Student Funding at IHPME

1.0 Preamble

The Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation’s (IHPME) funding policy is grounded in the University of Toronto Policy on Student Financial Support and the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) guidance on how funding works for research stream programs. Please explore the SGS website as it provides information about funding policies across the University of Toronto.

This policy, described in more detail below, is in effect for all full-time thesis-based MSc first year students and PhD students registered in the Four-Year full-time PhD program, in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) from the 2025-26 academic year.

This funding policy describes a minimum level of financial support (Student Funding Package) intended to cover tuition, health insurance, incidental fees, system access and ancillary fees plus living expenses.

This policy is reviewed, and may be revised, on an annual basis.

2.0 Am I covered under this policy?

Students are eligible to be included in this policy if they are:

• Registered Full-time in a thesis-based MSc first year students and PhD students registered in the Four-Year full-time PhD program as defined in the SGS Policy at IHPME; and meet the funding criteria.
• Maintaining good academic standing as described in the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation’s Statement on Good Academic Standing and Satisfactory Progress, completing the degree requirements and achieving the milestones as defined by the program.
• Applying every year for competitive awards, Research Assistant positions and Teaching Assistant positions for which they are eligible.
• Completing the annual Declaration of Employment and Awards form.
• Not employed full-time (working 30 hours or more/week). Working more than 30 hours/week on outside employment is considered a conflict of commitment. Students with a conflict of commitment will not be eligible for the funding package. We strongly advise students not to work more than 10 hours per week or it could significantly impact one’s ability to complete the program and achieve program milestones on time.
  We highly recommend that students who plan to work for more than 10 hours per week apply for the flex-time or part-time program, which allows for an extended timeline (part-time or flex-time students will not be eligible for the student funding package). Clinician Scientists typically receive funding through clinical fellowships i.e. SSTP, CSTP etc., and are not typically included in the IHPME student funding package.

3.0 Components of the Student Funding Package:

The Student Funding Package is comprised of different sources including but not limited to:

• Supervisor contribution,
• Research Assistantships (RAships),
• University of Toronto Teaching Assistantships (TAships),
• Awards/scholarships totaling more than $3,000* and
• The University of Toronto Fellowship (UTF).

As such, each student funding package will be unique and the amounts from each source will vary.

*internal awards under $3,000 are for the student to keep, and are not applied to the funding package.

Note that student loans, such as OSAP are not part of the student funding package.  IHPME and DLSPH needs-based awards go over and above the student funding package (conditional on completion of required paperwork and demonstrated financial need).

Student Funding Package

The minimum funding package for each student per year, includes tuition costs plus fees and annual living expenses during the funded portion of the program.

The stipend component of the funding package is at a minimum tuition + fees, and cannot come from paid work income. The remaining  component of the funding package can come from a combination of the above, including paid income (i.e. paid work as RA/TA).

Example – The PhD student funding package might look like the following.
$10,000 stipend from supervisor’s grant + $15,000 RAship + $15,000 OGS.

Domestic students funding:

• Year 1 of the thesis-based Master’s at $26,000 per year (domestic tuition & incidental/ancillary fees + $16,998).
• Years 1-4 of the PhD at $40,000 per year (i.e. domestic tuition & incidental/ancillary fees + $31,000).
• Full-time MSc to PhD transfer program students, funding will be guaranteed for one year of Master’s study at the masters funding level and three years of PhD study at the PhD funding level (assuming the transfer to PhD is successful).

International students funding:

• Year 1 of the thesis-based Master’s at $50,245 per year (international tuition & incidental/ancillary fees/UHIP + $16,998).
  Supervisors must provide international students the difference between domestic and international tuition of ($24,246 as of 2024-25).
• Years 1-4 of the PhD $40,000 per year (international tuition & incidental/ancillary fees/UHIP + $30,892).
• Full-time MSc to PhD transfer program students, funding will be guaranteed for one year of Master’s study at the masters funding level and three years of PhD study at the PhD funding level (assuming the transfer to PhD is successful).

3.1 Sources of Funding

3.1.1 Awards and Scholarships:

Students are required to apply annually for competitive awards (e.g. CIHR, SSHRC, OGS, NSERC), as this is an important skill/experience for emerging researchers. Both the student and their supervisor will make every reasonable effort to obtain funding from competitive award sources and report those efforts on the annual Declaration of Employment and Awards form.

Student awards and funding opportunities are posted on the:

• SGS website: https://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/awards-funding/scholarships-awards/
• IHPME website: https://ihpme.utoronto.ca/finance-your-degree/awards/ 

Notifications of upcoming awards are sent periodically to the students’ UofT emails.

3.1.2 U of T RAships and TAships

• UofT RAships/TAships are considered essential components of graduate students’ training and development.
• Employment income through U of T RAships/TAships both internal and external (if from a source associated with an IHPME faculty member, e.g. TAHSN hospital) to the University can be included as part of your student funding package.
• Paid RAship work MUST NOT be part of the student’s thesis research.
• When hiring RAs, the policies of the university, hospital, or other organization through which the student is to be employed apply (e.g. with respect to unionized positions, tendering, etc.).

TAships fall under the CUPE3902, Unit 1 Bargaining Unit. Conditions of work and remuneration rates are governed by a collective agreement between U of T and CUPE3902, Unit 1. Under the terms of the current contract, up to $7,500 from a TAship can be applied towards the student funding package.

3.1.3 University of Toronto Fellowship (UTF):

The University of Toronto Fellowship (UTF) is supplemental funding from the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation. It is used to complement (i.e. top-up) the student funding packages of doctoral students who do not reach the minimum guaranteed funding through a combination of fellowships, scholarships, awards, research stipends (including from supervisors), research assistantship work, and UofT teaching assistantships.

3.2 Roles and responsibilities

Students: Students are expected to seek and secure funds to financially support themselves during their academic studies. Students must maintain good academic standing and achieve program milestones as described in their program’s handbook.

Supervisors: Supervisors are expected to contribute to the financial well-being of our community of doctoral and master students, whenever possible, by providing stipends or research assistantships for work on grant-funded research and by covering student participation in conferences and manuscript publication costs not covered by the University of Toronto article processing charge agreements. See: https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/copyright/oa-agreements-apc-discounts.

The Graduate Department will assess each student’s individual funding situation and provide students with a Funding Letter outlining their annual Student Funding Package for the upcoming academic year, at the beginning of the academic year.

Students whose funding sources change during the year are required to notify the Graduate Department immediately at: ihpme.grad.admin@utoronto.ca and provide scholarship/award/employment documentation.

Student Funding Package Criteria