Finding Funding

Here's is a discussion of financial aid, based on previous presentations to prospective graduate students. Thank you to Yvonne for her summary.

Disclaimer: All students' funding offers and situations are different so this is just an overview of the general experience. For more information talk to the math department staff, your advisor and/ or other students.

Overview of Department Funding

Policy: In general, most students are guaranteed 3-5 years funding, most likely to be shorter if you have a masters. To find information about the length of your support, refer to your original and supplemental departmental offer letters. Your original offer stands, provided you are in good standing and that you show good performance as a TA and in your other departmental responsibilities.

This support will come through a combination of TAships, AIships, GSRships, Fellowships, etc. that are assigned during the annual review (for more information click here). For more details on each funding option skip to Academic Year Funding. You may also wish to pursue outside sources of funding, for more details skip to External Funding. There are also some internal UC Davis fellowships. If you are eligible, you should apply. If you can make a case for being eligible, you should apply.

Why apply for other funding?

FAFSA In order to get funding support you must do FAFSA every year! This only applies to domestic students. It takes half an hour, and has these benefits:

Academic Year Funding

Available Types of Funding:

Note: For the 2007-2008 academic year, graduate students also had Readerships as a funding support option. Readerships are required homework grading.

External Funding

Outside of one's advisor and direct support from the Math Department, there are quite a few fellowships and funding opportunities that are relevant to math grad student.

Here are some links to get it started:

National Laboratories The National Labs are funded by the US Department of Energy to carry out scientific research in the public interest. Both Lawrence Berkeley Lab and Lawrence Livermore Lab, conveniently located in the East Bay, have opportunities for graduate students both during the summer and the academic year. More information is available at http://jobs.lbl.gov and http://jobs.llnl.gov .

Annual Review: Funding Appointment Process

You will be supported via a combination of funding options. How does the department decide what to give each student?

Process: Annual Review, research proposals. Due every year in April. Goal: offer letter before the summer.

Parting advice

Summer Funding

Summer can be an opportunity to pursue research or try out something new to strengthen your resume. Some examples of available types of summer funding inlcude: