Program and Financial Aid FAQ

The MFA at Texas State will give you three years to experiment and grow as a writer. Your work will be carefully read and commented on by your peers, by a distinguished and widely published faculty, by a visiting Endowed Chair, and by a notable published author who will comment on your thesis manuscript. You will also have the chance to meet and study regularly with visiting writers, all of whom will give readings and teach master classes.

Studio programs primarily focus on workshop. At Texas State, our students take four workshops in their chosen genre (with the option to take additional workshops in creative nonfiction), but also take courses in literature and craft. We believe that in order to write literature, you must read literature. Our program prepares you to be a better reader, a better writer and, if you choose to teach, a better and more qualified teacher of literature and writing.

Aesthetic diversity is a cornerstone of Texas State’s creative writing program. Faculty members teach and write in various modes, as do the students with whom you’ll workshop. We vary in age, ethnic and cultural identification, socioeconomic background, life experience, and taste in literature. You write whatever you choose to write. Your peers and teachers are there to help you achieve your own individual goals as an artist.

Texas State is home to two visiting writers series, The Therese Kayser Lindsey Literary Series and The Katherine Anne Porter Literary Series, each of which bring several distinguished authors to our campus annually. Past guests have included internationally recognized poets, fiction writers, and memoirists, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the MacArthur Fellows "Genius Grant," among many other awards. Each writer gives a public reading and signing, a closed-door Q&A with MFA students, and a craft class in their genre (poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction). Our students also have the chance to introduce authors at their events, interview them for our campus literary magazine, and share meals with them during their visit. 

San Marcos is an exciting, historic community in the heart of central Texas. More than a college town, San Marcos is a close-knit community of independently owned restaurants, bars, coffee houses, and shops. For nature enthusiasts, the San Marcos River—spring-fed, crystal clear, and accessible all throughout the city—is a recreational paradise for swimming, tubing, kayaking. The city also boasts Purgatory Creek, a gorgeous, sprawling greenbelt for hikers.

Texas State is also about half an hour south of Austin, where many of our students and faculty live. Austin has a longstanding reputation as “The Live Music Capitol of the World," and is well known for its vibrant artistic communities, good food, and thriving nightlife scene. Check out other reasons why Austin is among the best places to live in the U.S.

Yes. The English department at Texas State offers summer study in Ireland every year. Student participants will earn six credit hours through their enrollment in the courses offered via the program. 

If you are offered a teaching or instructional assistantship, we recommend that you meet with the department’s administrative assistant to discuss your degree plan and ensure that the summer session will not impact your full-time status during the academic year. That being said, many of our IA and TA students have studied in Ireland before without issue. 

An Instructional Assistant works with a professor in the English department to help with an undergraduate survey course. IA duties may include grading student assignments, operating technology during lecture, and otherwise helping the lead professor with whatever they need. Occasionally, IAs will be allowed to give guest lectures in class.

A Teaching Assistant is an instructor of record. They teach their own sections of composition courses without another instructor. Generally, one must be an IA before they can become a TA. Both positions are under nine-month contracts and paid a monthly stipend, issued on the first of the month from October to June.

As a first-semester IA, you must enroll in a teaching practicum course, for which you pay no tuition, but receive university credit. As a first-semester TA, you must enroll in another practicum course. This course does not count towards university credit, nor do you pay tuition for it.

If you are not awarded an IA assistantship for your first year, you may reapply for your second or third year. All IAs and TAs are assigned for fall semester before the semester begins.

Applications for assistantships are very competitive. Please be as thorough as possible in providing all the material we request: university employment forms, transcripts from each four-year institution or program you attended, a resume or CV, three letters of recommendation, and a statement of purpose. Your statement of purpose is especially important in determining whether you will receive an assistantship. It should address your desire to teach, your qualifications to teach, and why you believe that you would be a superb freshman- and sophomore-level teacher.

Applicants to the MFA program are automatically considered for Instructional Assistantships. No additional application is necessary. Please review our application page for guidelines. 

Instructional assistants (IAs) spend each semester helping an English professor with one of their survey classes, approximately 100-200 students. Their duties may include grading student essays, proctoring exams, assisting with classroom audiovisual equipment, and/or giving a guest lecture once each semester. 

Teaching assistants (TAs) are instructors of record for their own freshman composition classes. They teach two sections of ENG 1310 in the fall semester and one section of ENG 1320 in the spring semester. Each class is limited to 21 students, and averages 19 students.

All IA/TAs receive a set salary over their nine-month contract, from October through June, which is disbursed on the 1st of the month, including during winter break. There is also an option to have this same salary broken into smaller payments, spread throughout the entire year. You can find more info about switching to a 12-month salary spread here. 

Living costs in San Marcos are reasonable for the area. It is possible to get a one-bedroom apartment for $1,000 a month or under; if you decide to live in San Marcos with roommates, you might pay anywhere from $500-800 per month in rent. If you choose to live in Austin, your costs would be higher: one-bedroom apartments in South Austin average $1,400, while two-bedrooms average $1,800. 

Some students work as instructional assistants during the summer to supplement their income (summer work is not guaranteed, however.) Some students also take out small student loans. 

For more information on funding your graduate education, please see the website for the Financial Aid Office.

Please send us work that speaks most to your potential as a writer. The writing sample need not be unified by theme or subject.

Fiction applicants should submit a maximum of 25 double-spaced pages of their work, which may be short stories and/or a novel excerpt. Poetry applicants should submit 12-15 poems. Applicants of either type may, if they choose, also include one creative nonfiction essay or excerpt in their portfolio, provided it does not exceed the same 25-page maximum for the manuscript in total.

For more information on the portfolio requirements, please see our admissions page.

While our program does not focus on genre (or commercial) fiction—we teach literary (or character-driven) fiction—we have had many students produce work with a fantasy, magical realism, or science fiction bent. As most writers will tell you, the delineation between “genre” and “literary” is not always clear. Ultimately, the quality of your writing and your storytelling are what count.

No. Many of our students majored in other subjects and disciplines. Admission is based exclusively on the quality of your portfolio.

No. All applicants are considered for all MFA scholarships.

Instructional Assistantships and Teaching Assistantships, which comprise the majority of our funding, also do not require a separate application. 

To be a full-time student, you must enroll in three courses (nine credit hours) per semester. In-state tuition and fees for the full 2025-2026 academic year were $9,017.28. Out-of-state tuition and fees for the full year were $16,307.28.

You can find up-to-date tuition and fee rates at the Graduate College website.

No. While you certainly can pay for tuition all at once, Student Business Services offers a payment plan that allows you to pay in three increments. Note that your first tuition payment is due before the start of the semester. Find more information about the plans available on our TXST One Stop website.

Yes. All students are eligible for in-state tuition if they receive either a graduate assistantship (an IA/TA or GA position) or a competitive scholarship of $1000 or more during an academic year.

Yes. The MFA program offers several merit-based scholarships to help defray the cost of attendance. All students admitted to the program are eligible without further application for the William F. McKeen III Memorial Scholarship, the Mary Jo Austin McCormick Endowment for Poetry, the L.D. and LaVerne Harrell Clark Literary Endowment, the Rose Fellowship (TRIP), the Norman Peterson and Charles Mosley Endowed Scholarship, and the W. Morgan & Lou Claire Rose Scholarship. 

Continuing students are also eligible for a variety of scholarships through the MFA program, English Department, and Graduate College. All MFA scholarships confer a waiver for the out-of-state portion of one's tuition. 

Please see our funding page for more info about program scholarships.

In addition to scholarships available through the MFA program, you have a few options for applying to scholarships through Texas State, as well as outside of the university.

The Graduate College offers both current and incoming MFA students The Graduate College Scholarship, applications for which open on October 1st and close on February 1st. 

The English department offers a variety of scholarships for graduate students. Find more information on list of available scholarships. There is only one application, which is completed via our online portal. Please check the department website for information about due dates and application requirements for the current academic year.

There are also plenty of outside options for graduate funding, some of which are accessible via our Bobcat Online Scholarship System (BOSS) upon your admission to the program. Please be aware that many scholarships have different dates and requirements. If your scholarship application requires a letter of recommendation, please be considerate and give your letter writers plenty of time to reflect on your merits.

Note that, while MFA Program scholarships do not require a separate application, Graduate College, English Department, and external scholarships do. 

Only the W. Morgan & Lou Claire Rose Scholarship rolls over between years. Students must reapply for the Graduate College Scholarships and departmental scholarships every spring. All other MFA program scholarships are for one year only. 

Absolutely, FAFSA can be used for graduate school. The Texas cutoff date is March 15th each year, but you can apply as early as December for the following academic year. If you apply after March 15th, you will still be eligible for FAFSA but not for any state grants.

There are other jobs available on campus. You can reach out to the Writing Center or SLAC for possible work opportunities. Many of our students have chosen to work as writing tutors with these offices. You can also check with the Career Services Center, or their job board on Handshake, for information on other jobs. Graduate Assistantships are widely available and confer an in-state tuition waiver.

There are a limited number of IA opportunities over the summer for Summer I and II sessions. There are no TA teaching opportunities during the summer. Other campus jobs may also have positions available over the summer.

An assistantship is a type of funding that requires you to work. The only assistantships offered in the English department are IA, TA, GA (Graduate Program Assistant), or GRA (Graduate Research Assistant) positions. All assistantship recipients are eligible for in-state tuition. A job would be any other employment position obtained on campus, and it does not guarantee in-state tuition to out-of-state students.

Full-time enrollment requires a minimum of three classes (nine credits) each semester and a total of six classes (eighteen credits) each academic year. Each class counts for three hours of degree credit. 

Instructional assistants (IAs) are also required to complete eighteen English credit hours in order to be promoted to a teaching assistant (TA) in their second year. Students with assistantships may also use a one-time enrollment waiver to take fewer than three classes in a single semester, which many students use to give themselves more time to focus on their thesis during their final year. 

Yes. You have the option to complete your degree in four years as a part-time student. In order to graduate on time, you would need to take two classes (six credit hours) every semester. Please note, however, that part-time students are not eligible for IA/TA assistantships. 

Yes and no. The course of study for the MFA requires 48 credit hours to complete. If you do not have an assistantship (such as an IA/TA position) then you would normally take three classes per semester (full time) for your first two years, totaling 36 hours. During your third year, you would only have to take two classes per semester (part time) to fulfill the remaining 12 credits. 

Students with an IA/TA position, however, are required to enroll full-time to be employed by the university. You will also be required to take a teaching practicum class during your first semester as an IA. This class is not included in the 48-credit-hour course of study for the program, and you will not be charged for it. The practicum will, however, count toward your enrollment status, making you full-time for one extra semester while enrolled in the practicum and two other courses that count towards your degree. During your third year, you will then take three classes during one semester and two classes plus a one-time enrollment waiver in your other semester. This waiver allows the university to treat you as a full-time student (you will not be charged full-time tuition; you will only be charged for the classes in which you are actually enrolled), which allows you to remain eligible for your assistantship while technically enrolled part-time. 

Students may take craft courses across genres, provided there is space available, but workshops are limited to those students studying the specified genre. This allows the workshop to function at the highest possible level, both in the work put up for discussion and in the discussion itself. Our course in creative nonfiction, however, is open to both fiction writers and poets. Fiction writers and poets also collaborate to produce our literary journal, Porter House Review.

In addition to workshops, MFA students take courses in literature and craft. MFA students are also able to take graduate courses in rhetoric and composition, as well as technical communication, both of which are offered through the English Department. Students may also take courses toward their Graduate Minor in any graduate department in the university, pending approval from that department and the MFA admin.  

For a catalogue of previously offered course descriptions, please visit the English Department website.