If You Are a Ph.D. Student

The standard financial aid package provides for five full years of funding. First-year students generally receive a fellowship for two quarters and a teaching assistantship for one quarter. In subsequent years, support comes in the form of teaching assistantships and (in some cases) research assistantships and fellowships. Fellowships and assistantships provide a stipend/salary and cover tuition and most fees in addition. More information on stipends and other benefits is available here: https://supportinggraduatestudents.ucr.edu/compensation-benefits.

If You Are an M.A. Student

Fellowship funding is not available to M.A. students.  M.A. students may be eligible for need-based aid. Teaching assistantships are occasionally awarded to M.A. students.

Departmental Research Funding: The Gabbert Fund

The Gabbert Fund is used to support graduate student research. A few times a year a faculty committee solicits student research proposals and chooses which ones to approve. Research grants can be used to support a wide range of activities with a maximum amount of $2,000.

The Gabbert fund is named in honor of Judge John Gabbert. Judge Gabbert's contributions to UCR began before the institution existed. He founded the Citizens University Committee in the early 1950s to coordinate the city's efforts to convince members of the state commission to select Riverside as the site for the new campus. Many believe it was John Gabbert along with Phillip Boyd and John Babbage who brought a UCR campus to Riverside. The Honorable John Gabbert has served many organizations throughout the years including: Riverside County Bar Association, California Bar Association, Riverside Unified School Board, Riverside Junior Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Riverside Community Foundation, 20-30 Club, Riverside Unified School District Board of Trustees, and the UC Riverside Foundation Board of Trustees.

Get Help Finding Funding

UCR’s Graduate Division can help you apply for funding. Most fellowships and teaching assistantships include fee remissions and health insurance, as do some graduate student researcher jobs.

Explore fellowships, scholarships, and grants 

Find additional external funding

The UCR Office of Research and Economic Development can also give you expert help in identifying and locating fellowships for dissertation research.

We encourage you to also seek external support from sources such as the National Science Foundation.

Get a Travel Grant

If you want to attend a conference, you may be able to get a departmental and/or Graduate Student Association Conference travel grant. Learn more.

We offer competitive grants for obtaining additional methodological training at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and The Institute for Qualitative and Multi-Method Research (IQMR) summer schools.