Funding Opportunities

The following types of funding opportunities are available to Sociology graduate students:

Tuition Fellowship
All graduate students are charged tuition. Both residents and non-residents owe the same amount of tuition. Most, but not necessarily all, tuition is usually covered in the first-year offer in various ways. Regents Fellowship Quarters usually include both a stipend and tuition. TAships typically pay both a salary, and include remission of all tuition except campus programs fees, so the graduate student fee remission includes student services fee + tuition + plus  health insurance, and excluding campus fees. Refer to Cost of Attendance.

Chancellor’s Fellowships
A limited number of Chancellor’s Fellowships are awarded to first-year graduate students in doctoral programs. This merit-based campus wide competitive fellowship is a nine-month award that provides a stipend of $24,000 plus payment of all university tuition and fees (which includes health insurance). If applicable, non-resident tuition is also included. Fellowships are not re-awarded if a recipient declines.

Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowships
The Cota-Robles Fellowship is a state-funded, merit-based fellowship awarded on a campus wide competitive basis to first-year graduate students who have overcome significant social or educational obstacles to achieve a college education, and whose backgrounds equip them to contribute to intellectual diversity among the graduate student population. The Cota-Robles fellowship provides a stipend during the regular academic year of $21,000 plus payment of all university fees (this includes health insurance, but excludes non-resident tuition). For the summer quarter, a $3,000 stipend is awarded. The Cota-Robles Fellowship is part of a five-year total support package. The department provides support (usually in the form of TA or GSR appointments) for two years; the Graduate Division provides two years of fellowship plus an additional year for those fellows who advance to candidacy within normative time. Fellowship recipients must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents, or undocumented students who qualify for nonresident supplemental tuition exemptions under AB 540.

Regent’s Fellowships
Regent’s fellowships are awarded by the Sociology Department based on academic merit. The fellowship covers all tuition and fees (which includes health insurance), along with a stipend.

Teaching Fellowships
Students are eligible for Teaching Fellowships after they advance to candidacy. Teaching Fellows conduct the entire instruction of a group of students in a lower division course under the general supervision of a regular faculty member. Teaching Fellows receive a salary along with tuition and fee remission (which includes health insurance).

Teaching Assistantships
Teaching Assistants typically conduct sections for undergraduate Sociology courses under the supervision of a regular faculty member. Teaching Assistants work on average 20 hours per week, and no more than 220 hours per quarter. Teaching Assistants receive a salary along with tuition and fee remission (which includes health insurance, but excludes campus fees).

Reader positions
Readers typically grade papers for undergraduate Sociology courses under the supervision of a regular faculty member. Readers are paid an hourly rate, and are typically appointed for 40-75 hours total for the quarter. There is no fee or tuition remission associated with the position.

Graduate Student Researcher positions
A Graduate Student Researcher is a graduate student appointed to assist in performing research under the direction of a ladder-rank faculty member or authorized Principal Investigator. GSR positions over 25% time will cover all tuition and fees (including health insurance), along with a salary.

Dissertation Year Fellowships (President’s and Chancellor’s)
The Chancellor's Dissertation Year Fellowships are awarded based on academic merit.

The President's Dissertation Year Fellowship is awarded based on both academic merit and diversity criteria. The student is selected for their academic achievement, potential for success in academia, and the extent that they contribute to the diversity among doctoral degree recipients in the division. (The diversity criteria can be found at http://graddiv.ucsc.edu/current-students/pdfs/DSSP_Guidelines.pdf.)

Both fellows receive a $21,000 stipend plus payment of tuition and fees (including health insurance).

Stem Cell Justice Fellowships
Stem Cell Justice Fellowships are funded by a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine overseen by the UCSC Institute for the Biology of Stem Cells (IBSC) who coordinates opportunities for training and research related to the biology of stem cells. IBSC coordinates student projects with the Science & Justice Research Center (SJRC) under the guidance of faculty advisors. Learn more.

International Students Non-resident Supplemental Tuition Fellowship
Graduate Division has funded a limited number of two-year international student non-resident tuition fellowships for incoming cohort doctoral students. These are awarded on a competitive basis, and each division is allotted a certain number of two types of fellowships, including those (1) restricted to applicants with citizenship from any “Latin American” country (including Mexico and Central American countries), and (2) unrestricted for non-US citizens from all other countries. If an international student is chosen for the department’s shortlist of admits, the selection committee may decide to nominate them for one of these awards. The divisional deans choose their division’s recipients and departments are authorized to include two years’ of NRT in the offer. These fellowships are not re-awarded if a recipient declines their offer of admission; all unaccepted funds return to Graduate Division.

The fellowship covers the first two years of non-resident tuition. Students will still owe non-resident tuition for the quarters  remaining beyond their second year and until advancement to candidacy.

Non-residents (out-of-state and international applicants) are charged non-resident supplemental tuition in addition to tuition. A non-resident tuition fellowship may, or may not, be included as part of the admission offer. If not included, the applicant will owe at least one year’s non-resident supplemental tuition. For Cota-Robles and Chancellor’s Fellowships, first year non-resident tuition, if applicable, is always included.

U.S. citizens and permanent residents from other states should begin establishing residency before the start of their first year in  order to be eligible for California residency (and to eliminate non-resident tuition) by the beginning of their second year. You must be in California for 366 days to qualify for residency. International students cannot establish residency for tuition purposes, and  therefore have tuition until they advance to candidacy. After advancement, an international student is exempt from non-resident supplemental tuition for three years – that is, for the three years’ normative time from advancement to completion of the PhD. 

Some applicants may be exempt from non-resident supplemental tuition. But, a non-resident tuition exemption is not the same as being a resident, and they still need to establish residency by the second year. For more information about exceptions, refer to UCOP. Complete and sign this form to request an AB540 exemption from Nonresident Supplemental Tuition charged to nonresident students. It is the student’s responsibility to pursue the process to establish residency. The department will assume you’ve taken the necessary steps by the beginning of the second year (and does not pay NR tuition beyond the first year). The Registrar usually sends a reminder the previous spring quarter. For more information, refer to: http://registrar.ucsc.edu/fees.