Presidential Graduate Research Fellowship

Description

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 (RSCA).

The PGRF provides a non-resident tuition waiver (NRTW) in the amount of $444 per unit charge to nonresidents. This PGRF NRTW is awarded for one year of a graduate program at SDSU.

The PGRF does not waive the Out of State and International Student Fee.

Domestic Non-Resident Students

For domestic students (out of state) and non-resident students the PGRF is intended to serve as a stopgap until the students can establish California residency for tuition purposes. For those non-resident 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:  

1. Nonresident or international residency status
2. Nomination from graduate program
3. Baccalaureate and post-bacc (if applicable) GPA and other observable indicators of academic achievement
4. Additional evidence of merit, including awards, achievements, departmental recommendation, as shown in the nominee's CV and 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 and current awardees: A nomination or award is subject to being deemed ineligible 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 CGS 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 will be scored according to the rubric linked below.

Nominations for the 2025-2026 PGRF were accepted from February 1, 2025 through March 31, 2025. *Note that starting the 2025-2026 cycle, the nomination form now requires that the graduate advisors/program director submit the nominee's CV*.

There are two PGRF award announcement cycles that will coincide with the university’s two admissions cycles.

Questions? Please reach out to [email protected] for more information.