How can I, an American, get funding for a PhD in France?

July 19, 2016 1:42 PM

I was accepted into a PhD program in France. I was invited to compete for a limited number of 'contracts' which come with a salary. I came up just short in this competition, but for a number of reasons have decided that this is an opportunity I wish to pursue. . . . but I need money and don't want to take on debt.

I sought out my supervisor and have spent six months cooking up a project I am really excited about. I will receive very limited support from the lab I am joining, and have another means of limited income, but would like to investigate any possibilities for grants or scholarships that might exist for Americans doing doctoral work abroad. My field is linguistics, if it matters, and it will take four years. Thanks for any tips, leads, and ideas!

posted by os tuberoes to Work & Money (6 answers total)

Does your supervisor have any grants you can get partial funding from?

Can you teach for your department?
posted by katrielalex at 1:57 PM on July 19, 2016

It might help to tell us what you've already explored or ruled out. As a local, depending on the area, it can be reasonably easy to find work as an English TA (for collège or lycée level). I made about 700 euros a month after tax working as a TA with TAPIF for 12 hours a week.
posted by raccoon409 at 2:21 PM on July 19, 2016

Do you have parents or grandparents who were born in a European country? If so, you may be eligible for a passport, which should give you EU tuition rates (i.e., much lower than for international students). My master's degree was £21,000 -- had I had my Croatian passport then, it would've been £9,000.
posted by harperpitt at 2:48 PM on July 19, 2016

Came in to suggest the same thing as raccoon409. (For others reading this question, it might be best to bow out if you don't know the French system; it is not analogous to the States. For instance the contracts described by the OP are the ones available for teaching in the university. They're quite a limited number.)

In Paris there are several private-sector English tutoring jobs available as well. Have you asked your professors or the department for information? They're usually quite happy to help. Check with your thesis advisor, it's probably not the first time they've encountered this and could be a good way to build rapport.

FWIW I looked into this myself for continuing on to a PhD in comparative literature a few years ago; there's not much out there for humanities-related studies in France.
posted by fraula at 2:51 PM on July 19, 2016

Hi, thank you for your answers so far. A few things: the cost of tuition will be negligible; it is the cost of living that I will have to cover. As I did not get a contrat doctoral I will not have the right to work. I lived in France for several years many years ago and worked au black and do not intend to do that again. There will be the opportunities for a bourse in the future but as in the case of the contrat, it is something of a lottery and cannot be counted on. I will have a very specific visa and will not be seeking other French based work/study programs. I will be a part of a very specific institution and won't have the time or means to do much outside of that institution.

I will be not be in Paris. I am a part of a linguistics laboratory; its not a part of the humanities (this particular project involves EEG work, for example) though I don't mean to sound to prickly about that. I am aware of a possible NSF grant and a Fulbright grant - which I will pursue. I'm looking for other grants or scholarships for people with US citizenship who are doing doctoral work outside of US institutions that I haven't thought about - especially ones that are for linguistics projects, which tend to be kind of arcane and unfathomable to people who aren't in the field. I speak French with near native fluency, but am not French.

Thank you again for your time and ideas.
posted by os tuberoes at 3:02 PM on July 19, 2016

Forgive me if this is too naïve, but a google search turns up some leads that look promising, from NSF, linguistics society, NIH. https://www.google.com/webhp?q=linguistics%20grants

This list in particular: http://linguistlist.org/sp/GetWRListings.cfm?WRAbbrev=Funding

Also, you might consider online work, such as working for a US company remotely.
posted by at at 10:44 PM on July 20, 2016