Graduate Student Finances and Regulations
Graduate Regulations
Graduate Students at Western Law are governered by regulations of the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. This includes thesis requirements, change of status and leaves of absence.
Graduate Studies Tuition and Fees
Tuition and fees are established each year by the Board of Governors of the University.
The approximate estimated annual costs (tuition and required ancillary fees) for the 2025-26 academic year for new full-time students are as follows:
| Canadian | International | |||||
| Tuition | Fees | Total | Tuition | Fees | Total | |
| LLM and MSL | $10,368 | $3,202.71 | $13,570.71 | $28,955.01 | $3,994.71 | $32,949.72 |
| PhD | $6,360 | $3,202.71 | $9,562.71 | $6,360 | $3,730.89 | $10,090.89 |
The above amounts are estimates only and may be subject to change. For the Master's and PhD programs, part-time tuition is approximately one-half of full-time tuition.
Further information on fees is available at the Registrar's website here.
Financing your Graduate Education
Western Law offers competitive funding packages to all full-time graduate students in our research-based programs (LLM, MSL, and PhD). Your offer letter will contain the details of your individual funding package.
Full-time PhD students (domestic and international) are guaranteed funding equal to at least tuition plus $17,000 for four years, which may take into account any external funding received by the student.
Graduate students who secure a major external award will normally receive additional internal funding from the Faculty of Law for each year of their award. Whether this additional funding is awarded, its frequency, and its amount are at the discretion of the Faculty of Law. Both the amount and the availability of the additional funding will depend on the following factors: the amount of internal funding available, the value of the external award, and the number of other graduate students in financial need. Current practice is to award $3,000 per term for doctoral students in receipt of a SSHRC CGRS-D or OGS and $2,500 per term for master’s students in receipt of a SSHRC CGRS-M or OGS. Students retain the full value of their external awards.
Depending on the factors listed above—in particular, the number of students in need of financial support—these numbers are subject to change.
Both full-time and part-time students who are eligible have access to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) for any financial need not met by other sources of funding.
An extensive list of internal and external funding opportunities is maintained by the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (SGPS). Please visit the Funding Opportunities web page for more details. All students are encouraged to apply for funding at the time they apply for admission to Graduate Studies at Western Law.
All eligible applicants are expected to apply for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS).
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