Salary & Funding

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Graduate Student Funding

Graduate students may be supported through a combination of Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) appointments, Teaching Assistant (TA) or Reader positions, fellowships, scholarships, and other awards. Many Ph.D. and M.S. Plan I students enter HSGG with an initial funding plan developed with their Major Professor, while funding arrangements for other students may vary by quarter and are not guaranteed for the full degree.

Use the resources below to understand common funding sources, salary and fee-remission benefits, and opportunities available through HSGG and UC Davis. Plan ahead, communicate regularly with your Major Professor, and review your funding arrangements before each academic quarter.

Graduate Student Funding

New Students

There are several ways to be funded at UC Davis. The offer of admission and any offer of financial support are separate processes. Financial offers may be sent at any time, and are most commonly sent throughout February, March, and April. UC Davis is a member of the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), and per the Council of Graduate Schools Resolution, students are under no obligation to accept a financial offer prior to April 15.

MS Plan II (Professional) Students: Most MS students will not receive an initial financial offer prior to starting. If you do not receive an initial financial offer, that does not mean you won't have funding while here. Not all students will be funded (especially true for MS students). Many of our students will find partial funding, or full funding for select quarters, throughout the course of their graduate studies. We highly encourage students to be proactive in seeking funding opportunities outside our department and outside campus.

PhD students and MS Plan I (Thesis) Students: PhD and MS Plan I students are generally admitted directly under the supervision of a specific Major Professor. Many PhD and MS Plan I students will receive an initial financial offer from their Major Professor. Funding offers generally include a mix of different employment opportunities (e.g. GSR or TA/Reader positions) and fellowships.

Overview

Students can receive pay through a variety of opportunities and appointments, with the most common options including:

  • Fellowships are highly competitive and vary widely with regard to the stipend and/or tuition support they offer. In addition, UC Davis offers a special graduate opportunity program for qualified minority and/or economically disadvantaged students that offers a twelve-month stipend based on financial need, as determined by the Financial Aid Office.
  • Academic Appointments
    • Graduate Student Research positions are based on research grant funding, and are arranged with individual faculty members. Applicants interested in a GSR position should make early contact with individual faculty members in their areas of interest (see faculty web pages) to discuss possible research funding opportunities. GSR positions are primarily available to MS I and Ph.D. students. Graduate Student Research positions provide full remission of the in-state fees and the non-resident supplemental tuition (NRST).
    • Teaching Assistant positions are allocated by the department, include partial remission of in-state fees, and for entering students are normally awarded only to domestic students. Readerships involve marking homework solutions submitted by students, and are arranged with individual instructors prior to the beginning of each quarter. Readerships are hourly positions, and include partial fee remissions for in-state fees. Readership positions should not be considered as a sole means of support.

All funding is contingent on eligibility to receive the funding (more information and links below). Generally, eligibility includes: legal status to work and/or receive fellowships, prerequisites (such as TA orientation), full-time enrollment, GPA, good standing, and satisfactory progress. In HSGG, students can work between 25–50% during the academic year, and up to 100% in summer.

Fellowships

Fellowships are highly prestigious financial support packages that typically include a stipend, tuition remission, and a subsidy for medical insurance. They derive from University or outside awards.

  • External Fellowships
  • External fellowships are those offered by private foundations, government agencies, and corporations.  A variety of support is given, from one-time awards to multi-year support. You are strongly encouraged to apply for external fellowships on your own – information can be found here.

    Your faculty members can be a great source of help in thinking about which external fellowships to apply for. You are always encouraged to talk to your mentors about this. You can also keep a look out for external grants that you or your PI could apply for. If you help your PI find a fun grant, you might be able to work on it too!

    Graduate Studies also lists several search engines that can be useful in finding external fellowships. Also, the Office of Research have developed a video tutorial for getting started with the Pivot database. It can be accessed by following this link and clicking the "Search a Comprehensive Funding Database" dropdown option.
  • Internal Fellowships
  • Internal fellowships are funds that you receive—and do not have to pay back—that are intended to support you as a student for you to fully engage in your academics and research. Fellowships may be in the form of tuition payments (funds paid directly toward the tuition costs) or as stipend payments (funds paid out to the student). There are campus-level as well as departmental fellowships.  Students must meet eligibility requirements to receive a fellowship.

    Campus Level Fellowships:
    - All new students who applied by the fellowship deadline are considered for the Campus Prospective Student Fellowships automatically with your application. A few select students will be nominated by the department for campus-level fellowships, which are extremely competitive.
    - Continuing students are HIGHLY encouraged to apply for campus-level fellowships each fall – I strongly encourage you take the time to see which of these you are eligible for. A list of available fellowships is on the Graduate Studies.

    HSGG Program Fellowships:
    All HSGG students will receive two academic quarters of funding upon admission. ADD MORE HERE

Fall Fellowship Stipend Payments 

Fellowship Stipend Disbursement Dates 

Regulations for Graduate Students Receiving Fellowships (GS501) 

Fellowship Direct Deposit: step-by-step directions

Academic Appointments

Students must be legally eligible to work to hold an academic appointment, and meet general eligibility requirements. Academic appointments 25% or greater come with partial or full fee remission (depending on appointment type) in addition to a salary.

Review the Graduate Studies website for Student Employment for additional information, eligibility, and up-to-date resources.

  • Graduate Student Researcher (GSR)
  • You might be hired by a particular faculty member (e.g., your major advisor) to engage in research. GSR positions pay a salary, and also provide full tuition and fee remission (in-state and NRST). GSR positions are more common for PhD and MS thesis (plan I) students. 
    More information about GSRs can be found here.
  • Teaching Assistant (TA), Reader, Tutor
  • You can be hired by our department or by other departments for these positions. It is highly recommended you apply to other departments in addition to HSGG. TA, Reader, and tutor positions (ASE) pay a salary, and provide in-state fee remission. TA, Reader, and/or tutor positions do NOT cover the Nonresident Supplemental Tuition (NRST; also called out-of-state tuition). 

    Any student who wishes to be a TA during their studies at UC Davis must attend the TA Orientation once during their graduate career. This is offered by campus each fall; HSGG's session is scheduled directly by the Center for Educational Effectiveness. There may be additional orientation offerings in the winter and spring, but all students are encouraged to sign up in the fall. 

    Applying for TAs: You can contact faculty within HSGG or other departments about possible TA and readership positions if you are interested. Each department will have its own process for selecting TAs and Readers. We highly recommend looking at both the department's website, as well as checking for TA and Reader job postings on Handshake. 

    English Proficiency Requirements for TAs: Depending on your Undergraduate Degree, TOEFL, and/or IELTS scores, you may be required to pass the TOEP (Test of Oral English Proficiency) prior to being employed as a TA (receiving a waiver for the TOEFL at time of admission does not automatically qualify you for a waiver of this requirement). Students can check their eligibility using TALRA.
  • Hours, expectations, and timesheets
  • All employees are expected to complete a monthly or hourly timesheet based on employment. Hourly employees will be paid based on hours reported in their timesheet, and failure to complete the timesheet by the deadline may result in delayed payment. Monthly timesheets must be used for leave reporting (i.e., Paid Time Off, Leave Without Pay) and/or to confirm that no leave was used. 

    At the beginning of every quarter, students should work with their supervisor (instructor of record for a course or PI) to understand their work expectations, schedule for work, and preferred method of requesting leave. If at any time the student finds that the work assigned exceeds the allotted hours indicated by their appointment, the student should address this with their supervisor immediately to discuss adjusting expectations. If the student needs additional support in this conversation, they are welcome to contact the Graduate Program Coordinator, Graduate Advisor, and/or Department Chair as they feel appropriate.

 

Getting Paid

Students are responsible for staying on top of their funding situation. We highly recommend students check their account balances/paychecks at least once a month, and always check their MyBill account well in advance of the graduate student final fee payment deadline. We also highly recommend students check in with their faculty member about their funding each quarter so they can understand how they are being funded. Mistakes do happen, and when students ask questions and bring issues to the awareness of the staff, those mistakes can usually be fixed quickly.

If you are funded, your Major Professor is generally responsible for coordinating your funding, and letting the various staff members know what the funding plan is (and students should be in communication with their Major Professor as well). We recommend frequent and open conversations about your funding with your faculty so you understand the funding source, funding level, funding duration, and work expectations associated with your funding plan.

  • International Student Payments
  • International graduate students must have a complete Glacier record in order to receive any funding, and incomplete Glacier records are the number one reason international students receive their payments late. Glacier is the University's nonresident alien tax compliance system. Students can request an account to get started and receive information to log in. The payee (student) must complete the process, including providing copies of their immigration documents through the secure file upload tool. Once this process is complete, they are eligible for payment.
  • Salary Points
  • There are salary scale increments, or salary points, for GSR and TA titles. The Contract Salary Scale Estimate can be found here. Our department hires students based on the experience noted in the salary scale.
  • Getting Started (first pay day)
  • Salary for academic appointments is paid in arrears (at the end of the month worked). If you are funded for fall quarter as a TA or GSR, the first payment (academic appointment salary) is generally November 1 (Readers are paid biweekly — see below). 

    Some students may qualify for an emergency loan, short-term loan, graduate assistant loan, or the Fall Quarter Graduate Transition Loan through the Financial Aid Office to assist with financial needs until payday. 

    The fall fellowship is disbursed in 4 payments rather than the standard 3, to allow earlier payment.
  • Pay Day Academic Appointments

  • Academic Appointments

    For academic appointments (TA, Reader, GSR), you can look at the Payday Notice Calendar. TAs and GSRs receive monthly pay. Readers receive biweekly pay (unless you are a Reader and a TA or GSR in the same quarter — then you will be paid monthly). Your employment verification and paychecks can be viewed in UC Path. 

    Note: the paycheck is only viewable in UC Path a few days before payday. 

    Readership requires submitting a timesheet, or you will not be paid — Readers are paid based on hours submitted. For a 25% appointment, the department expects a timesheet of about 10 hours per week (110 hours total).

    Fellowships

    Stipends for internal fellowships are entered in the Banner Student Information System and routed through Student Accounting. The disbursement calendar can be found here (second half of the page). 

    Note: after stipends have been entered, the stipend amounts and refunds as they post can be viewed in MyBill.

  • Fall Transition Loans
  • TAships are always entered into Path with start and end dates of October 1 to December 31, so TAs will always receive their first paycheck November 1. We strongly recommend students in this situation apply for a Fall Quarter Graduate Transition Loan. While it's called a loan, it functions as an advance by allowing the student to borrow up to $1,900 (or one month's salary, whichever is less). This is repaid in three payments subtracted from subsequent paychecks with no interest. Participating in this program should result in students receiving roughly the same income each of the four months starting October 1. Students need to take timely action to receive this option (generally prior to the start of the quarter).

Non-Resident Tuition Fees

For international and non-California students, non-resident tuition often poses the greatest financial difficulty. TAs, Readerships, and regular fellowships do not necessarily include support for out-of-state tuition. Full or partial Non-Resident Tuition Fellowships (NRTF) may be offered by the department. US citizens and permanent residents are expected to become California residents after one year of study. For international students, there is a waiver of the non-resident tuition for three years following advancement to candidacy for the PhD degree (after completing the qualifying exam).

Exemption from Non-Resident tuition (AB 540) is available to certain non-resident students (citizens and undocumented students) who have attended high school in California and received a high school diploma or its equivalent. For more information, please visit the AB 540 legislation page. Undocumented status, DACA, and AB 540 create special categories of financial aid eligibility. For more information, please visit the graduate student guidelines page.

All graduate applicants who are US citizens, permanent residents, or immigrants should file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as early as possible. This form, submitted directly to the Federal Student Aid Program Office, is used to determine financial need only — a component of the eligibility criteria for many fellowships, and for all forms of financial aid. The FAFSA can be obtained from the Financial Aid Office or by accessing the FAFSA website.