Funding your Graduate Education

Whether you are considering pursuing your degree at UC Davis or you have already been admitted into a program, it is important to understand the funding options that are available to you. If you have further questions about funding, please contact the graduate program coordinator. 

Types of Funding

  • Fellowships
    • Program fellowships
    • Grad Studies Fellowships (Internal Fellowships)
    • External Fellowships
    • Native American Opportunity Plan
  • Academic Student Employment
    • Teaching Assistant (TA)
    • Reader
    • Graduate Student Researcher (GSR)
    • Tutor
  • Student Loans

Fellowships

A fellowship in this context is the equivalent of a scholarship. You usually do not have to pay back this award, but there are some eligibility requirements. At minimum, you must be enrolled full-time and maintain a 3.0 GPA.

  • Program Fellowships

  • All applicants are considered for programmatic fellowships at the time they are considered for admission.

    The dollar amount of fellowship awards vary each year, based on a number of factors including the number of applicants and the funding allocation our program receives. The highest fellowship our program awards includes resident tuition & fees, plus a small stipend. We do not offer non-resident supplemental tuition (NRST) fellowships at this time.

    Applicants are scored for admission and fellowship consideration using this rubric. 

    If you are awarded a fellowship, you will be notified directly via the online application system. Prospective awardees are not required to accept fellowship offers prior to April 15th. 

  • Internal fellowships

  • Internal fellowships are administrated through Graduate Studies. The value of fellowships vary from $1,000 to as much as $50,000 per year. Prospective graduate students apply for internal fellowships via the application for admission. You can see a description of fellowship awards here. You must meet the program's application deadline to be considered for these fellowships.

    Continuing students apply via the Annual Internal Fellowship Competition for Continuing Graduate Students. The application deadline for continuing students is January 15.

    You can see information on the types of fellowships and eligibility requirements here.

  • External fellowships

  • External fellowships are scholarships that originate from off-campus. You can see more information on how to find opportunities here.

Native American Opportunity Plan

UC's Native American Opportunity Plan ensures that in-state systemwide Tuition and Student Services Fees are covered for California residents who are also enrolled in any federally recognized Native American, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. This plan applies to undergraduate and graduate students. 

Students with greater financial need can qualify for even more grant support to help pay for other expenses,  such as housing, books, transportation, etc). You can see more information and eligibility requirements here.

Native American students from non-federally recognized tribes may qualify for other scholarships. The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria recently announced a scholarship fund that will cover UC tuition and mandatory fees for all eligible California Native American students. You can see more information here.

Academic Student Employment

Types of Academic Employment

  • Graduate Student Researcher (GSR)
  • A Graduate Student Researcher is a student appointed to assist in performing research under the direction of a ladder-rank faculty member or authorized Principal Investigator (PI).
  • Associate In_
  • The title Associate In_  is assigned to a graduate student of excellent scholarship and teaching promise, who is temporarily employed as the instructor of an entire lower division (0-99) course or group of students in a lower division course. Master’s degree or completion of 30 units of graduate work and one year teaching experience, including time served as a TA are required to hold an AI position.
  • Teaching Assistant (TA)
  • A Teaching Assistant is a student serving an apprenticeship under the active tutelage and supervision of a regular faculty member. A Teaching Assistant is responsible for the conduct of recitation, laboratory or quiz sections under the active direction and supervision of a regular member of the faculty to whom final responsibility for the course’s entire instruction has been assigned. No student may serve as a Teaching Assistant in a course in which they are enrolled.
  • Reader
  • The title Reader is given to a graduate or undergraduate student appointed for the ability to render diverse services as a “course assistant” which will normally include the grading of student papers and examinations. A Reader will not be assigned responsibility for leading discussion or laboratory sessions. No student may serve as a Reader in a course in which they are enrolled.
  • Tutor
  • A tutor works with individual students or small groups of students to assist them in their learning. Material covered may be topical in nature or related to a specific course. Tutors may keep regularly scheduled drop-in hours for student consultation and tutoring.

Eligibility

The most up to date minimum eligibility requirements can be viewed here. Individual departments may have unique needs for their discipline. Each department has their own hiring and application process. 

Salary and Fee Remission

Students must be appointed to a single title (GSR or ASE) at a minimum of 25% FTE (10 hours per week) to be eligible for the remission benefit associated with the title. 

  • GSR Remission benefit: full remission of tuition and fees and non-resident tuition.
  • Academic Student Employee (ASE) remission: remission of in state tuition, partial fees. 

The Teaching Assistant, Associate In_, Reader and Tutor are part of a bargaining unit and salaries and wages are determined by the contractual agreement between the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) and the University of California as outlined in Article 29, Wages of the BX bargaining agreement. Academic Student Employee salary tables are available here.

Graduate Student Researchers (GSR)

There are six salary steps in the GSR title. These steps are defined in the University of California Academic Salary Scales. These tables are maintained by the University of California Office of the President. Salary levels are adjusted by UCOP at the same time and generally in the same percentage as adjustments to other academic salaries, including those of faculty. The GSR academic salary table is available on the University of California website.  

Finding Academic Employment

Teaching Assistantships (TA)

Handshake is the campus job platform, where many departments seeking students for employment list their job openings. Over 100 internships and jobs, both on and off campus, are posted every day. Whether you're looking for a teaching or research appointment or an off-campus internship or job, Handshake can help. Incoming students receive access to Handshake after registration for the fall quarter occurs, usually in May.

Visit Handshake

Environmental Policy and Management recruits for TA and Reader positions for 4 core classes each year: ENV 200A, 200C, 201, and 202.  Preference goes to second-year EPM students. We do not consider incoming students for any of these positions. Recruitment for EPM TA positions happens in March of each year. Selected students will be notified in April.

Environmental Science and Policy (our home department) offers TA and Reader positions each year. The application is distributed to incoming and continuing EPM students in March. The main review of applications and selection of candidates for TA positions for the following academic year takes place during April, but other appointments for positions that need to be filled are made on an ad-hoc basis as needed. Completed applications are accepted year-round. 

Link to ESP application

EPM students have previously TA'd for the following ESP classes: ESP 001 (Environmental Analysis), ESP 110 (Principles of Environmental Science), ESP 121 (Population Ecology), ESP 123: Introduction to Field & Laboratory Methods in Ecology, ESP 160 (The Policy Process), ESP 161 (Environmental Law), ESP 166 (Ocean & Coastal Policy), ESP 168 (Methods of Environmental Policy Evaluation), ESP 169 (Water Policy & Politics), ESP 178 (Applied Research Methods), ESP 179 (Environmental Impact Assessment) and ESP 191 (Workshop on Food System Sustainability). 

Other departments that EPM students have been hired to TA for include:

  • Department of Plant Sciences: PLS 012 (Plants and Society), PLS 021 (Computers in Technology), SSC 112 (Soil Ecology)
  • Department of Evolution and Ecology: EVE 012 (Life in the Sea), BIS 2B (Introduction to Ecology and Evolution), BIS 2C (Introduction to Biology: Biodiversity & the Tree of Life). Applications are accepted year round, but priority review is in March/April. Open positions are not posted to Handshake. Apply to open positions here.
  • Science and Society: SAS 004Y (Water in Popular Culture)
  • Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology: BIS 2A (Introduction to Biology: Essentials of Life on Earth), BIS 2B (Introduction to Biology: Ecology and Evolution), BIS 2C (Introduction to Biology: Biodiversity & the Tree of Life). The link to online TA portal can be found here.
  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology:  WFCB collects applications on a rolling basis but has a priority deadline of 5/31. Contact program coordinator.
  • Department of Statistics: Statistics welcomes applications from graduate students in other programs, if positions are available. Positions may also be posted on Handshake. Contact the program coordinator (stat-advising@ucdavis.edu).
  • Department of Political Science: POL 102 (Urban Public Policy). TA assignments are filled on a quarterly basis, if there are any open positions after considering their students, they are posted on Handshake.
  • Department of Communications: CMN 146 (Communications Campaigns), CMN 111 (Gender and Communications). Contact the program coordinator for more information. 
     

Graduate Student Researcher (GSR)

Research Assistantships are usually awarded by individual faculty members from faculty research grants. These positions are typically awarded to students in research programs, though we do have EPM students each year who are awarded GSR positions. Positions are advertised on Handshake, on the EPM weekly update and students may inquire about open positions with individual faculty members.

EPM students have found GSR positions through:

Work Study

Students who are offered a GSR position may be eligible for Work Study. Work study allows a student to earn financial aid through employment. It allows the program to subsidize the faculty or PI's cost of hiring. EPM students must apply for work study units each quarter. Each quarter, the Graduate Program Coordinator will put out a call asking for applications for consideration. The program considers (1) What research are you engaged in as a GSR? (2) Is there a policy engagement component? (3) How does this contribute to your career objectives? To be considered, you must be the eligibility requirements below and already have been offered a GSR position. The program has a limited amount of units to award each year.

Eligibility:

  • Complete Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
  • Be a U.S. Citizen, Permanent Resident
  • Identified as eligible for Graduate Work-Study by your academic department
  • Maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)
  • Work with academic a Program Coordinator to inquire about being hired and awarded a Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) Work-Study position. Academic program staff, in conjunction with faculty, hire the GSRs and notify students when Work-Study awards are posted online.

Travel Awards

  • Graduate Studies Travel Award 

  • Graduate Studies accepts applications for graduate travel to meetings or nationally or internationally recognized professional societies twice annually. See more information here.

  • Graduate Student Association (GSA)

  • Travel awards are used to help graduate students at UC Davis attend conferences or professional development opportunities. Applications are accepted twice a year. See more information here.

Student Loans

To use student loans, you should submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). For questions about your FAFSA, please contact UC Davis Financial Aid. 

Tips

Please see a list of 10 financial support tips here.