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1. Question: Can a student be nominated for more than one year of SDF Match support?  

Answer: The SDF Match award is intended as a one year award. Nominations for a second year of support may be submitted with an updated student nomination statement, but these are not guaranteed to be approved. A student cannot be supported for more than two years of SDF Match support.

2. Question: Can a student be supported by SDF Match if they are beyond the second year of their program or if they are in the final year of their program?

Answer: No. The award is intended to enrich a student's early-academic experience in their first or second year and serve as a launch pad into future Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) positions or other funded research opportunities.

3. Question: What is the maximum stipend level that can be awarded to a student through the SDF Match?

Answer: The SDF Match is intended to support a student for one support year. Therefore, the maximum stipend that can be awarded per month is total stipend level divided by a 9 month disbursement schedule. 

4. Question: Can the student's SDF Match award details be updated after the nomination has been submitted?

Answer: To update any of the following award details, please submit a ticket by emailing gradfellowships@ucsd.edu. The request to update may come from either the student's nominating department or Graduate Coordinator, but both parties should be included in the ticket.

a. Stipend Dates

b. Stipend Amounts

c. Tuition/Fee Payment Quarters

d. Tuition/Fee Payment Amounts

4. Question: I just found out about this matching opportunity but already was awarded the grant, can matching fellowships be awarded retroactively?

Answer: No. All our matching commitments are made during the proposal phase, before the grant is submitted, as a way to strengthen the application and to increase the likelihood it is selected for funding. We do not make retroactive matching commitments to already submitted/awarded grant applications. The next time your grant is up for renewal, consider requesting a match at that time.

5. Question: I hired a graduate student as a GSR but now I want to retroactively use a SD Match Fellowship slot for the student. Is this allowable?

Answer: No. If a student was hired as a GSR, it is not appropriate to retroactively remove employment support (salary and/or fee remission) and replace it with fellowship support (stipend and/or fee payment). Doing so would be a hiring violation and there could be possible tax implications for the student.

6. Question: We meant to award a match fellowship slot earlier this year but forgot to do so, instead we paid the student a stipend from our block grant. Is it possible to retroactively switch the fund source? 

Answer: Possibly, we will work through these types of questions on a case-by-case basis with the department. First, complete the nomination form linked above and note the situation in the Comments/Questions field. Next, email gradfellowships@ucsd.edu to open a ticket in the Services & Support portal explaining the situation in detail and attaching documentation (copies of the ledger) showing how the student was supported and what fund source was utilized. 

7. Question: Can our department use an unfilled fellowship slot from a past or future SDF Match support year to award a student in the current support year? 

Answer: No. Slots cannot be moved across years. The fellowship slots per year mentioned in the commitment letter are fixed. 

8. Question: Does the support from an awarded SDF Match fellowship slot have to be contained to one support year? 

Answer: No. As long as the maximum annual cost per fellow as mentioned on the award letter is not exceeded, the SDF Match slot that is awarded to a student does not have to be contained to one support year.

9. Question: I have unused funds from an SDF Match fellowship previously awarded to a student. Can I use these funds to increase the award of another student?

Answer: No. Unused funds from a previously awarded slot cannot be used to increase the award of another student.

10. Question: The student I was supporting through one of the SDF Match fellowship slots left mid-year. Can I use the remaining funds/partial slot to fund a different graduate student for the remainder of the year?

Answer: No. However, the original awardee may resume their SDF Match award upon their return. Departments must submit a new nomination and note the original awarded date for review.