All admitted graduate students typically receive guaranteed departmental funding for five years through a combination of employment and fellowships.
Academic Student Employment
Graduate students in the Department of History primarily receive financial assistance through teaching assistantships (TAs) and readerships. In most cases, we are able to offer a combination of fellowship and employment to incoming students for the first five years of study. TA and Reader positions pay for tuition and fees, and student health insurance in full (Non-resident student tuition/NRST is not included) and provide a monthly salary. The department typically assigns teaching assistants to hold discussion sections and grade for our lower-division undergraduate courses, and readers to grade for upper-division undergraduate courses. International students who wish to serve as teaching assistants must meet additional English language requirements as established by the Office of Graduate Studies' Graduate Council.
Departmental Fellowships
The department gives students fellowships in the form of summer stipends and continuing fellowship support after the first year. The Graduate Program Committee nominates a limited number of admitted students for "named fellowships" such as the Jackson, Marchand, Debs and Reed-Smith. The department also offers the yearly Scholz Prize. These prizes and fellowships are generally awarded based on merit and area of study.
Campus-wide Graduate Fellowships
The Office of Graduate Studies administers UC Davis fellowship and graduate scholarship funds. History students compete with students in the graduate programs of other departments for these merit-based awards. The Office of Graduate Studies also offers a number of internal fellowships to support campus diversity. There is no separate application; the admissions application also serves as the prospective student fellowship application. For more information, please visit: https://gradstudies.ucdavis.edu/prospective-students/financial-support/about-internal-fellowships.
For incoming students, the internal fellowship application is required of all students and is a component of the online application process. Applications must be submitted by January 5th and completed (including uploaded transcripts) in order to be eligible.
External Funding
Our students have been extremely successful in receiving fellowships externally. Please click here to find out about the recent awards and fellowships our current students have received. For a list of external funding, click here
Nonresident Student Tuition Fellowships
Students who are not residents of California will be charged Non-Resident Supplemental Tuition (NRST). For domestic students, please see the below section "Establishing California Residency." For international students, in most cases, the department will cover the cost of your NRST for the first 3 years of the graduate program. Upon advancement to candidacy, the NRST is not charged for 3 years as a benefit of advancement, as part of the NRST waiver program (no application is needed). After this NRST Waiver period, international students are again charged NRST until they complete their degrees. To offset the NRST charge during this time frame, UC Davis offers a non-competitive fellowship program—the Post-candidacy NRST Fellowship Program—intended to mitigate the NRST challenge during the 4th and 5th years after advancement to candidacy (application is needed).
Establishing California Residency
If you are a citizen of the United States but not a California resident, we encourage you to begin the residency process as soon as possible. As a resident of California, you will not be charged the more costly out-of-state tuition. Generally, the department will cover the first year of non-resident supplemental tuition (NRST) with the requirement that you will become a California resident by the second year. Certain requirements must be satisfied in order to become a legal resident of the state, including voter registration and obtaining a CA driver's license. You can obtain further guidance about becoming a resident at the Office of University Registrar.
Other Sources of Support
The UC Davis Graduate Financial Aid Office administers several loan, grant and work-study programs.