Funding & Financial Support

Funding a graduate education can be difficult. The College of Graduate Studies is here to help, and has assembled a collection of resources and opportunities for graduate students. Here you can find information about the many types of financial support available at SDSU, including scholarships, fellowships, and grants administered from federal, state, and university sources. The College of Graduate Studies can help you navigate this information and seek funding for your graduate degree. 

Find a Fellowship

The College of Graduate Studies offers many internal awards to eligible master’s and doctoral students. There are also external sources of funding that offer competitive fellowships and grants.

Internal Financial Fellowships and scholarships

External Financial fellowships and scholarships

Find a Scholarship 

SDSU Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships maintains an application portal of over 700 scholarships, called Aztec Scholarships. While most of these scholarships are intended for undergraduates, there are many for which graduate students are also eligible. 

There is one application for all 700 awards, and once your application is finished, it is automatically sent to all eligible review committees. Applications are typically in spring, and are open to both current students and incoming students who have submitted their intent to enroll.

Teaching Associate, Graduate Assistant, and Instructional Student Assistant (TA/GA/ISA) Hiring

Each department handles student employment separately. If interested, contact your graduate program advisor/director for more information. See our TA handbook for more information about being a TA.

Graduate programs typically set up training for their TAs to meet the specific needs of their program's courses.  SDSU's Center for Teaching & Learning also has a training resource available to TAs through a self-directed Canvas course. The Canvas site has resources available to TAs as well.

TA Tuition Waiver Information (In-State, Part-Time)

Starting Fall 2023, graduate students who have a Teaching Associate (TA) appointment(s) of 0.2 or greater (a single appointment or concurrent TA appointment in a given semester) will be provided an in-state part-time tuition waiver valued at $2,082 for the semester they are hired in this instructional capacity. Hiring colleges will be responsible for communicating TA appointment information to the College of Graduate Studies. The College of Graduate Studies will, in turn, submit TA waiver information to Student Account Services for processing.  

Your educational costs include:
1. Basic tuition (sometimes referred to as "California resident tuition” or “in-state tuition")
2. Nonresident tuition (for those who are not California residents)
3. Mandatory student fees
4. Professional program fees (in some graduate programs)
5. Other miscellaneous and optional fees.

Note that this waiver is not a general credit to the student’s bill. It cannot be used to pay mandatory fees or other costs on the bill. It is a $2,082 waiver that can only offset basic in-state tuition costs with some restrictions.

1. If a State University Grant (SUG) is available, the SUG will be applied to basic in-state tuition.
   • If the SUG is $2,082 or higher, the TA part-time basic tuition waiver will not be applied per State of California guidelines.
   • If the SUG is less than $2,082, it will be canceled and replaced with the $2,082 TA part-time basic tuition waiver.
2. If SDSU Research Foundation (SDSURF) funds have been allocated specifically for basic in-state tuition, these will be applied.
   • If the SDSURF funds offset all basic in-state tuition costs, the TA waiver cannot be applied.
   • If the SDSURF funds do not offset all basic in-state tuition costs, the TA waiver (maximum of $2,082) will be applied.
3. If the TA part-time basic tuition waiver is applied to the student’s bill, it will be labeled “GRAD TA Waiver”.

Graduate Student Travel Scholarship 

The Graduate Student Travel Scholarship is an award given to students for travel associated with research, scholarly, and creative activities. 

Other useful resources

• Tuition Calculator 
• CA Residency Reclassification for Tuition Purposes
• Current SDSU Tuition and Fees
• List of graduate advisors and doctoral program directors
• The Office for Graduate Life and Diversity

Have a question about the fellowships listed on this page? Reach out to [email protected] for help! 

Have questions regarding Financial Aid or Aztec Scholarships? Reach out to the Cal Coast Student Financial Center.