipends

• Applied Immunology Program
• Fundamental Immunology Program

Applied Immunology Program

Students in the Applied Immunology MSc program will receive an annual stipend of $27,900.

Additionally, Ontario students are eligible for tuition grants via OSAP.

Fundamental Immunology Program

The University of Toronto policy is that doctoral graduate students must receive minimum stipends during the normal graduate degree program duration, as outlined in the Graduate Unit's Funding Policy. If such support is not derived completely from external and internal fellowships or awards, then it is expected that the supervisor will provide the balance of support.

The Department of Immunology's policy is that all Fundamental students are to be supported at the level prescribed by the Temerty Faculty of Medicine (see the RHSE Harmonized Base Funding Agreement for details). Payment of the stipend is the responsibility of the supervisor. The stipend is usually derived both from external awards to the student and from grants to the supervisor.

Stipend Totals

Please note: Starting in Fall 2018, all international PhD students will be subject to the domestic tuition rate. Therefore, stipends for international PhD students will be that of domestic PhD students, plus UHIP fees. International MSc students will remain subject to international tuition rates.

The stipend amounts above consist of a living allowance ($29,819.88 for MSc students, $32,910.48 for PhD students) plus funds to cover tuition and fees.

Top-up Policy

All awards that require student applications are eligible for a top-up from their supervisor or graduate unit. The top-up amounts are as follows:
 

* Note:

• Within an academic year (or 12 months period), the total cumulative top-up maximum is $5,000. That is, if a student holds an award of $25,000 and another award of $17,500, their total top-up is $5,000.
• The top-up is only provided in amounts of $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, or $5,000 per year (does not exceed 12 months) and is added above the base funding amount.
• A student who receives award(s) higher than $50,000 is not eligible for any top-up and can only retain the award(s) up to a maximum total of $50,000.
• Payment of top-ups will occur annually for the duration of the award and the student will revert back to the appropriate base graduate student funding package amount thereafter.
• Top-up eligibility excludes University of Toronto Fellowship (e.g., UTF Open), Doctoral Completion Awards, Temerty Faculty of Medicine Entrance Scholarship, GSS funds, travel awards, and bursaries.
• Only a single top-up can be administered for awards that span over two academic years. For example, CIHR, QEII, and OGS that commence in May – April annually. We highly recommend commencing such awards in September where possible. Administering top-ups for such awards with a May start should commence as of September in the new academic year.

Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Funds (OSOTF) Awards

Students who receive funding from needs-based/merit awards, such as OSOTFs, are required to consider such funds as part of their base funding. See above for top-up policy for such awards.

Bursaries

Non-repayable grants, such as the UTAPS and SGS Emergency Grant, which assists students with sudden and/or unexpected financial need, are not part of the base funding outlined above. A student under these circumstances is therefore eligible to retain the entire amount of such an award.

Funding Term

In general, provided that they remain “in good standing”, a doctoral stream student will be funded for the duration of their program. Funding is guaranteed for a minimum of 4 years for PhD students admitted with completed master's degree; 5 years for transfer students (i.e. reclass from MSc to PhD), which includes one year as an MSc student; and 5 years for direct-entry PhD students admitted with a BSc.

As appropriate, once the supervisory committee has agreed that the student has completed all necessary experiments needed for writing their thesis, an MSc student will have a maximum of three months and a PhD student a maximum of six months in which to prepare the thesis and schedule a defense. The student will continue to be paid the total stipend during this period. If the defense is not scheduled within the four or six months, respectively, as described above, the student must apply to the Chair and/or Graduate Coordinator for an extension. 

If the thesis writing phase is very prolonged, the continuation of funding is not guaranteed, but is at the discretion of the supervisor and Department.

• Funding will be pro-rated to the number of months the student is registered in the 12-month academic year. 
• Salary earned as a Teaching Assistant is not part of the Graduate Student stipend in the Faculty of Medicine. 
• It is strongly recommended that supervisors not employ their own students for duties related or unrelated to thesis research as conflict of interest between employee and employer falls outside the mandate of the student-supervisor relationship. 
• Students are expected to compete for all relevant awards from external agencies such as CIHR, OGS, NSERC, SSHRC, charitable foundations, as well as awards internal to the University including QEII-GSST and OSOTF awards. Indicate the awards applied to for the current academic year.