dept of LL&C: programs - financial aid

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Kathy Colman,
LL&C Recruitment

Faculty and Staff

Financial Aid

Rensselaer has a wide range of programs to assist undergraduate students who have the grades, the motivation, and the desire to attend Rensselaer. Full time LL&C graduate students may be eligible for assistantships or fellowships from the Department of Language, Literature, and Communication.

For more information, please consult Rensselaer's Financial Aid Department:

Financial Aid

Teaching and Research Assistantships

The LL&C Department offers a limited number of teaching and research assistantships (T.A./R.A.s) to students pursuing the Ph.D. degree or the M.S./Ph.D. combination. M.S.-only students may be considered for externally-funded research assistantships.

Applicants who wish to be considered for a teaching or research assistantship (if available) should indicate their interest in the space provided on the admission application and be sure that this application, all supporting materials and GRE test scores reach the Office of Graduate Academic and Enrollment Services/Rensselaer Admissions by January 15.

Fellowships	[ return to top ]

Each January, academic departments are invited to nominate their strongest graduate applicants for university-supported financial aid awards made by the Office of Graduate Education. Applicants for the Ph.D. or the M.S./Ph.D. programs may be considered for nomination. A limited number of one-year, full fellowships are awarded each academic year, which include living stipend, full tuition remission and fees paid. Competition is significant for fellowships. To be considered, applicants need only check the appropriate box on the application form and have their completed application materials in to Rensselaer Admissions ideally by January 1, or January 15 at the latest.

Many corporations, foundations, and individuals offer fellowships for graduate study at Rensselaer. The benefits for grants vary; most include cost-of-living stipends and tuition allowances. Please refer to the Financial Aid website for more details.

Loans	[ return to top ]

Graduate student, low-interest loans are available through the following federal loan programs:

Stafford Loan Program
Perkins Loan Program
Supplemental Loans to Students

Most loans require students to file the Financial Aid Form (FAF), available from our Financial Aid Office, to determine their eligibility. Processing the FAF takes 4-6 weeks, so students are encouraged to begin investigating this possible source of funding in advance of the departmental financial aid decisions.

For an information packet, including the FAF, please write or call:

Financial Aid Office
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street
Troy, New York 12180-3590

518 276-6813

Or visit the Financial Aid section of the Admissions website for downloadable forms and information.

Cooperative Education (Co-Op)	[ return to top ]

Participation in the Cooperative Education program is encouraged as part of our departmental degree offerings. The intent of co-op is to provide a full-time, paid, career-related work experience that will enhance students' knowledge and skills in their chosen professional field and give them practical experience; a concrete application for their academic work; and a way to test their interest in certain types of work. Students who accept co-op assignments typically work from one to two terms prior to graduation. As a result, it is not uncommon for co-op participants to extend their graduation date.

Since graduate funding may be forfeited in any semester (not including summer) during which students are away from campus and unable to fulfill Teaching Assistant (T.A.) or Research Assistant (R.A.) duties, funded students should discuss their situation with their advisor and with the department's Graduate Programs Coordinator before accepting a co-op position.

Before accepting a co-op assignment, graduate students must have:

Completed Foundations of HCI Usability -or- a course designated as a graduate writing course
Completed one additional LL&C course (such as Communication Research I)
Matriculated in the Department as a full-time graduate student for at least one semester

Students may continue their education while on assignment by registering for Communication Studies, or they may petition the appropriate departmental Committee to take credits elsewhere. While working on co-op, students will also be registered for Co-op Industrial Assignment and will be considered full-time, regular students.

Please note that international students with an F1 visa must receive permission to work from the Cooperative Education and International Student Services offices to fulfill Immigration and Naturalization Service requirements.

All students considering applying for the Cooperative Education program are encouraged to attend an "Orientation to Co-op" meeting conducted by the Career Development Center (CDC). These meetings are held frequently; a schedule may be obtained at the reception counter in the CDC located in Darrin Hall, Office Suite 209. While interviews and job postings are the responsibility of the Co-op Program, students are encouraged to monitor departmental e-mail for additional co-op announcements.

For more information, please refer to:

www.rpi.edu/dept/cdc/coop.html

Communication Internships	[ return to top ]

The LL&C Department offers placement opportunities through Communication Internship at over 100 locations in the Capital Region, New York City, and other sites around the country. Communication interns work under the direct supervision of a communication professional to develop their professional skills and apply their classroom learning to real-world situations. LL&C maintains a listing of approved internship sites and will also review and approve student-initiated internships.

Interns may be involved in a number of different activities depending on the site, and they work a minimum of 150 hours in an organization for 4 credits.

Internships are available in Fall, Spring and Summer terms, and typically involve:

Multimedia and video production
Graphic Arts
Public relations and promotional writing and graphical design
Website design
Digital Animation
Computer interface design

Discuss these opportunities on an individual basis with Roger Grice, as well as department and campus advisors.

For more information, please refer to:

Communication Internships (.pdf, revised 06.23.2009)

Travel Grants and Travel Policy	[ return to top ]

The School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS), through the Office of the Dean, awards travel grants to graduate students. The purpose of these travel stipends is to allow current graduate students to travel to and participate in conferences, colloquia, group or solo exhibitions, or other external activities that represent achievement in a discipline. The professional activity should include some degree of refereed evaluation, and participation in an event, rather than attendance, is required.

The Department of Language, Literature, and Communication (LL&C) also supports a limited amount of graduate student travel to professional conferences and requires a similar degree of conference participation. However, unlike the travel grants available through HASS that may be applied for and received more than once, travel support from LL&C is limited to one conference during a student's course of study.

Note: HASS and LL&C grants are independent. Students can request the one-time LL&C travel grant either concurrently with an HASS grant, or for two separate conferences.

For more information about travel grants and how to apply, please refer to:

HASS Travel Grants (.pdf, revised 09.27.2005)

LL&C Graduate Student Travel Policy / Request Form (.doc, revised 11.08.2004)

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