Extramural Funding
There is a variety of extramural funding available to graduate students including academic fellowships, dissertation research grants, conference support, postdoctoral fellowships, and more. Besides the potential for substantial funding, the process of applying for fellowships is valuable professional training. The resources below will help you find and apply for these funding sources.
Quick Links
Funding Search Databases
eduPASS
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: International Students
Type of Funding: Scholarships
From eduPASS: "eduPASS began as the international student section of FinAid! The SmartStudent Guide to Financial Aid. The response by international students and educators to that section was overwhelmingly positive. FinAid decided to expand the international students section into a complete site, covering every topic of interest to international students."
fastWEB
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: High School Students, College Students, and Graduate Students
Type of Funding: Scholarships
From fastWEB: "Our platform is designed to simplify the scholarship search for high school, trade school students, and college students. Students create a profile and get personalized scholarship recommendations. We provide students and their parents with information to help them navigate their educational journeys– from college or trade school, throughout college and/or graduate school, and into their career."
GrantForward
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: EXPIRED INSTITUTIONAL ACCESS
Eligibility: Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars
Type of Funding: Awards, Grants
From GrantForward: "GrantForward uses specialized data-crawling technology to constantly update our extensive database of sponsors and funding opportunities, allowing thousands of grant opportunities to be gathered from over 30,000 sponsors. Every grant opportunity is thoroughly analyzed and then verified by our team of specialists to ensure accuracy."
GRAPES
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: College Students, Graduate Students, and Postdoctoral Scholars
Type of Funding: Awards, Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Scholarships
The GRAPES database catalogs extramural funding opportunities of interest to prospective and current graduate students, students working on a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, and postdoctoral scholars. Advanced search options allow users to refine their search by field, academic level, award type, award amount, and other criteria. GRAPES is maintained by the UCLA Graduate Outreach, Diversity, and Fellowships Office.
National Science Foundation
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars in STEM and Social Sciences Fields
Type of Funding: Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Postdoctoral Fellowships
From the National Science Foundation: "The U.S. National Science Foundation offers hundreds of funding opportunities — including grants, cooperative agreements and fellowships — that support research and education across science and engineering." Supported research areas include Biological Sciences, Computer Science and Engineering, Education and Human Resources, Environmental Research, Geosciences, Integrative Activities, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences.
Pathways to Science
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: College Students and Graduate Students in STEM Fields
Type of Funding: Awards, Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Scholarships
Search 1,000+ fully funded STEM programs and STEM funding opportunities nationwide. From Pathways to Science: "Since 2003, we have connected students from groups known to be underrepresented in STEM with funding and research opportunities and have provided faculty and administrators with tools and resources to help promote the positive factors that keep students on the STEM pathway into successful STEM careers."
Pivot
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Institutional Affliation
Eligibility: Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars
Type of Funding: Awards, Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Postdoctoral Fellowships
All members of the UCSB community have free access to Pivot if they are connected to the UCSB network or if they sign up for an account with a ucsb.edu email address. Pivot offers a searchable database of 25,000 records representing over 400,000 individual funding opportunities from sponsors across all disciplines. Students who create accounts can sign up for personalized funding alerts.
ProFellow
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: College Students, Graduate Students, and Postdoctoral Scholars
Type of Funding: Graduate Fellowships, Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Scholarships
From ProFellow: "ProFellow helps you find competitive fellowships and funding. Explore curated listings for graduate school, research, and professional programs. Whether you’re starting out, changing paths, or advancing in your field, ProFellow helps you find professional development programs and funding awards for every stage — early career, graduate school, mid-career, and post-doctorate."
Career Services
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Institutional Affiliation
Eligibility: Graduate Students
Type of Funding: Graduate Fellowships, Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships
Graduate students are a unique and highly trained student population at UCSB. As members of the most educated constituents within the workforce, graduate students' career needs are often vast, nuanced, and advanced. Career Services supports you in seeking out any career that fits your skills and interests. Trained staff members can review cover letters, resumes, and CVs.
Davidson Library Grant Writing Guide
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Scholars
Type of Funding: Grants
This is your resource for finding grants and requests for proposals (RFPs), information on how to write grants or RFPs, templates and guides to help you write the winning grant or RFP, and examples of what grants and RFPs look and sound like. Contact librarian Kristen LaBonte with questions.
Fulbright Information
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Institutional Affiliation
Eligibility: College Students and Graduate Students
Type of Funding: Graduate Fellowships
All current graduate students applying to the Fulbright Program must participate in the internal campus selection process. Students interested in applying are encouraged to contact Anna Theogarajan, the campus Fulbright Adviser, to set up an advising appointment.
Graduate Division Writing Resources
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Free
Eligibility: Graduate Students
Type of Funding: Awards, Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Scholarships
Writing is a fundamental component of any graduate program, and the Graduate Division is committed to supporting students in the development of strong writing skills and healthy writing habits. Resources include the Editing Resource List and the Graduate Writers' Room. Many of these resources can be used to prepare funding applications.
Graduate Student Resource Center
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Institutional Affiliation
Eligibility: Graduate Students
Funding Amount: Awards, Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Graduate Student Resource Center (GSRC) regularly hosts workshops related to extramural funding. Check Shoreline for event listings. The GSRC also maintains a database of successful fellowship applications and sends a bimonthly newsletter about external funding. The GSRC Peer can assist students with basic questions about funding and graduate school. Email gsrc@ucsb.edu with questions.
Office of Research
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Institutional Affiliation
Eligibility: Graduate Students
Type of Funding: Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Office of Research supports UC Santa Barbara’s status as a top-tier research institution and helps catalyze our rich culture of research, innovation and collaboration. Some graduate student awards and fellowships must be processed through the Office of Research.
Your Department
Resource Basics
Cost to Access: Departmental Affiliation
Eligibility: Graduate Students
Type of Funding: Awards, Graduate Fellowships, Grants, Internships, Postdoctoral Fellowships, Scholarships
Your program advisor may have a list of fellowships relevant to your field that students have commonly applied for in the past. Ask you advisor for possible opportunities specific to your research. Look to the fellow students in your program to see what they've applied for or currently have. If you are applying to a fellowship someone in your department already has, ask if it's okay to review their application or set up a coffee break to ask for advice.
Central Fellowships
Continuing grad students can apply for a number of central fellowships administered by the Graduate Division.
Other Campus Funding Opportunities
There are several non-central sources of campus funding including travel grants, dissertation awards, and fellowships.
UC-Wide Fellowships
The UC system offers funding opportunities available to UC faculty, researchers, and graduate students.