Assistantships

A small number of graduate assistantships are available to fully admitted full-time students. Graduate assistants (GAs) are assigned to work with faculty members, in the administrative offices, in the computer labs, and in the S.C. Center for Community Literacy. GAs receive a stipend for 10-20 hours per week and usually receive a tuition supplement in accordance with Graduate School policies. Graduate assistantships are also available in the University Libraries and the School of Medicine Library.

The USC Graduate School's Opportunities Bulletin Board also lists open GA positions in other departments around campus.

Applications for graduate assistantships administered by in the School of Information Science are available in pdf format, or by contacting the Student Services Manager. For loans and other federal programs, the applicant should contact the Office of Student Financial Aid at 803-777-8134. The deadline for GA applications is April 1 for Fall and Summer and November 15 for Spring.

A Graduate Assistant appointment is for a specific period of time (an academic year, a summer or a single semester or summer session) as designated in the letter of offering the position. In order to keep the appointment for the designated period of time, the GA must perform job responsibilities satisfactorily and maintain satisfactory academic progress. Beyond the designated period of the appointment, if the GA wishes to be considered for future assignments, it is necessary to reapply.

GA's are required to enroll in and remain enrolled in courses considered appropriate for inclusion in an approved program of study. All GA's must register for at least 6 semester hours of graduate credit in a regular term (audits and courses taken for undergraduate study are excluded). The maximum enrollment for an iSchool student is 12 credit hours. Audited courses and undergraduate courses count toward the maximum permitted course load, but do not count toward the minimum hours for GA's.

Submit the  Application for Graduate Assistantships »

Fellowships

• Richard T. Greener Fellowship
  The Fellowship is co-sponsored by the iSchool and the Thomas Cooper Library.  The Fellow receives training and mentoring to serve as an active participant in departments throughout Thomas Cooper Library and the other USC, Columbia University Libraries. The Fellow rotates on a semester basis through public services, technical services, and collection development, gaining practical experience in many facets of librarianship. 
• The Cynthia Graham Hurd Endowed Fellowship Fund
  This fund is to honor Cynthia Graham Hurd, one of the Emanuel Nine murdered in Charleston on June 17, 2015 at the Mother Emanuel AME Church.  Cynthia Hurd was a beloved librarian whose life was dedicated to helping people become educated.  She was an exemplary leader in the community and in her church.  She worked in Charleston’s library system for 31 years, most recently as the manager of the St. Andrews Regional Library, one of the busiest libraries in the Charleston County library system.  The library is renamed the Cynthia Graham Hurd St. Andrews Regional Library.  She received her Master of Librarianship degree at the University of South Carolina in 1989. The scholarship will be awarded to deserving individuals in an underrepresented group who work within the Charleston County Public Library (CCPL) System, as part of the iSchool diversity program.

Scholarships

The iSchool has a number of scholarships available for graduate students. The Assistant Director of Student Services (Laura Thorp, thorp@mailbox.sc.edu) handles all inquiries and applications for financial aid administered by the School. Scholarship application deadline is April 1 for the following Fall semester. (There are no scholarships awarded in the spring or summer.) The applicant must be fully admitted by this date in order to be considered for an award. Award recipients are chosen by the Student Services and Financial Aid Committee.

The application for scholarships (JotForm) administered by the School of Information Science has been converted to a fully online application is available at the link provided.

External Scholarships

• ALA Scholarship Program
• Gates Millennium Scholars
• Century Scholarship, American Library Association (ALA) - awards up to $2,500 annually for persons with disabilities.
• LITA Scholarships
• Medical Library Association - funding opportunities to assist qualified students in graduate library science programs and to enable practicing health sciences librarians to pursue professional development.
• Spectrum Initiative Scholarships, ALA - fifty annual $5,000 awards to persons of African-American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino/Hispanic, and Native American heritage.
• Library and Information Science Scholarship - established individually by Daniel Kovach. The scholarship is for $500 - to be distributed four times a year.
• Council on Library and Information Science Resources - CLIR offers a range of fellowships and awards in support of its goal to expand leadership capacity in the information professions
• REFORMA - National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking. Site includes information about their scholarship.