Student Benefit Distribution

Part-Time MFA students: guidelines for distribution of program benefits

Workshops and consultations with eminent writers in residence: during the first two years in the program, part-time students will have equal access to EWR workshops and consultations (ie, they will have the same opportunities to work with EWRs as full-time students). After the first two years in the program, part-time students will have opportunities to work with EWRs as space is available, but students in their first and second years of the program will have priority.

MFA student support funding: part-time students have equal access to support funding in their first two years in the program. Further applications in subsequent years will be given consideration if funding levels allow.

Student residencies: Part-time students will have the same number of opportunities for residencies as full-time students (i.e., if a full-time student has the opportunity for one residency during their time in the program, a part-time student will also have the opportunity for one residency).

Summer stipends: part-time students will receive summer stipends once, between their first and second years in the program.

Other program benefits: in general, the MFA program will distribute program benefits equally to part-time students in their first two years of the program, with the understanding that access to benefits may be reduced or eliminated after the first two years, dependent upon availability of resources after priority has been given to students in their first two years of the program.

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Full-time MFA students: guidelines for distribution of program benefits

In general, full-time MFA students will have equal access to all program benefits (support funding, summer stipends, student residencies, access to EWRs, etc) during the first two years of the program. In the case of summer stipends, a full-time student will receive a stipend once, between the first and second year of the program.  If a full-time MFA student extends beyond two years, access to student support funding and other benefits may be reduced or eliminated dependent upon availability of resources after priority has been given to students in their first two years of the program.

Please Note: Occasionally events such as dinners or trips arise to which the program can invite just a few students.  In general, the MFA director will lottery off such opportunities.  If a trip involves visiting with program donors or similar individuals with specific interests, the MFA director may select students who have expertise in those areas.

Periodically the program has the opportunity to nominate students for prizes and awards (such as the AWP’s Intro Journals award for MFA student writers).  The program faculty consciously tries to spread such opportunities equally across the members of the program whenever possible.  We nominate as many students as we can, and we decide who to nominate based upon who has not yet been nominated, and who has work that is polished, ready, and appropriate to the particular prize in question.  We want to create opportunities for our students’ work to be recognized, but we don’t wish to put students into unnecessary competition with one another.

Other opportunities—such as creative-writing team-teaching—will be announced to the program’s students whenever available, along with selection process details.