University of South Carolina at Columbia: Due to a state law, first-year students entering without 18 hours of graduate credit receive, during their first year, an instructional assistantship that confers in-state tuition status and provides half tuition in addition to an annual stipend ($8,125 in 2012). After their first year, they move into a teaching assistantship with full funding.
The reduced stipend is compared to the full funding of “$12,800 in 2012.”
Affording the MFA 