University Graduate Fellowship

Current University Graduate Fellows

Go to this webpage for important information about your fellowship.

Description

The University Graduate Fellowship (UGF) directs institutional funding to support recruitment, retention, and timely degree completion for outstanding graduate students who are engaged in scholarship advancing the university's goals for research, scholarship, and creative activities (RSCA). The UGF is a two-year funding program for graduate students whose faculty mentor(s) have successfully attained external funding to support their students and is awarded through a merit-based, competitive process.

UGF nominations will be initiated by the faculty mentor/PI for the 2026-2027 cycle. The College of Graduate Studies (CGS) encourages graduate program advisors/directors to work closely with faculty to know which of their students they are nominating for the UGF. Note that students may not be nominated while they are active Research Fellows.

Across both years, the student is appointed as an SDSU Research Fellow (0.4 FTE) with a minimum stipend of $30,000*.  The appointment is contingent on the student having continued state-side enrollment at SDSU (must be paying mandatory fees) during both years and therefore ends when they graduate, take a leave of absence, enroll solely at the joint partner campus, or withdraw from their program. The student is also expected to maintain Graduate Student Good Standing (academic and professional) during their fellowship.

For those students who are awarded the UGF, their faculty mentor, or the doctoral program director in certain instances, is responsible for approving the UGF Research Fellow's monthly reported absences or "No Leave Taken" entries in PeopleSoft.

In the matching year (mentor year), the faculty mentor’s grant (external funding through the SDSU Research Foundation only) is billed for the financial support that they have committed to. Note that during the matching year, it is up to the faculty mentor whether or not they want to provide support for the UGF Scholarship, tuition, and/or fees.

For the second year (CGS year), CGS provides the financial support for the stipend and provides the UGF Scholarship^ that can be used towards tuition, fees, health insurance, etc. Note that during the CGS-supported year, the UGF does not come with waivers for tuition and/or fees.

In order for applications to be competitive upon review, faculty mentors are encouraged to commit to the cost of the UGF Scholarship, along with stipend support during the match year. Please note that this fellowship does not include tuition (in-state nor out-of-state) nor other mandatory fee waivers.

*Research Fellows may not be additionally employed in a Unit 11 position (TA, GA, or ISA).

^The cost of the UGF Scholarship was $4,300 for the 2025-2026 academic year. This cost will increase for 2026-2027.

Matching Commitment

The UGF invests institutional funding that is intended to supplement, not displace, external sources of support for graduate students. Therefore, a matching requirement is included in the design of the program. Submitted applications with matching commitments that include the required stipend along with the cost of the UGF Scholarship will be scored higher. Please refer to the scoring rubric to best position your application for funding.  Key details regarding the program, including nomination instructions, and scoring rubric are linked below. 

It is the faculty mentor’s responsibility to make sure the PI of the matching fund(s) communicates with their SDSU Research Foundation grant specialist regarding all costs associated with providing matching funds for the UGF (fringe costs/UGF Scholarship/etc.). 

The matching year (mentor year) is the first year of the fellowship with the second year funded by CGS as described above. Teaching responsibilities are not permitted during the year on fellowship, nor as part of the matching commitment.

As part of the nomination, the faculty mentor (known as the co-sponsor) will submit a narrative that commits external funding for support during the first of the two fellowship years. External sources can be extramural funding or philanthropy that is managed through the SDSU Research Foundation. Importantly, the match cannot be made from state funds or partner campus funding sources.

The graduate program advisor/director may serve as the faculty co-sponsor in circumstances where a well-qualified nominee does not yet have a faculty mentor with financial responsibility but does have a readily identified source of external funding. For example, the advisor/director may nominate an incoming student supported by a training grant, endowed scholarship, or external fellowship manged through SDSU Research Foundation. 

Failure by the faculty mentor to honor their commitment could jeopardize further UGF funding.

Post-Award Report

If awarded, the faculty mentor and student must submit a short report detailing their accomplishments and project progress.

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 (CSRR) and the student’s home college will be consulted to ensure that the student is 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 Process

Only faculty co-sponsors can submit: (1) the nomination form along with (2) the nominee’s CV and (3) if applicable, a letter of support from the PI/Co-PI of the matching funds.

1. UGF nominations are initiated by the faculty mentor/PI via a Google nomination form. Nominations for the 2026-2027 cycle will be accepted from February 1 through February 28, 2026. We encourage graduate program advisors/directors to work closely with faculty to know which of their students they are nominating for the UGF.
2. CGS submits (a) nominees to CSRR for processing and, (b) to the SDSURF to confirm funding availability. CGS simultaneously scores the proposed level of support for the review team.
3. CGS sends nominees to the graduate program advisors/directors for ranking.
4. Graduate program advisors/directors send rankings back to CGS.
5. A Faculty Review Committee reviews and scores each nomination for research, scholarship, and creative activities (RSCA).
6. The CGS Graduate Dean will review both the graduate program advisor/director rankings and the Faculty Review Committee’s RSCA scores and make a determination of awardees. 

Nomination Links

• Link to UGF 2026-2027 Faculty Co-Sponsor Nomination Google Form
• PDF of UGF 2026-2027 Faculty Co-Sponsor Nomination Google Form
• 2026-2027 UGF Rubric

If you have questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected].