Understanding the Harmonized Base Funding Agreement: A Guide from the Graduate Representation Committee

The Harmonized Base Funding Agreement (HBFA) is a crucial component of your graduate experience at the University of Toronto. This funding helps maximize your financial support so that you can focus on your studies and research.

Key Highlights of the HBFA

1. Funding Structure:

   • The HBFA provides a yearly stipend for students enrolled in thesis-based graduate programs. The stipend can be referred to as the “Total” in the table below.

   

   • In other words, the stipend is composed of sub-components, two at minimum:
     • one for paying the tuition fees
     • one for a living allowance
   When defining your Graduate Education Management System (GEMS) budget, use the table above to fill in the appropriate amounts for tuition fees and living allowance. Your "Guaranteed Base Funding" row found in that application should match the stipend amount.

2. Top-Up Funding:

   • First the bad news: just because you get, say, a $20,000 scholarship, DOES NOT mean your stipend becomes the number above plus $20,000. Unfortunately, this is not how it works.

   • The good news: you do get rewarded for getting your scholarship in the form of a top-up. The rules are as follows:

     • If the cumulative sum of your scholarships is between $2001 and $9999, you get a top-up of $2000.
     • If the cumulative sum of your scholarships is between $10000 and $15000, you get a top-up of $3000.
     • If the cumulative sum of your scholarships is $15001 or more, you get a top-up of $4000.

   • Your stipend then becomes the sum of the base stipend (from the table above) and the top-up.

   Unfortunately, there are certain scholarships/awards that do not qualify for the top-up. These include:

   • UofT Fellowships, including departmental fellowships
   • Doctoral Completion Awards
   • Entrance Scholarships
   • GSS funds
   • Travel grants/awards
   • Bursaries

3. Duration of Funding:

   • MSc students = 2 years
   • PhD students who have transferred from an MSc program = 5 years, with the MSc year already taking up 1 year of the 5
   • PhD students with a previous completed MSc = 4 years
   • Direct-entry PhD students = 5 years

As your representatives, we hope this clarifies the HBFA and its impact on your funding. We will continue to advocate for greater base funding and increases to the top-up amounts to reward your hard work.

Sincerely,

Graduate Representation Committee
University of Toronto