Funding and Support

There are a variety of Academic Employment options available to fund a graduate degree. Students may need to utilize one or more of these options over the course of their academic career. Fellowships and awards can also provide additional financial support. 

• Fellowships
• Graduate fellowships are typically highly competitive and vary widely with regard to stipend and/or tuition support they offer. UC Davis offers a special graduate opportunity program for qualified minority and/or economically disadvantaged students that offers a twelve-month stipend based on financial need, as determined by the Financial Aid Office.
• College Awards
• CBS offers several philanthropic awards to outstanding graduate students in any of the college's eight graduate groups. Awards recognize excellence in teaching, research and mentorship, and support a variety of student-life activities and opportunities. 
• Graduate Student Researcher
• These positions are based on research grant funding, and are arranged with individual faculty members. Applicants interested in a GSR position should make early contact with faculty members in your department/areas of interest to discuss possible opportunities. GSR positions provide full remission of the in-state fees and the non-resident supplemental tuition (NRST).
• Teaching Assistants
• These positions are allocated by individual departments. These positions are not centrally managed, and each requires an application. The position includes partial remission of in-state fees. The work may involve leading undergraduate discussion or laboratory sections and grading.
• Readerships
• These positions involve marking homework solutions submitted by students, and are arranged with individual instructors. Readerships are hourly positions, and include partial fee remissions for in-state fees. Readership positions should not be considered a sole means of support.
• Internal and Departmental Fellowships
• All new students are considered for these automatically upon their application to UC Davis, when the applications are submitted by the priority deadline. In some cases, a few select students will be nominated by their program for campus-level fellowships, which are competitive. Some individual graduate programs may also award program-level fellowships, which are decided on by the faculty in program or research area. These may be partial or full support. 
• Internal Fellowship competition
• Graduate Studies conducts an Internal Fellowship competition in the fall for continuing academic graduate students. This application is used to award fellowship funding for the subsequent academic year.