Other Campus Funding Opportunities
Many campus centers and departments offer funding specifically for UCSB graduate students. Details are available below — see the relevant websites for the most up-to-date information, application materials, and deadlines. For other fellowship opportunities, see Extramural Funding, Central Fellowships, or the International Doctoral Recruitment Fellowship (IDRF) for international students.
Quick Links
Academic Senate Doctoral Student Travel Grant
Application Basics
Deadline: Application must be received at least 21 calendar days prior to travel
Eligibility: Applicants must be doctoral students and advanced to candidacy, or if MFA students, must be in their second year and in candidacy prior to travel.
Funding Amount: $250 - $1500
Travel funding is available to attend a major professional conference at which the applicant will present research, perform, or exhibit. Students are eligible to receive two in-person Doctoral Student Travel Grants, one of which may be used for international travel, during their graduate career at UCSB. A student who receives a grant for a virtual conference will still be eligible to receive two grants for in-person conferences.
Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships Training and Community Outreach Grants
Application Basics
Deadline: First Tuesday every month
Eligibility: Groups of graduate students or postdoctoral scholars planning STEM outreach and professional development events.
Funding Amount: Up to $750
The Center for Science and Engineering Partnerships offers Training and Community Outreach Grants for groups planning STEM outreach and professional development events. STEM outreach events include but are not limited to events with grade school students, undergraduate students, and community college students. Career and professional development events include but are not limited to networking events, panels, and workshops.
Chicano Studies Institute Dissertation Grant
Application Basics
Deadline: May
Eligibility: Graduate students must be advanced to candidacy, must be within normative time standards, and dissertation proposals must be formally approved by their dissertation committee by the beginning of the award period.
Funding Amount: Up to $2500
The Chicano Studies Institute (CSI) invites applications for funding graduate student research addressing topics affecting Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x communities. Funding received in the form of research grants may be used for supplies and other research expenses. Funding received in the form of fellowships will be disbursed as one-time stipend payments and are intended to provide students summer sustenance relief from seeking employment, allowing focused time for research and writing.
Coastal Fund
Application Basics
Deadline: End of each quarter
Eligibility: Coastal Fund grant applications must be submitted in connection with a UCSB affiliated department, registered non-partisan nonprofit, or government agency.
Funding Amount: Up to $15,000
The Coastal Fund connects people and the environment by allocating funds to programs that celebrate, explore, and protect the coastal ecosystems in and around the University of California, Santa Barbara. Proposals must enhance the terrestrial and marine habitats associated with the shoreline of UCSB through preservation, education, open access, research, or restoration, and projects must have relevance to the student community.
GradTeach Forum
Application Basics
Deadline: Various
Eligibility: All graduate students.
Funding Amount: Tuition and 25-75% employment
The GradTeach forum, located on Google Groups, connects graduate students seeking student academic employment with departments in need of additional support. You are encouraged to subscribe to this group with your UCSB email address in order to receive updates directly to your inbox. However, even without subscribing, you can view the listings using your UCSB email.
Graduate Student Association Childcare Grant
Application Basics
Deadline: Week 8 of every quarter
Eligibility: Applicants must be currently registered graduate students at UCSB with dependent(s). Applicants must provide proof of dependent(s) either in the form of a copy of a birth certificate or through receipts for childcare services such as daycare showing dependent(s) names and the applicant’s name.
Funding Amount: $300 - $600
This grant provides general support for graduate students with children regardless of milestone or specific need events. Approved graduate students with single-child households will receive an award of $300; graduate students with more than one child will receive $150 per additional child (i.e., $300 for a single-child house, $450 for a 2-child house, etc.). Grants are limited to one award per graduate student per quarter, with a maximum of five awards allowed during a student’s academic tenure at UC Santa Barbara.
Graduate Student Association Conference Travel Grant
Application Basics
Deadline: October, February, May, July
Eligibility: This grant is open to graduate students at all levels. An applicant must be accepted to present original research and have expenses not covered by other funding sources.
Funding Amount: $12,250 per quarter divided among all eligable applicants
The GSA Conference Travel Grant is intended to help offset the costs of travel or registration fees at professional conferences at which a graduate student is presenting original research. The funds available each quarter will be divided evenly between all eligible applicants. Please note that you do not receive the grant beforehand; it is only processed after you attend your conference and submit proof of attendance.
Graduate Student Association Internship Fellowship
Application Basics
Deadline: April
Eligibility: Open to all graduate students enrolled through the quarter after their internship ends.
Funding Amount: $2,000-2,500
The Graduate Student Association Internship Fellowship assists graduate students with attaining work experience related to their career goals and professional development. It will be awarded to students who demonstrate how their work experience will impact their career trajectory and who demonstrate financial need. It is made possible through GSA fees and is coordinated by Career Services and the GSA.
Individualized Professional Skills Grant Program
Application Basics
Deadline: June
Eligibility: Graduate students in all disciplines with preference to students in STEM disciplines.
Funding Amount: Up to $1200
The UCSB Individualized Professional Skills (IPS) Program is designed to help graduate students and postdoctoral scholars pursue opportunities that support their professional development. The IPS program accepts applications for experiences geared towards careers in the tech industry (open to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in all disciplines) or experiences for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in STEM disciplines.
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Dissertation Fellowship
Application Basics
Deadline: April
Eligibility: Students in the humanities (Division of Humanities and Fine Arts) and humanistic social sciences (Division of Social Sciences) are eligible to apply. Students must have advanced to PhD candidacy by the application deadline. P3 students are not eligible to hold the dissertation fellowship.
Funding Amount: $7000
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center offers dissertation fellowships to support UCSB doctoral candidates whose research facilitates dialogue across the traditional disciplinary boundaries within the arts and humanities and/or between the arts and humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Proposed projects should seek to frame their questions, methods, and modes of inquiry with reference to two or more established disciplines/fields of study and/or foster the development of new objects, areas of study, and ways of producing, presenting, and disseminating knowledge.
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Graduate Collaborative Award
Application Basics
Deadline: January
Eligibility: Groups of graduate students from at least two UCSB departments and/or academic programs are eligible to apply.
Funding Amount: Up to $1500
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center offers collaborative project awards to encourage graduate student collaboration beyond the confines of particular departments and disciplines, both within the arts and humanities and between the arts and humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Eligible projects include conferences, symposia, exhibitions, and performances at UCSB or in the local community.
Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Visual, Performing, and Media Arts Award
Application Basics
Deadline: January
Eligibility: The competition is open to UCSB faculty and graduate students.
Funding Amount: Up to $1000
The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center offers individual and collaborative awards for interdisciplinary projects in the visual, performing, and media arts. The award supports creative work that uses its medium in innovative ways to explore topics of humanistic concern. Projects that engage audiences both within and beyond the university are strongly encouraged.
The Green Initiative Fund
Application Basics
Deadline: October, February, April
Eligibility: UCSB students, staff, and faculty are able to submit project proposals as long as they are under the umbrella of a campus unit.
Funding Amount: $170,000 among all applicants
The Green Initiative Fund (TGIF) provides funding for projects which "green" our campus and reduce the University’s impact on the environment. TGIF allocates funds to projects that increase the amount of renewable energy used on campus, increase energy efficiency, and reduce the amount of waste created (GHGs) by our University. Portions of the fund will support education initiatives, student aid (via return to aid), and internships.
Steve and Barbara Mendell Graduate Fellowship in Cultural Literacy
Application Basics
Deadline: May
Eligibility: Only doctoral students who have advanced to PhD candidacy by the application deadline are eligible to apply.
Funding Amount: $3000 - $4000
The Steve and Barbara Mendell Graduate Fellowship in Cultural Literacy was established in 2006 by a generous gift from Steven and Barbara Mendell. The endowment supports one or more fellowship stipends each year for outstanding graduate students in the College of Letters and Science at UCSB whose research or programs of study advance the goals of broad-based cultural literacy and high ethical standards in our participative democracy.
Financial Services
For questions about receiving stipends, please contact our Financial Services team.
Graduate Student Resource Center
For guidance on preparing application materials, please see the Graduate Student Resource Center website.
Graduate Division
For basic information about funding, please consult the Graduate Division website.