Resources for Current Students 

All students admitted to our graduate program receive teaching and research opportunities to fund their graduate program. Students also have the opportunity to apply for fellowships and multiple other funding sources throughout the program. While no graduate student's funding package is alike, we always encourage students to seek out all possible sources of support. Please see a number of resources to assist in funding your education through scholarships, grants and fellowships. Additional resources include university resources to assisting during your time in at UC Berkeley.

In 2024-2025, the students must receive a minimum amount of support of $36,000 through a combination of Graduate Student Instructor (GSI), Graduate Student Researcher (GSR), fellowship, and other student awards. 

In 2023-24, students must receive a minimum salary of $34,000.00 through a combination of GSI, GSR, fellowship, and student support awards.

Graduate Students can visit the pages to learn about GSI appointments or apply for a GSI position.

Department Funding

Student Awards (also known as Continuing Fellowship)

The Continuing Fellowship is an endowment to be used to support graduate students in ESPM. The award will provide the student a stipend and tuition+fees (if not already covered by an additional source). The award will be disbursed at the beginning of a semester for a student (in one lump amount). 

There is no expectation of labor when a student receives a student award from the department.

The funding cannot be deferred to a future academic year. 

Criteria for Funding for ESPM Student Semester of Support Awards (formerly known as Continuing Fellowships):

  1. Due to budgetary constraints, Student Award recipients cannot defer Student Award funding to future academic years.
  2. If a Student Award recipient has or receives an academic year or 12-month  fellowship, they may accept the Student Award as summer support for two consecutive summers. Each summer (2 months), a student would receive 40% of the stipend for one semester (5 months), paid out over two summers (a total of 4 months of funding, or 80% of the 5 month semester stipend). The goal of this policy is to reduce intra-cohort inequities and allow our department to provide higher overall funding levels across our graduate group.
  3. If a Student Award recipient has or receives a partial fellowship that provides less than 50% of the department’s funding minimum, they may accept the full Student Award stipend amount.
  4. Student Award recipients may not work more than 25% time in the semester/summer in which they receive the Student Award. The purpose of the Student semester of support is to give recipients a break from employment (GSI and GSR positions) and to allow students to focus on academic pursuits. Therefore, their primary effort needs to be on their own research, and students are expected to spend no more than 10 hours/weekly in employment positions during the award term.

ESPM Awards  

The funding supports graduate student research (collecting or lab costs), travel to meetings, and publication costs. The application is announced at the same time as the continuing fellowship.  

More about ESPM Awards and Continuing Fellowships can be found in this document. 

For more information, contact our Graduate Student Affairs Officers, Zarah Ersoff and Ryann Madden.

University Funding

For more information about UC Berkeley Graduate Division funding, refer to Graduate Fellowships, Grants & Awards.

Berkeley Connect

Berkeley Connect Fellows have the opportunity both to act as mentors to undergraduate students in their discipline and to be mentored in their own scholarly development by faculty in their department. Fellows are graduate students who have advanced to candidacy (or recent graduates) with exceptional teaching records and mentoring experience, as well as demonstrated research progress and success. Berkeley Connect offers a two-semester 50% GSR Appointment. For more details about the application process and timeline, contact Faculty Director Justin Brashares. Deadline: Early February for the next academic year.

 Data Science for the 21st Century NSF Research Training Program 

The Environment & Society: Data Science for the 21st Century (DS421) is a new National Science Foundation Research Traineeship at Berkeley. The DS421 program is open to incoming and first year PhD students from all departments and select on-campus Master’s degree programs. A number of second year fellowships for PhD trainees are available, providing a one-year stipend ($32,000) plus tuition and fees in the second year of the program. Applications also welcome students who have received independent fellowships from other sources that support them for this period in their career (Berkeley, NSF, International, etc.). Conference travel funds, seed grant funding, and other activities will be available to all trainees. Visit the DS421 site for details of the training program and past trainees.

The Foreign Language and Area Studies 

The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships provide funding to students to encourage the study of critical and less commonly taught foreign languages in combination with area studies, international studies or international aspects of professional studies.

UC-President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship

The UC-President’s Pre-Professoriate Fellowship is part of the UC-Hispanic Serving Institutions Doctoral Diversity Initiative (UC-HSIDDI), which aims to enhance faculty diversity and pathways for historically underrepresented groups from California Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), particularly, Latinx, African Americans, American Indians/Native Americans, Filipinx, and Pacific Islanders in all disciplines; women in STEM; and Asian Americans in the humanities and social sciences.

The UC-President's Pre-Professoriate Fellowship program provides fellowships to UC doctoral students who are matriculated in academic Ph.D. programs and have advanced to candidacy. AB540 students are eligible. International students and Professional students (e.g. M.D., J.D.) are not eligible. Refer to the UC-HSI Doctoral Diversity Initiative for more information.

Graduate Assembly Scholarships & Awards

The Graduate Assembly (GA) provides a number of funding resources to the graduate student community. GA recognizes that a graduate student's education requires traveling and presenting at conferences and/or seminars, which may take place in locations outside the Bay Area. Additionally, graduate student parents must often attend conferences and/or seminars while also fulfilling the needs of their family and children. GA provides General Registered Student Organization (GRSO) funding and a variety of scholarships and grants such as the Grad Student Parent Travel Award and Professional Development Award. For a complete list of opportunities, refer to the Graduate Assembly Resource page.

Extramural Funding

Students preparing extramural grant proposals whose applications require input from their division’s accounting unit must give accounting staff adequate time to assemble the required information. Accounting units require advance notice to process such requests and cannot do so if an application is presented just before deadline.

Visit Graduate Fellowships, Grants and Awards for more extramural funding opportunities!

*If you're interested in applying for grants and fellowships (i.e. EPA Star, NSF Dissertation, etc.), please connect with your Principal Investigator (PI).  

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is intended to promote the “vitality and diversity” of the country’s scientific and engineering workforce. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GSFP) recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based masters and doctoral degrees at accredited United States institutions. Fellows receive a three-year annual stipend and an education allowance for tuition and fees (paid to the institution), opportunities for international research and professional development, and the freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education. The National Science Foundation fellowship is a crown jewel of graduate student awards, and Berkeley students lead the nation in capturing these prestigious and highly competitive grants!

NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DIG)

The National Science Foundation awards Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants in selected areas of the biological sciences. Proposals must fall within the scope of any of the clusters in the Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) or the Behavioral Systems Cluster in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS). These grants provide partial support of doctoral dissertation research for improvement beyond the already existing project. Refer the link for more information on Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants.

ITTO Fellowship Programme

International tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) offers fellowships through the Freezailah Fellowship Fund to promote human resource development and to strengthen professional expertise in member countries in tropical forestry and related disciplines. The goal is to promote the sustainable management of tropical forests, the efficient use and processing of tropical timber, and better economic information about the international trade in tropical timber. Read through the ITTO's Publications & Reports to learn more or send a message.

California Sea Grant State Fellows Program

The California Sea Grant State Fellows Program provides a unique educational opportunity for graduate students who are interested in marine resources and the policy decisions affecting those resources in California. Modeled after the highly successful Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program, the State Fellows Program provides an opportunity to acquire “on the job” experience in the planning and implementation of marine and coastal resource policies and programs in the state of California. The program matches highly motivated and qualified graduate students and recent graduates with “hosts” in State or Federal agencies in California for a 12-month paid fellowship.

Nobel Lindau Meeting Fellowship Program 

The Office of the President's Chief Investment Officer is sponsoring students and postdoctoral fellows to travel to Lindau, Germany, to participate in a Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Allowable expenses are covered by University of California Travel Policy. Fellows may be asked to travel to an orientation meeting prior to the Lindau Nobel Meeting. Expenses associated with that trip and any other trips authorized by the Office of the President for this purpose will be covered. Visit the Lindau Meeting's About page for meeting and participation information. 

Hertz Foundation Fellowship 

The Hertz Foundation Fellowship provides financial and lifelong professional support for the nation’s most promising graduate students in science and technology. The fellowship includes up to five years of funding, valued at up to $250,000, and the freedom to pursue innovative projects wherever they may lead. In addition, fellows take part in ongoing mentoring, symposia, and workshops with our vibrant community of more than 1200 fellows, a set of peers who span disciplines, generations, and geography. Before applying, we encourage you to review the eligibility details. Click through to see the most recent Hertz Fellowship Class. 

Additional Funding Links

Student Basic Needs Support

Basic Needs Center serves as a physical resource hub for basic needs resources and services (Financial Support, Food Support, Housing Support). The Basic Needs Center also is a space for students to create community and access coordinated support for their basic needs. The center is committed to cultivating wellness and belonging in the Basic Needs Center space. Check out the Basic Needs Calendar for events, programs and drop-ins!

Please also visit Basic Needs Financial Aid & Scholarships or fill out a Food Assistance Form to access support.

CalFresh assists eligible students with money for groceries.

 UC Berkeley Food Pantry is an emergency relief food supply for all UC Berkeley students–undergraduate and graduate –and staff members. The Food Pantry, located in the basement of MLK Student Union (Room 68), serves students and staff who need core food support.

Recalibrate  designed to serve as a centralized, visible, accessible, and engaging website for wellness information, resources, and tools targeted at the entire campus community. 

Housing

UC Berkeley Housing lets you explore housing options such as residence halls, apartments  and summer housing.
UC Berkeley University Village provides family housing options for families with children, spouses/partners, or other dependents.
UC Berkeley Off-Campus Housing provides off-campus rental housing listings and services for students, faculty, and staff.

Other Resources, Benefits and Perks

The Graduate Assembly has joined the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) to secure campus-wide no-fee subscription to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for all currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate students. Subscribe today!

Cal Student Store is open for textbook return and pickup as well as in-store retail and curbside pick up. 

The Amazon Hub+ Lockers in the Student Union Retail Store is open for pickup and returns 7-days a week. Don’t forget, you're eligible for free Prime Student using your UC Berkeley email!

New Library Resources: OverDrive eBooks and Audiobooks

Berkeley Library OverDrive eBook and Audiobooks let you borrow popular ebooks and audiobooks to enjoy on your mobile device, Kindle, or eReader. For help, see guidelines to get started!

Peruse through our ESPM specific library.

Publish Your Data on Dryad

The California Digital Library (CDL) recently partnered with Dryad to provide enhanced data publishing and curation support for researchers. Dryad is an open-source, research data curation and publication platform. Berkeley is a partner and offers Dryad as a free service for all Berkeley researchers to publish and archive their data. Datasets published in Dryad receive a citation and can be versioned at any time. Dryad is integrated with hundreds of journals and is an easy way to both publish data and comply with funder and publisher mandates. Contact the librarian Becky Miller with questions or for support.

Open Access Discounts and Direct Path

The UC Office of Scholarly Communication maintains a list of OA publishing discounts. The UC entered in a transformative agreement with Cambridge for OA publishing that enables a direct path for UC authors to publish OA in most Cambridge journals. UCB Library has the Berkeley Research Impact Initiative (BRII), which helps subsidize article processing changes in fully OA journals, as well as special arrangements with MDPI and PeerJ.

Librarian's Guides for Faculty and Instructors 

Berkeley Library Guides cover topics such as integrating readings into bCourses (saves reader costs = more affordable course content), designing effective research assignments, finding free and affordable course materials, and more. More details on the library site.

Data Peer Consulting Program

The Data Peer Consulting program strives to help make data science accessible across the broader campus community, by aiming to help undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, and faculty with research project infrastructure or other projects and modules that incorporate data. Launched in Fall 2017, these services are provided as a collaboration between the Center for Connected Learning in UC Berkeley's Moffitt Library; D-Lab; Research IT; and the Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society. Check out the Peer Consulting page for more information.

Build Community: 

Practice Wellness: 

  • Get free virtual personal training sessions, participate in live or on-demand fitness classes, or find other helpful Recreation & Wellness resources through RecWell.  
  • Learn about Health Coaching, Counseling and Psychological Services, community-specific support, nutrition support, or self-help tools through University Health Services. 
  • Through recalibrate, dial in to wellness resources designed to support your individual well-being. Recalibrate also expands wellness opportunities at multiple levels of campus culture, infrastructure, institutional policies and practices.
  • De-stress and engage in creative activities with Creativity & Your Well-Being. Be Well at Work provides a variety of arts and craft workshops with professional instructors designed to reduce your stress.

Get Involved: 

Stay Connected & Have Fun: 

Find Support: 

Access to Essential Services On Campus:

You should come to campus only if you have a specific need, such as seeking medical attention or other emergency services, visiting the grab-and-go food pantry, conducting essential in-person research or other essential campus work, and of course if you live on campus. When on campus, physical distancing and wearing facial coverings are also required at all times and you will be required to comply with city and county public health orders. You will only be allowed to enter campus if you accept the Keep Berkeley Healthy Pledge in Cal Central and complete a daily symptom screener, accessible through Cal Central, the Campus Coronavirus (COVID-19) website, or the UC Berkeley Mobile app (iOS, Android). 

 

Student Code of Conduct

Access the Student Code of Conduct to learn about our community expectations at Berkeley.