Financial Support

Graduate students in good academic standing are provided financial support through their fifth year with some combination of graduate fellowships, TAships, research assistantships, and teaching assistantships in other departments. This support is for the academic year (fall, winter, spring). Students are encouraged to seek and apply for outside funding from government agencies, private foundations and industry. Beginning in their second or third year, students with the appropriate academic background are also strongly encouraged to apply for TAships in college core courses and in other departments on campus. We ask that each student speak with their main academic advisor at the beginning of each academic year to discuss additional sources of funding beyond those provided by the department.

The department receives a variable amount of funds each year from the Graduate Division for graduate student research and travel grants. The notification usually arrives in the winter quarter and is sent via email with the information on how to apply and the deadline for doing so. It has been department policy to give the highest priority to requests for travel to present a paper/poster at a scholarly conference. Due to limited funds, we normally can fund only one conference per student each year. Depending on available funds and the number of requests, we traditionally fund full or partial airfare and registration fees. We have not had sufficient funds for meals and lodging. Students can also apply for retroactive funding under the application guidelines.

Beginning Fall 2020, admitted psychology graduate students will receive a small stipend for the summer following their first year. The summer stipend amount is specified on graduate students' offer letters at the time of admissions.

The Psychology Department has limited offerings for summer funding. Graduate students should seek external summer support and discuss summer support options with their faculty advisor. The Department will have limited availability to offer graduate students the following:

Summer TAships

A few summer Psychology TAships are available each summer. The call for summer TAships will be sent out in mid-May. When assigning these positions, priority goes to students earlier in the program who have no other summer support.

Summer GSIs

Students who have a master’s degree or who have advanced to candidacy may also apply to teach summer courses as Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs). The call for summer GSI teaching is announced in late fall.

Summer Support Grants

The Department has limited funds provided by the Graduate Division that we can use to provide students with small summer stipends, and priority goes to students at earlier stages in the program. These stipends have been historically provided by the following  grants; Travel and Conference Grant, Mini-Grant, Summer Graduate Research Award, and Summer Dissertation Fellowship. Graduate students should discuss summer support options with their faculty advisor and graduate program coordinator.

Graduate students are encouraged to apply for graduate student fellowships and awards from external agencies. Students may apply once within their first two years to the National Science Foundation fellowship and the Ford Fellowship. In addition, there are other awards that students can apply, especially for their dissertation research. For more information, please check with the Graduate Coordinator and your advisor. 

Full information regarding this program is available here. 

The Campus offers an annual housing supplement of $2,500 for doctoral and MFA students who are enrolled full-time and are in good standing through the Office of Financial Aid until additional campus graduate student housing is available. 

The 2022-2023 housing supplement is allocated to PhD/MFA students in good standing, pro-rated for the number of quarters students are registered full-time (or $833/quarter). For quarters in which students are registered part-time, they are allocated 1/2 the supplement. Students on filing fee, in absentia and LOA status are not eligible for the supplement. If students return to regular enrollment status mid-year, their disbursement will be determined by the prorated number of quarters that they are enrolled.

Dispersal Information
Processing of Housing Supplements will begin after the Late Enrollment deadline for graduate students on September 30. Dispersals to most eligible domestic graduate students will be batch-paid, approximately the first week of December. Dispersals to international graduate students are processed via a manual pay mechanism on a rolling basis. This more complex payment mechanism for international students is required by tax law, and results in longer processing times due to the individualized tax-associated paperwork: there can also be additional hold-ups if required documentation is missing or incomplete.  

PLEASE update your payment information (via payee 204 Docusign Powerform link: Payee Setup 204 Form Helper for your new address if you have recently moved and you receive a paper check. We recommend that, if possible, you sign up for direct deposit). If you are an international student, please make sure that relevant documentation (i.e., Glacier forms signed and dated with current calendar year and "Scholarship/Fellowship" tax benefit displayed on the form) are up-to-date to avoid payment delays.

New PhD/MFA graduate students*; ongoing
Effective fall 2021
Up to $1,500 available for new, incoming PhD/MFA graduate students. 

Eligibility:

• Must be a new or incoming student in a doctoral or MFA program.

• Must matriculate within the current academic year OR have matriculated in the previous academic year.

• Must be relocating from outside of the Santa Cruz region to within 100 miles of the UC Santa Cruz main campus.

• Must incur expenses related to the change in housing such as transportation costs, housing deposits, loss of income, and household supplies.

Eligible students can apply by selecting “New Student Relocation Suplmnt” in their To-Do List/Tasks in MyUCSC.
Program available: Fall 2021.

UC Santa Cruz provides subsidized back-up child and elder care. This will include both in-home care and care at one of the child-care centers in a care network now being assembled. Each eligible employee and student who registers for the program will be allotted 15 uses per year. Users will be responsible for a copay per use, and campus will cover the rest of the cost.