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Funding

The Department of Visual Arts admits students to its graduate programs (MFA and Ph.D.) with and without funding. Each student should refer to his or her departmental offer letter for specific details about their funding support. The information provided below serves to clarify the language of our funding offers and to help our graduate students pursue additional sources of funding within and outside of the department.

Regardless of the initial financial package, the department seeks to ensure that all continuing M.F.A and Ph.D. students are financially supported. To the extent that resources are insufficient to meet student's need, the department, on the advice of the graduate committee, will rank students using a combined criterion of academic performance and financial need to award funds.

To be eligible for any type of funding graduate students must be enrolled in 12 units of upper-division (100-189) or graduate level (200-299) courses during the regular academic year, maintain a minimum grade-point average of 3.0, and be within their Support Time Limit. Financial support is not renewed automatically but is approved by the department on a yearly basis.

Departmental Funding

Admissions Offer Letter Funding Packages

About the Offer Letter

A student's offer letter is their contract with the department. Annually, in late spring quarter, as part of the Spring Evaluation process, the Faculty Advisor will ask students about their funding plans for the next academic year. This is a good time to revisit your offer letter, to remind graduate program staff about the specific details of your admissions offer.

Admission Fellowships

The Department offers most incoming MFA and PhD students fellowship packages. Fellowship packages are a combination of a tuition and fee scholarships, a stipend, guaranteed employment and salary. 

Fee Scholarships for Non-(CA) Resident Students

Within the limits of available funds, tuition scholarships are also available to graduate students (MFA/Ph.D.) who are not legal residents of the state of California. Students who are citizens of the United States qualify for California residency before their second year at UCSD. It is the responsibility of the student to file a declaration of residency. It is a policy of the Graduate Division not to offer tuition assistance to continuing students after their first year at graduate school.

Fee Scholarships for International Students

Pre-Candidacy (MFA/Ph.D years 1-3) Depending on annual budgetary considerations, it is the policy of the department to provide a scholarship for tuition to all non-resident teaching assistants or readers who were initially admitted to the program with a tuition scholarship during their first three years in the program. Students are expected to remain in good academic standing and make satisfactory progress towards Advancement to Candidacy within three years.  

Post-Candidacy Ph.D students after Advancing to Candidacy (years 4-6), one is eligible for reduction in fees, so as long as you meet the following graduate division guidelines.  

“To be eligible for the full reduction of non-resident supplemental tuition, the Report of the Qualifying Examination form must be received by the Graduate Division on or before the first day of instruction. If the form is turned in after the first day of instruction the reduction will be implemented in the following quarter. Non-resident doctoral students who have advanced to candidacy will receive a 100% reduction in non-resident tuition for up to three consecutive years (nine quarters).”  

The full graduate division guidelines can be found here

Field Research/Dissertation Fellowships (Ph.D)

Field Research/Dissertation fellowships are intended to give PhD. students who have advanced to candidacy the opportunity for dedicated field research or writing time and normally include a stipend and a fees scholarship for the payment of In Absentia fees for resident tuition and fees.  A student who intends to use their guaranteed Field Research/Dissertation funding should ask their advisor to notify the Graduate Coordinator during the spring quarter of the year before its intended use.  See details of Visual Arts In Absentia enrollment process.

Where the Dean of the Graduate Division has approved In Absentia status, the Department will normally pay tuition costs for one academic quarter, defined as Field Research/Dissertation Qtr. Fellowship. These limits on support time and the purpose of In Absentia tuition are firm rules; no petitions or requests for exceptions will be considered.

Activities that Qualify for In Absentia Status

  • Field research outside of California
  • A dedicated writing quarter outside of California
  • A residential fellowship that requires residence outside of California

*The Student's advisor must confirm that the field research, a writing quarter or holding such a residency fellowship would be the best course of action for the student to advance toward the degree. This should be documented in the Annual Spring Evaluation.

Stipend Disbursement

Stipends are a fixed regular sum paid to support a student's cost of living and material expenses without the obligations of employment. Most departmental stipends are part of fellowship packages, or awarded as research funds in offer letters. Stipend payments are disbursed at the end of the month (for example, a September stipend will be disbursed October 1). More information about stipend disbursements can be found on the Student Financial Services page.

MFA Program Examples

  • First Year Show-Research Materials 
  • Thesis Show-Research Materials 

PhD Program Examples

  • Research Award
  • Field Research Stipend

Tuition and Fee Remission

Academic Student Employees (TAs, Readers, GSRs, Assoc.-Ins) receive a partial remission of fees when assigned to a 25% or above appointment. 

  • Student Services Fee
  • Tuition
  • Health Insurance
A complete list of graduate student tuition and fees can be found on the Graduate Division website.

Tuition and Fees Scholarships

In-Residence Fee Scholarships

Students who have been awarded an extramural (outside of the UC) grants/fellowship  ($18,000 ay/$6,000 per qtr) are eligible to apply for a Graduate Fellowship Initiative (GFI)  fees scholarship ($17,000 in residence tuition).

Travel Grants

The safety and security of our students, staff, faculty members and greater community is our highest concern.

While we focus on campus efforts concerning the university's response to COVID-19, any campus funds for Travel are temporarily on hold. We will resume awarding funds when the Governor of California's Stay at Home order regarding travel has been lifted, and after consulting with campus leadership.

Keep up to date with the university's response.

Visual Arts Travel Grants

The department has limited funds to assist graduate students with  conference research expenses. Students may apply for a maximum of $500 a year to cover travel expenses for research purposes. Preference for these travel awards will be given to students who are within normative time limits, and have not received previous research travel funding from the department. Awards may be reduced if demand exceeds the resources of the fund. 

The department will review conference travel requests once per a quarter in Week 4. You must complete and submit a travel reimbursement request form to the Graduate Coordinator. 

In order for staff to process any reimbursements on your behalf, you will need to:

  1. to login to Concur to set up your profile
  2. add Lawrenz Fortuno, Yolie Torres, Laura Martin, and Chong Zhang as "delegates"

Concur Log in: https://concur.ucsd.edu/

Set-Up Instructions: https://support.ucsd.edu/finance?id=kb_article_view&sys_kb_id=287c8670dba5d8104cd8f06e0f9619d1

If you have questions about Concur, please contact the Lawrenz Fortuno

If you have any questions about the Travel Grant application, please contact the Graduate Coordinator

Division of Arts and Humanities Travel

The Dean of Arts and Humanities has established a travel fund for the purpose of supporting graduate student research. Any graduate student in good standing within the Division of Arts and Humanities is encouraged to apply for travel support. Ph.D. students may receive no more than one grant per travel grant year and no more than two during their academic career at UCSD. Master’s students may receive no more than one grant during their time at UCSD pursuing that degree; should they continue in a Division of Arts and Humanities Ph.D. program, the earlier grant will count as one of the awards allotted for their career.   View application process and award terms.

UC Intercampus Research Travel Program

The UC Intercampus Research Travel Program provides travel funding for registered graduate students to conduct research and research specific collaborations at other UC campuses. The funding covers airfare only (up to $250) or mileage in place of airfare. The funding cannot be used to attend conferences, scholarly society meetings, business meetings, invited talks, or presentations of seminars. 

To apply for this funding, please fill out the form and send it to Lawrenz Fortuno?

GSA Travel Grants

The Graduate Student Association (GSA) awards graduate and professional students grants for out-of-state travel to conferences where you will present your own professional work. 

GSA Travel Grant: http://gsa.ucsd.edu/travel-grants/

Prizes

Antin Prize (MFA)

Getty Research Institute Graduate Symposium Prize (PhD)

Each year the PHD Faculty select the best paper presentation from the UC San Diego Visual Arts PhD Colloquium of recently qualified students to represent the program at the annual Getty Research Institute Graduate Symposium.  The prize includes funding for travel and participation in the event.

Academic Student Employment (ASE)

The Department of Visual Arts hires Teaching Assistants and Readers quarterly, and Graduate Student Researchers and Associate-Ins as circumstance and funding allow. More information about these positions and how to apply for them can be found on our Employment page.

The University of California Office of the President has mandated that graduate students may hold teaching assistant (TA) or Associate-in appointments for a maximum of 18 quarters (summer session appointments do not count toward this limit).

External Research Grants

All students are expected to apply for outside fellowships to fund field research, usually conducted in the fourth year. The student is responsible for identifying specific fellowships and keeping track of application deadlines. Many of the major research fellowships are submitted in the fall of the year before they would be used, so students are encouraged to start the process of identifying fellowship opportunities, writing a proposal, and securing recommendation letters during the spring and summer before applications are due.  The UCLA GRAPES database is a great place to start familiarizing yourself with the application process and timelines of various external funding agencies.

University of California Research Grants

UC San Diego Grants

TA Fee Deferment and Loan Programs

These programs allow a couple of alternative options for paying your fees. Details can be found on the Graduate Division website.

TA Fee Deferment and Loan Programs

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there options for paying my fees?

Yes. There are the TA Fee Deferment and Loan Programs. These programs allow a couple of alternative options for paying your fees. Details can be found on the Graduate Division's website.

TA Fee Deferment and Loan Program

Can you help me with my taxes?

No. Faculty and staff are not authorized or trained to answer individual-specific tax questions; however, here are several resources you might find helpful:

Free tax preparation assistance

1098 Form Questions

W-2 Form Questions: https://blink.ucsd.edu/finance/payroll/w2/duplicate.html

1099 Form Questions: https://blink.ucsd.edu/finance/tax/forms/1099.html

1042-S Form Questions (international students, only): Taxes: Form 1042-S and Section E of Tax Withholding FAQ for Foreign Visitors  (Stipends paid on title code 3296 through PPS will be reported on the 1042-S provided by Payroll.)

General Information

Can you fill out this W-9 for me?

IRS Form W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification, is used to certify the taxpayer identification number (TIN) or Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), type of taxpayer, and tax status. Graduate students will usually be asked to fill this out when they have been awarded an extramural fellowship. Please refer to the Blink page and follow the instructions under the heading, W-9s for Payers to UCSD.

Blink-IRS Form W-9: https://blink.ucsd.edu/finance/tax/forms/w9/index.html

Where can I see records of my pay?

At Your Service Online (AYSO) allows you to see your salary from any forms of on-campus employment and lists your employee ID number for all salary earned prior to May 2020.

UCPath allows you to see your salary from any forms of on-campus employment and lists your employee ID number for all salary earned after to May 2020.

AYSO and UC Path do not list stipend payments, but grad students can go to the Grad Student Portal to view/verify their stipend payments and funding awards.  The link is on the following site (towards bottom of page): https://grad.ucsd.edu/academics/index.html

How do I set up Direct Deposit?

There are three (3) offices on campus that provide direct deposit for graduate students:

Student Business Services (stipend payments for domestic students): https://sfs.ucsd.edu/student-accounts/direct-deposit.html

Payroll (TA, Reader, GSR, etc. employment checks for domestic and international students): UC Path Log In: https://ucpath.universityofcalifornia.edu/

In the left hand navigation go to: Employee Actions>Income and Taxes>Direct Deposit

Note: You will not be able to sign-up for direct deposit for payroll until you have an active appointment in UCPath, usually the first day of the first quarter you are employed at UC San Diego.

Disbursements (stipend payments for International students, travel and other personal reimbursements):  http://blink.ucsd.edu/buy-pay/payment-methods/direct-deposit/enroll.html

How do I set-up my Concur profile so department staff can process reimbursements on my behalf?

In order for staff to process any reimbursements on your behalf, you will need to:

  1. login to Concur to set up your profile
  2. add Lawrenz Fortuno, Yolie Torres, Laura Martin, and Chong Zhang as "delegates"

Concur Log in: https://concur.ucsd.edu/

Set-Up Instructions:

https://support.ucsd.edu/finance?id=kb_article_view&sys_kb_id=287c8670dba5d8104cd8f06e0f9619d1


If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate Program Assistant.