Fellowships

Fellowship Application and Nomination Deadlines

Many fellowship opportunities exist for graduate students, and these may be at all levels from departmental and college fellowships to university-wide fellowships. For a list of university-wide fellowships, see Fellowships. Fellowships are intended only for the very best applicants in an entering class to entice them to come to UCF rather than choose another institution. If a student is not clearly in the very top of your applicant pool, then they probably should not be nominated for a fellowship.

The Office of Student Financial Assistance (SFA) has a listing that provides additional financial assistance information. See the SFA website.

General Fellowship Requirements

See Graduate Fellowship Requirements in the Policy Guide for more details of fellowship requirements and links to the graduate catalog.

• Students must be degree-seeking to be eligible for fellowships.
• All fellowships require full-time enrollment. (See Full-time Enrollment Requirements for details about this policy.)
• Fellowship students are required to maintain good academic performance and progress during each term of the award or the fellowship will be canceled.
• Fellowship students must participate in events scheduled for the university fellowship community and in selected service activities for the UCF community.
• Each fellowship has different specific requirements that can be found at graduate.ucf.edu/funding.

Fellowship Nominations

All admitted graduate students are automatically eligible for consideration in the fellowship nomination process. Presidential and Trustees fellowships are university-wide doctoral fellowships, and for these fellowships, the university provides tuition waivers and health insurance. Awardees of these fellowships are selected by a University Graduate Fellowship Committee, consisting of representatives of the colleges and the UCF College of Graduate Studies. Early identification of these nominees is essential to taking advantage of these opportunities for your students.

Departmental, college or foundation fellowships may require an application. Tuition remission for these fellowships must be provided from the department, college or foundation funding the fellowship. Some university fellowships, such as the Graduate RAMP, McNair, and Delores A. Auzenne Fellowships, require students to complete and submit applications to the College of Graduate Studies and are reviewed by a Special Fellowships Committee. For additional information on these awards and other fellowship opportunities for graduate students, see Fellowships Overview.

Some important things to remember about nominating students for fellowships are:

• Nominated students must meet the requirements for the fellowship. Before nominations are submitted, the student’s qualifications should be checked against the requirements of the specific fellowship program for which the student is to be nominated.
• The nomination of students for a fellowship that has required departmental funding contributions carries an implicit agreement on the part of the Program or Department to fulfill those funding obligations.
• Students may usually receive only one UCF fellowship per term, and students are eligible to receive a given fellowship only once (with the exception of the Delores A. Auzenne Fellowship).
• International applicants who wish to be considered for university fellowships are required to have a transcript evaluation in addition to their official transcripts. The university will evaluate the credentials for all international students nominated for fellowships who have received their degree at a college or university outside of the United States, except for those in the College of Business Administration or the Rosen College of Hospitality Management. The latter applicants should refer to the International Applicants.

UCF Doctoral Fellowship Nominations

To nominate a student for a doctoral fellowship (Trustees or Presidential), the Graduate Program Director should submit one Doctoral Fellowship Nomination Form to the College of Graduate Studies at gradfellowship@ucf.edu.

Nominators should review the fellowship details of each award prior to submitting nominations. Since this is a university-wide fellowship competition, please nominate the most exceptional students as early as possible; the final deadline is February 15 at noon.

To nominate a student for the Professional Doctoral Diversity Fellowship, the Graduate Program Director should submit a Professional Doctoral Fellowship Nomination Form to the College of Graduate Studies at gradfellowship@ucf.edu by February 1.

MFA Provost’s Graduate Fellowship Nominations

The MFA Provost’s Graduate Fellowship requires students to be nominated by their programs directly to the College of Graduate Studies. All students nominated for MFA Provost’s Graduate Fellowships should have qualifications that meet or exceed the top 25 percent of the entering class from the previous year in that program. The university provides tuition waivers and health insurance for MFA Provost’s Graduate Fellowships.

To nominate students for the award, the MFA Graduate Program Director should send an Excel spreadsheet with a ranked list of nominees and alternates to the College of Graduate Studies at gradfellowship@ucf.edu by March 1. Be sure to include each student’s first and last name and UCF ID on the spreadsheet.

Graduate Dean’s Fellowship Nominations

The Graduate Dean’s Fellowship supplements a standard assistantship or outside fellowship. The Graduate Dean’s Fellowship requires students to be nominated by their programs directly to the College of Graduate Studies. All students nominated for this fellowship should be newly admitted for Summer 2024 or subsequent semesters and have qualifications that meet or exceed the top 25 percent of the entering class from the previous year in that program.

To nominate a student for a Graduate Dean’s Fellowship, the Graduate Program Director should submit a Graduate Dean’s Fellowship Nomination Form to the College of Graduate Studies at gradassistantship@ucf.edu by March 15. The assistantship offer details must be entered in the Graduate Financials System in Gradinfo with the Dean’s Nomination checkbox checked.

Nominators should review the fellowship details prior to submitting nominations. Nominations for the Graduate Dean’s Fellowship supplements an assistantship or outside fellowship stipend. If the Graduate Dean’s Fellowship will be supplementing an assistantship, the assistantship should be entered in the Assistantship Offers area of the Graduate Financials System in GradInfo. If the nomination is awarded by the Graduate College, the offer will be sent with the assistantship offer by the College of Graduate Studies.

If the Graduate Dean’s Fellowship will be supplementing an outside fellowship, please see the nomination form for instructions.

International Students Receiving Fellowships

• International students must obtain a Social Security Number (SSN) prior to receipt of a fellowship.
• International students receiving fellowships are subject to 14 percent withholding on their fellowship checks, depending on treaty agreements between the United States and the country they obtained their visa from.
• More information on this issue can be obtained from UCF Global.

Fellowship Offers

Fellowship awards are offered in letters sent by the College of Graduate Studies. Prior to sending these letters, the programs are contacted to see whether the fellowship student will be offered an assistantship in addition to the fellowship. Offer letters will be configured to accommodate these multi-component offers, and the programs can review the letters before they are sent to students.

Best Practices in Fellowships

• Fellowship opportunities are best explained to students during the admissions phase and used for recruiting purposes. Only the top 1-2 students in any given entering class should be considered for the most prestigious fellowships. You should notify students during the admissions process that you have nominated them for a fellowship. The nomination alone does not guarantee that the student will be offered a fellowship, so please be careful in your communications with students.
• Identify strong applicants early in the admissions process and nominate them to the colleges to be considered for fellowship awards. The university begins to award fellowships in late January so that those students nominated will be considered quickly for fellowships. If you have a particularly talented individual, it is best not to wait until all admissions decisions are made for all students. It is also best if the college does not hold on forwarding the names of nominated individuals to the College of Graduate Studies, but sends names immediately as they are identified.
• Fellowships are to be awarded to exceptional students; please only nominate truly outstanding students for fellowship awards.
• Fellowship stipends do not engender a work obligation and are paid in lump sums via the Office of Student Financial Assistance (by contrast, assistantships are paid bi-weekly via Human Resources). However, program requirements, such as a requirement that all students be actively involved in a laboratory, must still be met.
• International applicants being nominated for fellowships must have transcript evaluations done. The university will evaluate the credentials for all international students nominated for fellowships who have received their degree at a college or university outside of the United States, except for those in the College of Business Administration or the Rosen College of Hospitality Management. The latter applicants should refer to the International Applicants webpage.

Fellowships Overview, 2024-2025

Please see Fellowship links for details.

* “Master’s” designation includes MFA and Specialist degrees.

** Supplements a standard assistantship or outside fellowship stipend.

Disbursement of Fellowships

Most fellowships are disbursed through the Office of Student Financial Assistance, based on instructions provided by the UCF College of Graduate Studies. Student Financial Assistance does not disburse fellowship funds or any other aid until after the registration and add/drop period has ended (usually about 2 weeks into the term). Students are responsible for paying the balance of tuition and fees by the payment deadline published in the UCF Academic Calendar to avoid being charged a late payment fee.

Upon enrollment in full-time hours, students receiving fellowships will have their tuition deferred (up to the amount of the fellowship) until they receive their fellowship payment. If students are not enrolled in full-time hours by the end of the add/drop period, their fellowship will be canceled.

Fellowship payment will first be applied toward the student’s account balance. Remaining funds will be disbursed to the student as a direct deposit into the student’s bank account (this should be set up in myUCF by the student).

Short Term Advances

Fellowship students may receive a Short Term Advance of up to $600 (or up to the fellowship amount if less than $600) for the purchase of books and supplies. Students can go directly to the Office of Student Financial Assistance to request a Short-Term Advance–there is a $5.00 processing fee. Fellowship students with greater needs should contact Graduate Studies at gradfellowship@ucf.edu.

Tuition Waivers for Fellowships

University-wide fellowship programs that include a graduate tuition waiver as part of the award package receive a full tuition waiver during each semester of the fellowship disbursement.

There is only one tuition waiver level for fellowships: full tuition. Entry of the tuition award occurs when the College of Graduate Studies processes the fellowship for disbursement.

Full tuition = 100% of resident tuition (does not include local fees) and, if the student is nonresident, the nonresident tuition and fees will be $0.00

Payment Priority

Tuition waivers for fellowships take priority over those received for assistantships.

EXAMPLE: If a student has a qualifying fellowship and a half-stipend assistantship (.25 FTE), the student receives a tuition waiver based on the fellowship for the duration of the fellowship. When the fellowship expires, then the student’s tuition waiver is based on the assistantship, if the student has one.

College and Department Fellowships

For college or department fellowships, the Student Award Request Form (SARF) must be delivered to the College of Graduate Studies by June 1 for fall, November 15 for spring, and April 1 for summer.