Financial Aid

The Dispute Resolution Department has no role in financial aid applications or decisions.

Please contact the Office of Financial Aid Services for information on financial aid available to graduate students at UMass Boston. In general, graduate students obtain self-help programs such as loans and grants or pursue research or teaching assistantships.

Graduate Assistantships

The University offers a limited number of graduate assistantships to qualified students. Assistantships are available to Masters candidates only.  Each department receives an annual allocation of assistantships, which varies from year to year.

Assistantships allocated to the Graduate Programs in Dispute Resolution are generally Research Assistantships. As a Research Assistant, the student works for a faculty member performing work primarily related to academic research.  This usually includes the gathering and analysis of data and bibliographic searches of various kinds. On occasion, we are allocated positions for Administrative Assistantships.

Depending on the allocation received by the department, Research Assistants work for 5 - 20 hours per week throughout the academic year. 

All assistantships carry stipends and full tuition waivers.  Most also carry partial waivers of Education Operations fees.  [Note that at UMass Boston Education Operations fees make up approximately two thirds of the cost of attending.] 

In recent years, the Graduate Programs in Dispute Resolution has been allocated partial (quarter)assistantships, which carry full tuition waivers and a waiver of 25% of the Education Operations fee.

For AY 2005-2006, the quarter assistantships carry a stipend of $3250, paid at the rate of $171.05 biweekly, and require Research Assistants to work 5 hours per week.

Applying for Assistantships

You can indicate your interest in being considered for an assistantship at the time you submit your initial application, or after you receive notice of acceptance into the program.  Application for an assistantship will have no bearing on the admissions decision.  If you are interested in being considered for an assistantship, it is advisable to complete your admissions application as early as possible, and no later than April 15th.

Notice of assistantship awards is generally given during between April and June. This will vary,depending on when the department is notified of our annual allocation by the Office of Graduate Studies.