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Doctoral Completion Award (DCA)

The aim of the Doctoral Completion Award (DCA) is to provide financial assistance support to full-time PhD students who are beyond the funded cohort and within the time-limit for their degree.  The award may be competitive.

Students who have experienced a delay in their program due to unfortunate personal circumstances should refer to the OISE Bursary Program. (https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/oise/Tuition_and_Financial_Support/OISE_Bursary_Program.html)

Value

The DCA value is determined by the graduate unit and it may not be the same for every award holder. Students must be registered to receive award payments and will not receive any payments once degree requirements are completed. A student who withdraws mid-session is expected to return any award funds received in that session.  The award is applied to tuition/outstanding fees first.

Eligibility requirements (minimum)

For each session the award is held, recipients of the DCA must be:

• registered as a full-time PhD student (EdD and Flexible-time PhD students are ineligible);

• beyond the funded cohort: You are entering Year 5 or 6 during the 2022-2023 academic year

• within time limit for the degree.  The normal time limit is 6 years.  Students who are on approved program extensions are ineligible.  Please see https://sgs.calendar.utoronto.ca/general-regulations#5 for details.

• in good academic standing (i.e. achieved candidacy) and making satisfactory progress toward the completion of their degree requirements; Students who have an approved extension to achieve candidacy are NOT eligible for DCA awards.  Students must comply with the general regulations for SGS and the degree regulations for their program, and must be making satisfactory progress toward the completion of their degree to be in good academic standing. The requirements for good standing are described here: https://sgs.calendar.utoronto.ca/general-regulations#7.

Please note: Students who will defend prior to or on the September 2022 deadline for PhD final oral examinations to graduate at Fall Convocation are not eligible.

Please have all components of the DCA application package ready to upload before proceeding. Each OISE Department has included detailed information below.

Application Procedure

APHD

Please submit the completed application through the following link https://forms.office.com/r/9Q5zNQKWVj by June 1, 2022. UTORid and password required.  Please note: Late applications will not be accepted after June 1, 2022.

The following should be included in your application:

1. DCA Application - Applicant section 
2. DCA application - Supervisor Section (to be completed by your thesis supervisor)
3. CV (3 pages maximum)
4. ROSI print out of transcript (no official transcripts required)
5. Copy of your most recent Annual Review Form
6. Financial Need Assessment Form

Application Criteria

The DCA adjudication process will consider the following protocols and priorities below.  Award recipients will be notified in late summer. 

1. The DCA award amount generally considered will be the value of tuition, but may vary depending on the number of DCA applicants. Additional funds will be provided on the basis of need and depending on the relative ranking of merit of the student being considered.

2. The maximum amount of funding awarded will not exceed the value of tuition plus the value of a regular GA.

3. Students with major external awards are eligible to receive a DCA award if they are able to demonstrate good progress on their thesis and financial need even with the external award funding.

4. One important criteria of the DCA is that students are devoting 50% of their time to their thesis. Accordingly, students completing fulltime internship are generally not eligible. However, students who have defended or submitted a full draft of their thesis to their committee - by the time of the award decisions at the end of August - are eligible for the DCA as the criteria of devoting 50% of their time to their thesis is not applicable. Students who have defended their thesis and are on internship will still need to demonstrate financial need.

5. The application form will require the student to note if a full-time internship is scheduled.

6. International students are eligible for the DCA.

7. Students can apply for the DCA twice. Preference will be given to those students who are applying to the DCA for the first time. Students who have previously received this award will be required to demonstrate their progress over the time period of the last award.

Notes:

1. It is extremely important to be clear about order of authorship and whether or not publications/ presentation are refereed. The committee will assume that material is not refereed if there is no specific indication.

2. In evaluating quality of research, emphasis will be placed on the contribution of the thesis to theory and/or policy and/or practice. It is important that the supervisor's letter elaborate on this point.

3. The committee takes note of the level of enthusiasm reflected in the letter.

4. In the past the Awards Committee has interpreted the purpose of this award as being to support students who are only part way through the thesis process. It is not meant to support students who are very close to scheduling the oral exam, except in cases where the student will be going on internship.

CTL

1. DCA Application - Applicant Page
2. DCA Application - Supervisor Page (To be completed by your thesis supervisor and they will need to sent it back to you, so that you can upload it)
3. CV (3 pages maximum) - save as a PDF before uploading
4. ACORN PDF/ screenshot of transcript (no official transcripts required)
5. SGS Financial Need Assessment Form
6. Any additional supporting documents (i.e. for SGS financial need assessment form)

A note about the Financial Need Assessment Form for OSOTF Awards:

Approximately 15% of the DCA funds are OSOTF-restricted and must be awarded to students who demonstrate financial need.

Although the financial need form is not a requirement for international students, we ask that it be completed by all applicants to allow the Department to determine financial need for all applicants.

The CTL Award Committee members will not see your detailed financial need assessment forms but are provided with a score that represents the level of financial need indicated by the applicant.

Students may hold a DCA in two successive years if they remain eligible. An application must be submitted each year to be included in the competition. Please note, a subsequent application should demonstrate progress from the previous year.

Evaluation criteria

LHAE 

*2022-2023 DCA application procedures will be available soon*

Please submit the completed application electronically to Karolina Szymanski (k.szymanski@utoronto.ca).

The following should be included in your application:

1. DCA Application - Applicant Section applicant page
2. DCA Application - Supervisor Section to be completed by your thesis supervisor
3. CV (3 pages maximum)
4. ROSI print out of transcript (no official transcripts required)
5. Copy of your most recent Doctoral Progress Form
6. Financial Need Assessment Form

Application Criteria:

1.  Academic merit (including academic standing) and supervisor's evaluation

2.  Financial need. Although preference is given to students at risk of unduly delaying graduation due to lack of funding, the DCA is not intended for extenuating personal circumstances (e.g. financial emergencies), which may be eligible for Emergency Grant support

Committee will consider all sources of income, including awards and graduate assistantships, as well as students attempts to secure additional funding through these channels.

3.  Expected time to complete the degree.

Any unusual requirements of the research that needed extended time or unforeseen events in the research program that caused a delay may be taken into account and should be included in the application. Obstacles might include: difficulties with obtaining ethics approval from external agencies; sudden unexpected changes to subject pool; problems with supervisory access (change or illness or death of supervisor; etc.)

Note:

Preference will be given to those students who are applying to the DCA for the first time.  Students who have previously received this award will be required to demonstrate their progress over the time period of the last award.

SJE

The DCA is now open for applications. You can apply by uploading your application package to SJE Doctoral Completion Award website by June 1, 2022 (UTORid and password needed). Please read the eligibility requirements before you apply. If you are unsure of your eligibility, please contact Sezen Atacan (sezen.atacan@utoronto.ca). 

The following should be included in your application:

1. DCA Application - Applicant Section
2. DCA Application - Supervisor Section to be completed by your thesis supervisor
3. CV (3 pages maximum)
4. ACORN print out of transcript (no official transcripts required)
5. SGS Financial Need Assessment Form