The Graduate Funding Peer runs interactive workshops on graduate funding and financial literacy throughout the year, but the GSRC understands that grad students have busy schedules! If you are unable to attend a workshop or would like a refresher, you can access the Funding Peer's recorded workshops and handouts below.
Have any follow-up questions?
Contact the Funding Peer!
Finding Funding Workshop
This classic Finding Funding workshop hosted by the Graduate Funding Peer covers funding application timelines, points of contact, types of UC and external funding, and how to find them.
Additionally, here's a copy of the Q&A from the panel that may be helpful in your search for funding as a graduate student:
Yes, although this is a service provided by the GSRC's Academic, Professional, and Technical Graduate Writing Development Director, Robby Nadler. Graduate students can schedule up to one hour of free, one-on-one, and confidential consultations with Robby. He will work with you on any type of writing (including STEM writing, which he has a background in) in any stage of development. This includes academic documents (e.g., class papers and dissertations) and personal documents (e.g., grant applications and cover letters). Learn more about writing support for UCSB graduate students!
No, in most cases, your current location should not disqualify you from funding. The key eligibility factor is current enrollment at an academic institution, i.e. UCSB.
Yes, Reader appointments totaling 25% or more of full-time for a given term are eligible to participate in the University's Partial Fee Remission Program for tuition and the student services fee.
It depends on the specific fellowship, but yes, there are certainly Central Fellowships that masters students are eligible for. Check them out on the Graduate Division website!
There are changes to the funding currently available this year due to COVID-19, but there are positive as well as negative changes. Universities and academic departments have been hit really hard, and the way that they deal with the financial difficulties depends on the organization. Some funding opportunities, for example fellowships to conduct research abroad, have cancelled, extended, or postponed their programs. Other funding agencies have created new opportunities, especially for research in both STEM and SHEF relating to the impact of COVID-19, and made emergency funds available. Still other funding agencies have made no changes to their offerings or application process. So my advice is to continue to conduct regular funding searches to see what is out there.
Applying for other fellowships would allow you to focus full-time on your dissertation research project and may provide the same, and oftentimes more, money. Additionally, a PhD often takes more than 5 years to complete from start to finish, so an extra year or two of funding is useful. Moreover, demonstrating the ability to apply for and receive prestigious fellowships/grants is key to building a stellar CV/resume, especially if you intend to pursue a career in academia after graduation. But ultimately, it's up to the individual grad student whether the time and effort that go into creating a competitive application for other fellowships is worthwhile.
Finding Funding for International Students Workshop
This Finding Funding workshop hosted by the Graduate Funding Peer covers funding application timelines, points of contact, types of UC and external funding, and how to find them -- all geared especially for international grad students.
Workshop Recording Workshop Slides (PDF)
Additionally, here's a copy of the Q&A from the panel that may be helpful in your search for funding as an international graduate student:
No, in most cases, your current location should not disqualify you from funding. The key eligibility factor is current enrollment at an academic institution, i.e. UCSB.
Yes, Reader appointments totaling 25% or more of full-time for a given term are eligible to participate in the University's Partial Fee Remission Program for tuition and the student services fee.
It depends on the specific fellowship, but yes, there are certainly Central Fellowships that international students are eligible to apply for. Check them out on the Graduate Division website!
There are changes to the funding currently available this year due to COVID-19, but there are positive as well as negative changes. Universities and academic departments have been hit really hard, and the way that they deal with the financial difficulties depends on the organization. Some funding opportunities, for example fellowships to conduct research abroad, have cancelled, extended, or postponed their programs. Other funding agencies have created new opportunities, especially for research in both STEM and SHEF relating to the impact of COVID-19, and made emergency funds available. Still other funding agencies have made no changes to their offerings or application process. So my advice is to continue to conduct regular funding searches to see what is out there.
Applying for other fellowships would allow you to focus full-time on your dissertation research project and may provide the same, and oftentimes more, money. Additionally, a PhD often takes more than 5 years to complete from start to finish, so an extra year or two of funding is useful. But ultimately, it's up to the individual grad student whether the time and effort that go into creating a competitive application for other fellowships is worth it or whether they would prefer to continue TAing for 5 years.
Financial Literacy: Budgeting Basics
This Financial Literacy workshop hosted by the Graduate Funding Peer covers how to get a handle on your income and expenses, set your financial goals, pick a budgeting strategy that's right for you, and start thinking about investing in your future.
Plus, tons of bonus slides containing tips and tricks for everyday savings and financial resources.
Handy Worksheets Bonus Slides Workshop Recording
Additionally, here's a copy of the Q&A from the panel that may be helpful as you think about your financial planning goals:
Certainly, there is always an element of risk when you give third-parties access to your personal information. It's totally up to you what you are comfortable sharing or not sharing. It's a good idea to always read through the Terms & Conditions when you sign up for any online service. Personally, I've never had a problem with Mint, and the app can only see what's in my accounts, they can't actually touch those accounts. Again, what's most important is your comfort level and educating yourself on what a service does with your information.
Yes, international students (nonresident aliens) are eligible to open IRAs! Just remember that if you leave the US for a long period of time, it may become difficult to access that account. If your home country's banks also offer tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts, you may want to open one there.
No, those kinds of recommendations are outside of the scope of the Funding Peer's position. But there is lots of great information and reviews online. I personally like NerdWallet's reviews.
This 2-part Financial Literacy workshop is hosted by the Graduate Student Resource Center and the Office of International Students & Scholars. We cover tax resources, education credits and deductions, fellowship taxes, and timelines and extensions. The first part is for U.S. Residents, and the second part is for Nonresident Aliens (NRAs). You must be logged into your UCSB Google account to view the recordings and slides.
Workshop Recording (PART 1) Workshop Recording (PART 2) Workshop Slides (PDF)
*Note: OISS and the GSRC are not certified tax professionals and can only provide basic tax prep advice. If you have questions or require assistance with filing your taxes, please contact a tax professional.
In addition to the resources found in the workshop recording and slides, we encourage you to check out the following webpages:
Additionally, we have provided notes from the Q&A portion of the workshop below:
For all students:
Yes, fellowships/stipends qualify as non-compensatory taxable income, and you need to pay taxes on that amount, as reported on your 1098-T form (which you can find on BARC if disbursed by UCSB). For international students, you only have to pay income tax on fellowships/stipends that come from US sources (including UCSB).
You can find more information about this on the IRS website. Tax laws can change yearly, so it’s always a good idea to double-check everything with the IRS website to make sure you are doing your tax preparation correctly.
Taxes are evaluated throughout the calendar year either through withholding or estimated tax payments (which are made on a quarterly basis). If the amount of income tax withheld from your salary or pension is not enough, or if you receive income such as interest, dividends, alimony, self-employment income, capital gains, prizes and awards, you may have to make estimated tax payments. If you are in business for yourself, you generally need to make estimated tax payments. Estimated tax is used to pay not only income tax, but other taxes such as self-employment tax and alternative minimum tax. If you don’t pay enough tax through withholding and estimated tax payments, you may have to pay a penalty. You also may have to pay a penalty if your estimated tax payments are late, even if you are due a refund when you file your tax return. You can find more information about estimated taxes on the IRS website.
For international students:
Everyone who is classified as a Nonresident Alien (NRA) in GLACIER should receive instructions on how to access GTP. Be sure to check your spam folder and add support@online-tax.net to your email’s address book. If the option for GTP is still grayed out, that may mean that GLACIER thought you were a Resident Alien last year or that you have not yet been classified as an NRA for the most recent tax year. You can find more information about GTP on the Tax Information for International Grad Students & Postdocs page.
There is a tax summary page on GLACIER which shows the current status of your residency, such as Resident Alien or Nonresident Alien, near the middle of the page.
Sprintax and GTP are the most-well known tax prep softwares for international online tax processing. There is no difference in how UCSB taxes you depending on which software you use for tax preparation, however there may be additional fees for using some of the pay-for-service softwares like TurboTax.
For international students, UCPath and UCSB accounting tax is based on the GLACIER residency result. For employees, taxation is based on the deductions you select on your W-4 form when you are hired. Both entities take the data that is available to them to calculate the tax, so if you think it's wrong, you can start a help ticket with UCPath or contact your hiring department. You can also look at your tax treaty and GLACIER to check the calculation. It could, for example, that the type of deductions on your W-4 may not fully cover your tax liability. Additionally, even if an employment contract ends in the middle of the calendar year, this still needs to be accounted for in that year’s tax preparations.
Say, for example, that you received $10,000 in compensation from UCSB in 2023, and you got paid $9000 of that and the other $1000 went to the IRS. When you file your 2023 taxes, if the IRS determines that you were only supposed to pay $200 on that, they will give you an $800 refund. 99% of the time it’s accurate. They do send you a refund if you deserve it.
In general, even if you're in the United States for one day, your tax status is retroactive back to January 1 of that year. In general, GLACIER will automatically determine your tax status for any given year, but it will also depend on your specific tax treaty.
Most international students ("nonresident aliens" in tax terms) cannot use TurboTax, TaxFile, or H&R Block. There are special programs designed for international students, such as Glacier Tax Prep (GTP) offered for free by Grad Div in 2020 and Sprintax, which costs money (you can find a discount code here!). However, if an international student meets the "substantial presence test," they are considered "resident aliens" for tax purposes only and cannot use GTP. But they can use TurboTax, H&R Block etc.
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Yes, some international students must file California state taxes depending on a few factors. Your income tax is automatically withheld for federal purposes (reported on a 1042-S form), but you still owe income tax for state purposes. Please see the California Franchise Tax Board website to determine whether you must pay state taxes. You can do so for free through CalFile (have your SSN handy) or Sprintax. (Note: some international students have reported issues filing through CalFile, while others have had no problem. If you are having issues with CalFile and cannot get assistance directly from the California Franchise Tax Board staff, you can definitely use Sprintax). |