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). Student nominees must enrolled (or will be enrolled) in a state-side graduate program (must be paying for mandatory fees) to be eligible for the award.
The PGRF provides a non-resident tuition waiver (NRTW) in the amount of $471 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.
Renewals and Time Limits
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 graduate program about their NRTW policy.
Graduate Program Advisor/Director
The PGRF first year NRTWs will not count towards any graduate program NRTW caps; however, the extended NRTWs will count.
IMPORTANT: For the AY 2026-2027 award cycle, each graduate program will be limited to submitting five (5) nominees. Nominees will be accepted in the order they are received.
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 shown in the nominee's CV and provided in the nomination
Important Reminder
Students must be in Graduate Student Good Standing (academic and professional) to remain eligible for the award. 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 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 will be scored according to the rubric linked below.
There is only one cycle of nominations for the 2026-2027 PGRF. Nominations will be accepted from February 1, 2026 through March 15, 2026. The College of Graduate Studies plans to announce awards at the end of March/beginning of April 2026.
For the AY 2026-2027 award cycle, each graduate program will be limited to submitting five (5) nominees. Nominees will be accepted in the order they are received.
*Note that the nomination form requires that the graduate program advisor/director submit the nominee's CV*.
Questions? Please reach out to [email protected] for more information.
