Financial assistance is available for all students enrolled in the program, in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships. All financial aid packages include tuition.

Since the Workshop's financial aid offerings consist of both one- and two-year appointments and fellowships, the form of aid may vary from the first year to the second. A student's financial aid amount in the second year will either be equivalent to or more than the amount granted in the first year -- never less.

Applying for Financial Aid
The deadline for Financial Aid application forms is December 15. 
How to apply for Financial Aid.

Tuition Assistance 
Any out-of-state student awarded at least a one-quarter time teaching or research assistantship will have his or her tuition reduced to the resident rate; they will receive tuition scholarships for the full amount of their tuition, e.g. $4,713 per semester for 2017-2018. They will be responsible for the associated fees, however, which totaled $766 per semester in 2017-2018. The University will pay 50% of the associated fees for Graduate Teaching Assistants and Graduate Research Assistants.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships
In 2017-2018, teaching assistantships carried the following stipends: $12,680 for one-third time (two sections of class per year) and $19,020 for one-half time (three sections per year). 

For first-year students, the appointment usually involves teaching in the General Education/Literature Program or the Rhetoric Program. Recommendations for teaching assistantships are made by the Writers' Workshop faculty to the directors of these programs.

Second-year students are eligible for one-third and one-half time appointments to teach undergraduate creative writing classes at the Writers' Workshop.

The Workshop awards Teaching-Writing Fellowships to a number of second-year students. The fellowship carried a stipend of $19,020 in 2017-2018. Teaching-Writing Fellows teach one of the Workshop's undergraduate-level creative writing, fiction writing, or poetry writing courses.

Graduate Research Assistantships
In 2017-2018 these awards were $9,510 for one-quarter time research assistantships (approximately 10 hours of work per week). Graduate research assistants work for a variety of creative writing-oriented projects and departments at the University of Iowa, such as The Iowa Review, the University of Iowa Press, and the International Writing Program.

Fellowships 
A number of one- and two-year non-teaching fellowships are available to incoming students. For example, the Truman Capote Literary Trust provides six generous fellowships to first year students, at $16,000 each, plus tuition remission. The other fellowships range from $12,000 to $18,500; complete tuition remission is included with most of these.

Health Insurance
All graduate students are eligible for health and dental insurance through the University of Iowa. For students with fellowships and assistantships one-quarter time or more, the University contributes approximately 90% of the total cost of coverage, depending on the type of plan selected. Visit the Benefits website for more information about health insurance plans and coverage rates.

Post-Graduate Fellowships
A small number of fellowships are available to graduates of the Workshop each year. Workshop graduates are also eligible to apply to the Provost's Post-Graduate Writing Fellowship Program.

The program is primarily a community of writers who want to write while receiving academic credentials. Many students also find that they have gotten valuable teaching experience as part of their financial aid. Students seeking teaching positions often use placement services such as Interfolio to manage letters of recommendation, transcripts, and other application materials.