Funding

Financial Aid

The Department considers all qualified current and incoming graduate students for various forms of financial support, including the prestigious Charlotte M. Craig Graduate Fellowship in German ($27,000/year + tuition coverage); the Excellence Fellowship ($26,000/year + tuition coverage); the Max Kade Scholarship in German Studies, the Theodor Fontane Fellowship; and the Juliana Ratych Memorial Fellowship. Students may also be considered for a number of other University fellowships that carry a range of stipends. Fellowship packages, of up to five years, typically include one or more years of a Teaching Assistantship (approximately $26,000/year). This includes tuition coverage, health benefits identical to that of faculty, and a stipend.

Students may also have the opportunity to serve as a PTL (part-time lecturer), renewable every semester, as an instructor in the department's undergraduate summer programs at Rutgers, or as a director of the German Housing in Frelinghuysen Hall throughout the academic year.

In addition, the Department actively supports student applications for outside fellowships such as those from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) and the Fulbright Commission, and offers financial aid to graduate students presenting papers at national conferences.

Outside Fellowships

Erna Neuse Prize for Best Graduate Essay in German Studies

Founded in honor of Erna Kritsch Neuse, Professor II in the Department of German at Rutgers, this prize recognizes excellence in graduate studies in the German program at Rutgers. Professor Neuse was for many years Graduate Director in the Department. She retired in 1996. All essays written within the context of any graduate seminar in the German program at Rutgers are eligible for nomination. Essays will be judged for originality, soundness of research, and quality of writing. Each professor may nominate the best one or two essays per seminar. The Prize carries an award of $100, as well as a certificate.