printing instructionsFinancial Aid at the Institute of Fine Arts
The Institute of Fine Arts recognizes that graduate study in New York entails a significant financial commitment. Funding of an IFA education is a partnership among the IFA, the students, and their families. The goal of the IFA’s financial aid policy is to assist the maximum number of eligible students each year so that they may pursue their degrees expeditiously. It is assumed that students and their families will contribute as much as possible to the cost of their education, including the assumption of manageable loans if necessary.
Financial aid at the IFA is administered by the IFA’s own Fellowship Committee, a committee staffed by members of the faculty and administration. The IFA is restricted in the amount of aid it can offer by the availability of earmarked funds. A substantial endowment for this purpose is supplemented by annual gifts and grants raised from a large number of generous donors. The Fellowship Committee considers applications for financial aid on an individual basis, responding as effectively as possible to individual circumstances.
In recent years, over 125 students have received awards each year, with total annual grants now exceeding $3,500,000. Approximately one third of incoming M.A. students each year receives financial aid. This proportion grows to well over half of M.A. students the second year. Over 80% of Ph.D. students receive IFA fellowships.
Eligibility
Eligibility for financial aid is assessed by the IFA Fellowship Committee. The Committee takes into account three criteria:
1. Academic merit
2. Academic progress toward the degree
3. Financial need
All three criteria must be met annually for financial aid to be awarded. They are evaluated on the basis of the applicant’s Financial Aid Application Form, academic record, and faculty recommendations.
Financial Aid Fellowships
Financial aid fellowships may include any of the following components:
1. Tuition
2. NYU matriculation fees
3. NYU student fees and NYU health insurance
4. Cash stipends
5. Research and travel funds
The Fellowship Committee’s first priority is to provide tuition, matriculation, and fees to all eligible students. These components typically represent the major part of a successful applicant’s financial aid award.
The Fellowship Committee makes awards of stipends and/or research and travel funds to applicants whose merit and need are especially high, and who continue to make steady progress. The maximum stipend per semester is currently $9,000; most stipends are lower.
The levels of individual awards may vary depending on all three factors of eligibility and depending on the applicant’s stage in his or her academic career. Stipendiary awards are determined after all necessary tuition, matriculation, and fee awards have been made; the total level of stipendiary funds available in any year may vary somewhat depending on the number of eligible students and their tuition needs.
Duration of Financial Aid Fellowships
Eligible students in the Art History and Archaeology program may receive financial aid for a maximum of two years for the M.A. and a maximum of an additional five years for the Ph.D.
Eligible students in the Conservation program may receive financial aid for a maximum of four years.
Outside fellowship awards do not increase the maximum number of years of eligibility for IFA financial aid, for these maxima represent the IFA’s standards for steady progress to the degree.
Non-IFA Fellowships
Fellowships granted by outside foundations, museums, research institutes, and universities redound greatly to a student’s scholarly and professional benefit and credit, and the IFA supports applications for them with workshops and faculty advice. IFA students win more than thirty such awards annually.
Ph.D. students are expected to apply for outside fellowships no later than one year after the commencement of their dissertation research. If such outside funding applications are unsuccessful, the student is considered for IFA financial aid by the usual criteria of eligibility.
Recipients of a “full” IFA fellowship comprising tuition, fees, and stipend may not hold fellowships of equivalent value from other sources within or outside New York University during the same period. The NYU MAP preceptorship, a distinguished graduate teaching fellowship in the humanities, is one such competitive award that may not be held concurrently with a “full” IFA fellowship, although awards of IFA research funds may be maintained.