Diversity Fellowship Resources

San Diego and Cota Robles Fellowship resources are awarded from an annual fixed allocation of diversity incentive funding that departments receive for direct-to-student aid in order to support the pursuit of their specific diversity goals. Departments choose the amount(s) awarded to any given incoming or existing student, and may spend their resources on more than one student. 

Departments can award their San Diego and Cota Robles resources in any of the following ways: 

  • to top off the stipend of a student who contributes to diversity
  • as additional summer stipend support for a student who contributes to diversity 
  • as direct admission recruitment support of a student who contributes to diversity; this may include any approach to help yield an accepted student (such as travel to UCSD, or other recruitment support to help an accepted student choose our campus) 
  • as research support (including conference travel, data collection support, support for archival work, fieldwork support, etc.) for a student who contributes to diversity 
  • as a partial or full “buyout” from TA responsibilities for a student who contributes to diversity
  • to fully or partially match other departmental support for a student who contributes to diversity 


Every graduate program receives San Diego and Cota Robles fellowship resources that they can flexibly use to promote diversity. Departments may make  fellowship awards to students whose presence enhances the diversity of the entire campus community. Eligible students  are defined as US Citizens, Permanent Residents, or AB 540 qualified students whose presence would enhance diversity to the benefit of the entire campus community. This includes being from a disadvantaged social, educational, or economic background, and/or demonstrating a commitment to diversity and/or being committed to increasing educational access for underrepresented students.