Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship
The Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship (PGRF) is a university-wide competition designed to recruit non-resident graduate students who demonstrate outstanding potential for achievement in their research, scholarship or creative activities.
The PGRF provides a non-resident tuition waiver (NRTW) in the amount of $420 per unit charge to nonresidents. This PGRF NRTW is awarded for one year of a graduate program at SDSU. This PGRF NRTW may be extended based on the outlined instructions below.
The PGRF does not waive the Out of State and International Student Fee.
Domestic nonresident students
For domestic students (out of state) and nonresident students the PGRF is intended to serve as a stopgap until the students can establish California residency for tuition purposes. For those nonresident students who apply for California residency but are not yet approved, the NRTW will be extended for a third semester.
For more information about seeking California residency, click here and scroll to the Residence Reclassification (Continuing Students Only) section.
International students
For international students, please check with your program about their NRTW policy.
Graduate Program Advisors/Directors
Please note that, while the PGRF first year NRTWs will not count towards any graduate program NRTW caps, the extended NRTWs will count.
Review Process
PGRF recipients shall be selected according to the following criteria:
- Nonresident or international residency status
- Nomination from graduate program
- Baccalaureate and post-bacc (if applicable) GPA and other observable indicators of academic achievement
- Additional evidence of merit, including awards, achievements, departmental recommendation, as provided in the nomination
Important Reminder
The Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities and the student’s home college will be consulted to ensure that potential awardees are in compliance with the Student Code of Conduct and/or their program’s Graduate Professional Standards.
Award nominees: A potential awardee is subject to being deemed ineligible for an award if (a) it is determined by CSRR that the student is in violation of the Student Code of Conduct and/or (b) if the program notifies the College of Graduate Studies that the student has violated their program’s Graduate Professional Standards.
Current awardees: A current student awardee is subject to having their fellowship or scholarship rescinded if (a) it is determined by CSRR that the student is in violation of the Student Code of Conduct and/or (b) if the program notifies the College of Graduate Studies that the student has violated their program’s Graduate Professional Standards.
Nomination Instructions
Nominations for the PGRF must be made by the graduate program advisor/director of the program in which the nominee will be enrolled during the subsequent academic year. Any nominations received that are not from the student's graduate program advisor/director will not be considered.
Nominations for the 2024-2025 PGRF opened on February 1, 2024. We will have two PGRF award announcement cycles that will coincide with the university’s two admissions cycles. The two cycles are weighted equally, with their only distinction being the dates of review and announcement.
- Priority Cycle will review all applications received by 11:59 pm on March 1, 2024. Awards for the the Priority Cycle were announced on March 18, 2024.
- Regular Cycle will review all applications received March 2 - March 31, 2024 (11:59 pm). Awards for the Regular Cycle were announced on April 17, 2024.
2024-2025 PGRF Nomination Google Form pdf (for reference only)
Questions? Please reach out to [email protected] for more information.
