Can You Hold Two Funding Awards During a PhD?

Sometimes. Sometimes not. More often, the answer is that one award can be held only if the other is reduced, paused, reported, or treated in a particular way.

That is why the useful question is not simply, “Can I keep both?” It is: “What do the terms of each award, and the university's funding policy, say about this exact combination?”

Two awards may look compatible because they have different names. One might be described as a scholarship, studentship, fellowship, top-up, tuition award, travel grant, assistantship, or external sponsorship. Those labels do not decide the question. The written terms decide whether the award can be held alongside another source of support, what must be reported, and whether the value or timing of either award changes.

This guide gives you a method for checking the terms before you accept or activate another award. It does not give a universal yes or no. It also does not decide how an award affects your personal tax, immigration, employment, or legal position. Those questions depend on your location and circumstances and should be taken to the relevant official office or qualified adviser.

Start with the two awards, not the general category

Put the two awards side by side. Do not begin with a search result, a funding database, or an old announcement. Find the current document that controls each award. Depending on the award, that may be:

• the award notice or offer letter sent to you;
• the funder's award-holder guide or terms and conditions;
• the current call or programme rules;
• the university page for the named scholarship; or
• a funding-package letter that explains how departmental support is calculated.

An award notice is especially important after you have been selected. It can contain details that the public call did not need to state. The University of British Columbia, for example, asks holders of an external graduate award to provide the award notice, including its start and end dates, stipend amount, and terms and conditions, when the award is activated through the university. That is a useful reminder that the public announcement alone may not be the full record.

Give each document a clear name in your notes: “Award A terms” and “Award B terms.” Add the URL or file location and the date you opened it. You are not trying to produce a legal file. You are making sure that you can return to the exact wording when a programme administrator asks what you were offered.

What counts as a second award can vary

The question is often harder because the second source of money is not another full scholarship. It may be a tuition award, a departmental top-up, a research-cost grant, an award from a home government, a paid teaching role, or a small prize.

The type of support still matters, but it is not enough by itself to answer the question. A tuition-only award and a living-cost scholarship can interact differently. A research allowance may be excluded from a cap that applies to stipend funding. An assistantship may be permitted but limited by the full-time study requirements of the programme. A university can also count external support as part of a funding package and adjust its own contribution.

Official terms show why assumptions are risky. UBC's Four Year Doctoral Fellowship guidance describes several different outcomes: some internal awards can be held with the fellowship, while external scholarship funding can change the fellowship stipend or tuition support for the period of overlap. Its International Tuition Award has another rule again: external funding specifically for tuition can make a student ineligible or reduce the tuition award. These are examples of different mechanisms, not rules that apply at every university.

Before you read further, write a plain-language description of each award:

This prevents a common mistake: comparing the headline value of two awards without seeing whether one is a fee award, one is living support, and one is tied to work or progress.

Read the holding clause in each set of terms

Search each document for terms such as “concurrent,” “hold,” “other awards,” “outside funding,” “additional income,” “supplement,” “top-up,” “offset,” “disclosure,” “employment,” “full-time,” and “interruption.” The exact language differs, so do not stop after one search term.

You are looking for a clear answer to four questions.

Is there an express restriction? Some funders prohibit holding another award from a named group of funders at the same time. The Tri-agency research training award holder's guide in Canada, for example, says holders may not hold more than one scholarship or postdoctoral award from CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC at the same time. That is a defined restriction for those awards. It does not tell you what every other scholarship in the world permits.

Does the document allow another source of funding, but set conditions? The same guide says the agencies do not place restrictions on outside funding or employment when their rules are followed, while also requiring award holders to follow institutional rules and devote full-time hours to the funded research or study. That distinction matters. A funder may not prohibit a second source of income, yet your university or programme may still have conditions that affect it.

Does the document explain an adjustment? “Can be held” is not always the same as “will be paid in full alongside the other award.” Check for words such as “reduced,” “offset,” “difference,” “capped,” “replaced,” “suspended,” or “only for the period.” These words describe how two sources of support are combined.

Does the document name an exception? A rule may distinguish a scholarship from a research allowance, a travel grant, a tuition payment, or income from approved work. Read the exception carefully. Do not broaden it beyond what is written.

If the public page is silent, look for an award-holder guide, an acceptance form, or a contact named in the terms. Silence is not permission. It is an unanswered question.

Use an evidence-reading table before you ask anyone

A short table makes your question much easier for a graduate school or funder to answer. It also shows you where the uncertainty really is.

Quote only the necessary sentence in your notes. The point is not to collect a large pile of documents. It is to preserve the evidence that supports the answer you receive.

Check the university's funding package separately

Your funder may allow a second award, while your university may count it against funding that the department would otherwise provide. The reverse can also happen: a university award may be compatible with an external scholarship but only under a stated formula.

Look beyond the admission page. Find the doctoral funding policy, the graduate school award page, the named fellowship guidelines, and your offer letter. Check whether they say that external awards, sponsorships, teaching, research assistantships, or other income are included in the funding package. Then check whether a new award changes a departmental grant, a tuition award, a stipend, or only the way the package is reported.

The distinction is practical. At UBC, the PhD minimum-funding policy says a package may include internal and external awards, teaching-related work, and research assistantships. It also says that extra funding or other income above the minimum can reduce support from on-campus sources, and that programmes may require disclosure of funding and other income. That does not mean another university will use the same approach. It shows why you need the institution's policy as well as the funder's terms.

Ask one more question if the award is administered through your university: does the university need to activate it before payment? UBC's award guidance requires notice and supporting documents for external awards because the external agency may not notify the university directly. Other institutions may use a different process, but an award that is not reported or activated correctly can create avoidable delays.

Treat disclosure as a decision step, not an afterthought

If either source asks for disclosure, do it before accepting, starting, or drawing the second award whenever the terms require that order. Keep the response with the terms. A verbal reassurance from someone who does not control the award is not a substitute for a written decision from the responsible office.

The right contact depends on the source of the rule. Start with the contact named in the award terms. For a funder award, that may be the programme contact. For an institutional scholarship, it may be the graduate awards office or doctoral school. If your funding package is departmental, the graduate programme administrator may need to confirm how the package changes. Your supervisor can be useful for context, but they may not be the person authorised to interpret award terms.

Keep the message short and make it answerable. Include the official links or attached terms, the award names, their dates, what each one covers, and the exact sentence you want confirmed. For example:

I hold [Award A], which runs from [date] to [date] and covers [stated purpose]. I have been offered [Award B], which runs from [date] to [date] and covers [stated purpose]. Could you confirm whether I may hold these awards at the same time, whether either payment or my university funding package will change, and what disclosure or documentation is required before I accept or activate Award B?

Do not ask the office to infer the terms from a screenshot or a funding-summary site. Send the direct source. If their answer adds a condition, ask them to point you to the section of the terms or policy that applies.

Watch for changes after the original decision

The question can return after you have already accepted funding. A new scholarship, a top-up, paid work, an extension, a change in registration, or a break in study can affect a condition that was satisfied when the first award began.

Read the change, interruption, and reporting sections of both awards. The Tri-agency guide, for instance, requires award holders to inform the agency if their studies or research are discontinued, and it lists reporting requirements for many awards. Your own award may use different words or require a different route. The safe practice is to check the current terms at the time something changes rather than relying on what you remember from acceptance.

If the consequence could involve payroll, tax treatment, benefits, visa or immigration evidence, or your legal status, do not try to infer the answer from a scholarship page. Use the official office responsible for that question and the current controlling guidance for your location.

A short decision routine

Before you accept or activate a second award, complete this routine:

• Save the current terms or award notice for both awards.
• Identify what each award pays for and the period it covers.
• Find the holding, additional-income, disclosure, and change clauses in both sets of terms.
• Read the university funding-package policy and the terms of any institutional award.
• Record any cap, offset, replacement, or exception in an evidence-reading table.
• Ask the funder or university contact that controls the unresolved point.
• Keep the written response with the two sets of terms.
• Recheck when the funding, registration, employment, or award conditions change.

The goal is not to collect every possible rule. It is to make a defensible decision with the documents that control your two awards.

Related reading

For the wider picture of what funding actually covers, read the Complete Guide to PhD Funding. If you are comparing funding routes rather than two offers you already hold, see How to Find, Compare, and Apply for PhD Funding Beyond a Vacancy. You can also use AcademicWings methodology to understand why the original award terms matter more than a summary page.

Browse practical guides

Sources

• Tri-agency research training award holder's guide, Government of Canada. Official award-holder rules used here for concurrent tri-agency awards, other sources of income, full-time study, changes, and reporting.
• Four Year Doctoral Fellowship Guidelines, University of British Columbia. Official fellowship terms used here as an example of awards that can be combined, reduced, or resumed under specified conditions.
• International Tuition Award, University of British Columbia. Official university award terms used here for the separate treatment of external funding for tuition.
• Minimum Funding Policy for PhD Students, University of British Columbia. Official university policy used here for funding-package components, possible adjustments, and disclosure of new funding sources.
• Award Guidelines, University of British Columbia. Official graduate-award guidance used here for external-award notification and activation documents.