Funding

Funding#

Where does funding go?#

Funding goes towards two things:

  • Your personal income (for rent, food, etc.)

  • Tuition and fees

As we are students, we technically “pay tuition” at Berkeley. This allows us to take classes, use the gym, etc. But we never actually pay this tuition money ourselves—funding will cover it without ever passing through your bank account.

Note that no tuition payments are made in the summer.

Sources of funding#

If you teach (TA) at UC Berkeley as a graduate student, you are a “Graduate Student Instructor” or “GSI”. If you are funded by a professor to do research, you are a “Graduate Student Researcher” or “GSR”. Assuming you don’t have any fellowships, you will typically be on 50% (20hr/week) GSI or GSR in the fall and spring, and 100% (40hr/week) GSR in the summer. If no research funding is available for the summer, you can choose to GSI 100% instead, or do 50/50.

GSI#

This is a position as an employee of UC Berkeley, where your job is to teach. See the teaching page for details!

GSR#

This is a position as an employee of UC Berkeley, where your job is to do research under a professor and your “supervisor” is that professor. It is funded by a professor’s research grants. You should definitely try to secure GSR positions in the summers, as it is cheaper for the professors (since they don’t have to pay your tuition in the summer). A good rule is to try to secure a position before spring break.

Fellowships#

The main benefit of a fellowship is that it reduces how much you need to GSI or scrounge around for GSR positions. Fellowships will provide either partial or total coverage of your tuition and stipend. If it is partial, you may still need to get GSI or GSR positions, but at a smaller workload (e.g. 25% or 10hr/week) or less often (e.g. GSI/GSR in Fall, rely on fellowship income in Spring). Some fellowships may allow you to make double income (e.g. fellowship+GSI in a given semester), but in general you should not count on a fellowship increasing your total yearly income. See the fellowships page for information on specific fellowships.

Residency status#

Your California residency status changes, through “non-resident supplementary tuition” (NRST), how much tuition is paid for you at Berkeley (by whatever funding source you have). If you can, it is important to establish residency in California as soon as possible (the earliest possible date is by the summer after first year). Not all fellowships will be willing to cover your NRST, it may be harder to get a GSR appointment with a professor (as they will pay more for you).

Note that California residency status for the purposes of taxes, the state, etc. is distinct from California residency status for the purpose of UC Berkeley. It is a little harder to acquire, but should be no problem (undergrads are the ones who have a tough time).

Taxes#

Federal and state taxes for a calendar year are due on April 15 the following calendar year (sometimes a couple days later). Here are some important points:

  • Any money you receive from a fellowship which goes to your bank account and not to tuition/fees counts as taxable income! Even though you’re not “employed” as a GSR/GSI/whatever, you still owe taxes on the income. Choosing not to report fellowship income would be tax evasion.

  • GSR/GSI income, like any employment income, has “withholding” done on it, where the university will estimate what your taxes will be based on your income and take money out of your paycheck to pay taxes. If all of your income is as a GSR or GSI, then you will probably not owe much in taxes, or will get a tax refund.

  • Fellowship income has no “withholding” done on it. If a lot of your income in a year is fellowship income, you will probably owe a LOT of money when you pay taxes. Students have been known to owe over $5000. It’s important to try to estimate how much you will owe so you can have enough liquid money set aside!

  • If you know the bulk of your income in a given year will be fellowship income, it may be wise to pay estimated federal and state taxes every quarter to avoid an underpayment penalty at the end of the year (although the penalties aren’t very high).

  • International students can fill our their taxes through the unversity’s “GLACIER” system. Domestic students can use online software.

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