Fully Funded Master’s Programs in Linguistics

Oct 17, 2023
A language instructor works with a group of multicultural students after earning her degree from one of the Fully Funded Master's Programs in Linguistics
The University of Alberta, in Canada, offers a fully funded master’s program in Linguistics. Students can be awarded an M.S. to pursue a variety of career opportunities, including infant language acquisition, phonetics, and bilingualism.

As a part of our series on How to Fully Fund Your Master’s Degree, here is a list of universities with fully funded Master’s Programs in Linguistics. A Master’s degree in Linguistics can lead to a wide variety of career opportunities, from foreign language teachers, audiologists, speech pathologists, working as publishers/editors, working in translation services for government agencies, and even a university professor.

“Full funding” is a financial aid package for full-time students that includes tuition remission and an annual stipend or salary for the duration of the program. Fully funded Master’s programs in Linguistics can be challenging to find as most universities focus their funding on PhD students. This disparity means Master’s candidates can have difficulty securing scholarships and funding. However, many universities do offer fully funded Master’s programs on the basis that the student will teach or perform research in their field of study.

Not all universities provide full funding to their Master’s students, so it’s essential to research the financial aid offerings of all the potential Master’s programs in your academic field, including small and lesser-known schools in the U.S. and abroad.

You can also find several external fellowships in the ProFellow database for graduate and doctoral study, as well as dissertation research, fieldwork, language study, and summer work experience.

Would you like to receive the full list of more than 1000+ fully funded programs in 60 disciplines? Download the FREE Directory of Fully Funded Graduate Programs and Full Funding Awards!

Purdue University Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

Based in West Lafayette, Indiana, Purdue University offers a fully funded Master’s in Linguistics. A wide range of courses are offered that lead to MA, PhD, or dual MA/PhD degrees. The curricula encourage students to tailor their linguistics studies to their interdisciplinary interests, with a particular focus on the analysis of bilingualism. The admissions committee will only make offers to as many new students as they can provide with funding. Students are admitted with 2-5 years of guaranteed funding, depending on the program. This package will be a combination of fellowships, TA (teaching assistant), RA (research assistant), and GA (graduate assistant) positions.

University of Kentucky Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

The University of Kentucky, in Lexington, KY, offers a fully funded Master’s in Linguistics. The program provides training in theoretical frameworks for approaching descriptive and sociolinguistic data with related emphases on historical, corpus, and computational linguistics. Funding opportunities and graduate teaching assistantships are available to qualified students. The Linguistics Program employs teaching assistants in its program for a stipend plus full tuition remission per academic year. Assistantships are renewable for two years while in the MA program, provided that the student has made satisfactory progress toward a degree and is performing satisfactorily as a teacher.

McGill University Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

McGill University, in Montreal Canada, offers a fully funded Master’s in Linguistics. The MA in Linguistics is a thesis-based program that provides training in the fundamentals of theoretical and experimental linguistics. All full-time students will are funded, with MA students receiving $18,000 for their first year and $12,000, for 8 months, in their second year. Funding comes from a variety of sources such as internal and external fellowships and research funds. The funding package is contingent on maintaining a CGPA of 3.5 or higher in graduate level Linguistics courses and covers tuition and fees for the duration of the 20-month program.

University of Calgary Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

The University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, offers a fully funded Master’s in Linguistics. The Linguistics graduate program trains researchers in the core areas of theoretical linguistics—such as syntax, semantics, phonology, phonetics, and morphology—as well as in language acquisition, historical linguistics, and psycholinguistics. Students take six courses and are expected to complete an MA thesis based on their original research within two years. The Minimum Stipend for full-time students in the MA program is $20,000 annually for the first two years of enrolment.

University of Toronto Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

The University of Toronto, based in Canada, offers a fully funded Master’s in Linguistics. The one-year program offers courses in core theoretical linguistics and areas that intersect with related disciplines such as formal linguistics, sociolinguistics, and cognitive science. The Department of Linguistics provides base funding packages of at least CAN$ 19,000 plus tuition and fees to all students in the funded cohort. Funding comes from various sources, including Teaching assistantships, Research assistantships, University of Toronto Fellowships (UTF), and External scholarships.

Ohio University Fully Funded Master’s in Applied Linguistics

Ohio University, in Athens, OH, offers a fully funded Master’s in Applied Linguistics. The program offers a strong theoretical foundation and research experience in applied linguistics with practical experience in language instruction to prepare students for doctoral studies and professional careers in this field. The Linguistics Department has financial support awards available to MA in Applied Linguistics students through Tuition Scholarships and Teaching Assistantships. Such support is awarded on a competitive basis. International students who demonstrate sufficient English proficiency are also eligible for assistantships.

Concordia University Fully Funded Master’s in Applied Linguistics

Concordia University, based in Montreal, Canada, offers a fully funded Master’s in Applied Linguistics. This program examines how languages are learned and used and their societal roles. Courses are divided into three clusters that give students a broad knowledge base in language, theories of learning, and second-language pedagogy. Funding packages are generally available for students in thesis-based programs through awards, teaching, and research assistantships. Most students receive awards when they are admitted to allow them to focus on their research and studies. Students are automatically considered for all entrance graduate awards when they apply.

Iowa State University Fully Funded Master’s in TESL/Applied Linguistics

Iowa State University, based in Ames, IA, offers a fully funded Master’s in Teaching English as a Second Language/Applied Linguistics. The MA in TESL/Applied Linguistics is a two-year advanced degree covering teaching methods and research in English language teaching. The program consists of 30 credits. Students admitted to graduate study can declare up to two elective disciplinary specializations. Most graduate students are funded. An assistantship for MA students includes a GA stipend of $9,817.50 for a part-time nine-month appointment (total of $19,635) with eligibility for up to two years, in-state tuition, tuition reduction, and health insurance benefits.

Carleton University Fully Funded Master’s in Applied Linguistics & Discourse Studies

Carleton University, in Ontario, Canada, offers a fully funded Master’s in Applied Linguistics & Discourse Studies. The interdisciplinary combination of Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies is Carleton’s unique approach to studying language, bringing together several research areas that have previously had separate academic traditions. Students entering the program with high academic standing can receive financial aid through entrance scholarships and teaching assistantships. These funds are awarded by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs based primarily on prior academic performance. MA students receive TA-ships for two years.

Simon Fraser University Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

Master’s in Linguistics. The MA Program has three streams – thesis-based, project-based, and course-based. All three streams require the completion of 35 units, which is expected to take two years. The Department of Linguistics aims to welcome and financially support graduate students in its master’s and doctoral programs. They offer several funding sources to graduate students through teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships. A significant source of funding comes from teaching assistantships. It expects students to receive a minimum of 5.5 base units per academic year. (Base units is a term used for salary and stipend information where 1 BU is equivalent to a max of 42 hours of work).

University of Alberta Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

The University of Alberta, in Alberta, Canada, offers a fully funded Master’s in Linguistics. The Department of Linguistics is unique as the Faculty of Arts provides a Master of Science degree. Areas of research include infant language acquisition, phonetics, and bilingualism. Students entering the MSc can choose from one of two options: the course-based or the thesis-based MSc. Accepted students are offered funding support through a Graduate Teaching Assistantship or a Graduate Research Assistantship stipend for eight months from September to April. MSc students are offered this funding for two years. In addition, some tuition remission is provided to international students when funds are available.

University of British Columbia Fully Funded Master’s in Linguistics

The University of British Columbia, based in Vancouver, Canada, offers a fully funded Master’s in Linguistics. The MA in Linguistics program is interdisciplinary, combining research methods from the humanities and the social, natural, and mathematical sciences. The department covers a broad range of research topics, with substantial coverage of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Students in the Linguistics MA program typically receive a funding package of CAN$ 25,500 for the program’s first two years. The funding package may include internal or external awards, teaching-related work, research assistantships, graduate academic assistantships, or other campus work.

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