Departmental Funding

Assistance is normally available in two categories as follows:

• Teaching Assistantships
  The school has teaching assignments in several areas. Most of the assignments have some involvement with the food service or hotel laboratories. There are limited offerings in other areas dependent on University funding in a specific year. Teaching assignments are awarded considering the utilitarian need of the school. For example, if the school is in need of a food service laboratory teaching assistant, the offer of the position will be given to the admitted applicant with the most food service operations experience determined in their application resume. Because of this nature, priority is often given to PhD students who often hold more work experience than their MS applicant peer cohort. There is an English proficiency requirement for graduate students whose first language is not English.
• Research Assistantships
  Research assistantships are assigned to individual professors based on funded research projects. These limited offerings are awarded to students qualified to assist with a particular project. The projects cover the full spectrum of hospitality interests. The individual professors choose their research assistants, and most assistants are chosen from second-year students.

Contracts for graduate staff positions will contain further details regarding the assistantship. If you wish to learn about general employment information you can visit the following websites: 

Grad Staff Appointment HR Information | Grad Staff Employment Manual

The majority of fellowships are offerings that come from the Graduate School. Most of these awards fall into two categories:

• Recruitment
  These are fellowships only available to those applying for admissions into graduate programs. Through the application requirements for admissions, we can collect most of the required documentation needed to nominate these students for funding. Some do require an additional document that is not a part of our admissions review — a diversity essay. We recommend if you are interested in receiving a fellowship that you provide a diversity essay to increase your pool of consideration.
• Final Year
  Very competitive and often reserved for doctoral students ready for graduation, these fellowships are awarded by the chairs of research committees. Announcements to faculty are sent typically in March and April to request nominees for these fellowships. If you completed your prelim and anticipate a need for funds, talk to your research advisor and let your interest in receiving it be known. 

The school does have limited scholarship funds. Funding comes from a variety of alumni and business sponsors. These sponsors often attach specific requirements, such as interest in specific research areas. All students are informed of these opportunities and can apply, if eligible. 

• Rosefeld Scholarship
  This endowment was established in April 1987 by Howard B. Rosefeld. Income shall be used to support a graduate scholarship for students in the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Recipients must be of good character, show strong potential, have a grade point average of at least 3.0 for hospitality and tourism courses, and have been admitted for graduate studies in hospitality and tourism management. Only HTM students are eligible. Rosefeld applications are announced to current students via email.
• Almanza PhD Student Research Grant 
  This grant commemorates Barbara’s 33 years of excellence in research, teaching and service for the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, along with 16 years as the graduate program director for the school. All HTM PhD candidates (i.e., passed the prelim examination) will be eligible to apply for the grant. Applications are announced to current students via email. 

Scholarships can be found at the college and Graduate School levels. We encourage students to explore scholarship options campus-wide.