Bassboy writes in...
I'm a first year MFA student in South Carolina, and I have a question which is directed more to your audience than to you personally, but you may be able to offer some insight. In talking with the dean of the department yesterday, we got to talking about funding for grad students in the form of assistanceships-- they were asking the students opinions on certain matters. But I was wondering what kinds of assistanceships other MFA students out there are receiving, and whether or not any teaching is required. At my program here, we currently recieve 12,000 on top of the tuition, and would then teach three basic english sections over the course of the school year. What do other schools out there actually offer and give their students, as opposed to best case scenarios?
Thanks, and keep up the great work.
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Thank you, Bassboy, and hopefully we'll get some people writing in. When I was at UMass from 1998-2000, I think I made about 13K for two classes of composition, and a little more for the creative writing classes. Plus of course the tuition waiver.
I'd also be interested to hear if anyone's full tuition is not waived when they teach two classes. I know they don't fully waive it at Emerson. Anyplace else?
5 comments:
I'm an MFA at FSU, and we make about 10,000 a year for teaching two classes per semester, plus a full tuition waiver. It's a cheap part of the country to live in, but the money is not good.
To make ends meet, I'm teaching an extra class (an additional 5K), and teaching over the summer as well. A lot of grad students take on extra part time work, and as long as you don't overload yourself it's a good idea. You don't want to go into a lot of debt over your creative writing degree.
True, but on top of all this work I've been able to complete 70 pages of a novel, 3 short stories, a plan of attack for my second novel, and at least two publishable literary essays. I created my own creative writing course, which I will teach next semester, and I've been invited to be on a panel for this year's AWP conference. That was all accomplished in my first year. Even as the dread MFA machine ties me to the railroad tracks, I've been a lot more productive here than I ever was when I had my corporate job.
While dave is being... malicious (mildly) about the MFA, he raises an interesting point, which I'm inclined to agree with him about--this whole idea about MFA as money machine. I think about all the programs out there, and that most of them offer no aid, and wonder how people even attend them, or if they drive themselves into debt to do it. While a writing program certianly has its benefits, this money aspect makes me a bit weary. Also, there seems to be a dominant "literary fiction" mode, at least in the the short story. I can't help wondering if attending an MFA will injure a writer in some way, because of this model that we are going to be judged against; not that I want to write Beckett-esque prose or anything, but there is certianly a formula in literary short fiction. BUT, on the other hand, it is a community of dedicated writers, which is always nice (most of the time) to be around. And so what if you're teaching part time and taking classes -- working 40hr weeks leaves less time to write than when in an MFA, I would suspect.
I have a final question of my own--novel writing in an MFA program. How does it work? Is it just short fiction in the workshop or do some programs (all?) try to embrace the novel form at some level, too?
We get $9,000 for the academic year at the University of Montana. We also have to pay about $1500 worth of fees out of pocket.
I think there are much better offers out there than this.
The teaching assistant supporting statement is one of the best and important as well for students to get better position.
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