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Â鶹´«Ã½ÉçÇøÈë¿Ú offers a range of financial support for graduate students. The Office of Graduate Studies coordinates the fellowships and programs on this page. The Financial Aid Office handles grants, loans, and work study, and its page for graduate students collects what applies at this level.

Start with the (FAFSA) or the (CADAA). Both are free and both are filed annually. Eligibility for most of the support on this page depends on having one on file.

Tuition and fees are on the cost of attendance page. Scroll the tuition chart horizontally to reach the graduate tuition tab.

Jump to grants, loans, work study and campus jobs, Graduate Equity Fellowship, California Pre-Doctoral Program, Pre-Doctoral Health Professions Track, Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program, research competition and OSCAR, Golden State Teacher Grant, Cal-Bridge, information sessions.

Grants

The State University Grant pays the mandatory state university tuition fee for California residents enrolled at least half time, which is 4 units in a master’s program and 6 in a credential program. Awards are based on need and annual funding, with priority for students who apply by March 2. Students whose registration fees are paid from another source, including fee scholarships, fee waivers, Cal Grant fees, and Vocational Rehabilitation, aren’t eligible, and the Office of Financial Aid needs to know when a third party pays registration fees.

The Graduate Business Grant may be available to students in the M.B.A. or M.S. Business Analytics programs who are paying the professional program fee. The amount varies with federal unmet need and CSU requirements. Filing the FAFSA or CADAA puts you in consideration automatically, with no separate application; eligible students are notified each semester after the term’s census date.

These and the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant are described on the grants page.

Loans

Graduate students can borrow through federal direct loans, Graduate PLUS loans, and private loans. The Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program below includes an optional forgivable loan.

Work study and campus jobs

Federal Work Study pays for part-time work while you’re enrolled, and eligibility comes from the FAFSA or CADAA. Campus jobs outside work study, including student assistant and teaching associate positions, are posted through Human Resources.

Graduate Equity Fellowship

The deadline to apply for Academic Year 2027-2028 awards is May 1, 2027.

The Graduate Equity Fellowship Program increases the diversity of students completing graduate degree programs at Â鶹´«Ã½ÉçÇøÈë¿Ú, encourages continuation toward doctoral programs, and promotes consideration of university faculty careers. It provides fellowships for Â鶹´«Ã½ÉçÇøÈë¿Ú students from educationally or economically disadvantaged backgrounds who have had success in overcoming those disadvantages. Fellowships are grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 per year.

Eligibility

To apply for a Graduate Equity Fellowship, you must:

• be considered a resident of California for tuition purposes;
• have maintained a GPA of 2.70 in all undergraduate work and 3.25 in all graduate work (students with undergraduate GPAs between 2.5 and 2.7 who have experienced extenuating circumstances may also apply, with an additional statement describing those circumstances);
• be admitted to Â鶹´«Ã½ÉçÇøÈë¿Ú and to a state-supported master’s program as a classified or conditionally classified student;
• have completed a FAFSA or CADAA and have financial need of at least $1,000;
• be eligible for financial aid as determined by the Office of Student Financial Aid (holders of student visas, H-1B, or H-4 visas aren’t eligible);
• enroll in and complete a minimum of 8 units per semester applicable to the master’s degree during the award year, with graduation planned no earlier than the Spring semester of that year (students who have applied for graduation effective that Spring and have only 6 units left are held to a 6-unit minimum in Spring);
• demonstrate potential to succeed in graduate school and to complete a graduate degree in no more than two years, as evidenced by undergraduate coursework and letters of recommendation;
• have not received more than one previous Graduate Equity Fellowship.

How to apply

Email all materials to gradstudies@csueastbay.edu by the deadline. Incomplete, late, or partial applications aren’t accepted, and all awards depend on the availability of funds.

• A completed application form, with the instruction sheet alongside it.
• Official transcripts; unofficial CSUEB transcripts are acceptable. Students already enrolled in a CSUEB graduate program provide CSUEB graduate transcripts only. Students not yet enrolled provide a transcript from the university that granted the undergraduate degree, with no community college transcripts needed.
• Two recommendation forms, at least one from a faculty member, emailed directly to gradstudies@csueastbay.edu with the subject line “GEF Recommendation: Student’s Name”.
• A statement of purpose, two pages, typed and double-spaced. New applicants describe their academic and personal background and their educational or professional achievements, explain how the fellowship will help them reach their career goals including a university faculty career where that applies, and discuss any educational disadvantages they have overcome. Renewal applicants describe their academic achievements during the first year of the award, how the fellowship has shaped their educational experience, and how a renewal will help them reach their career goals.

Conditions of the award

Awardees who don’t enroll in the required 8 units for an award semester don’t receive award funds for that semester. Awardees who receive funds in Fall but don’t complete 8 units or don’t maintain a 3.0 GPA don’t receive funds for the following semester. The Office of Financial Aid verifies the $1,000 need requirement when the award is disbursed; an awardee who secures additional scholarships or awards that aren’t need-based, leaving less than $1,000 of need, has the award rescinded.

California Pre-Doctoral Program

Applications open December 2, 2026 and are submitted through the . In past years they have been due in mid-March. Send your documents to gradstudies@csueastbay.edu by January 28, 2027 so the Office of Graduate Studies can review them with you first.

The California Pre-Doctoral Program, developed jointly by the Â鶹´«Ã½ÉçÇøÈë¿Ú and the University of California, increases the pool of potential CSU faculty by supporting the doctoral aspirations of economically and educationally disadvantaged students. Scholars receive $5,000 toward attending or presenting research at professional conferences, visiting doctoral-granting institutions in the U.S., and graduate school application fees or GRE and GMAT preparation. Many Scholars are also eligible to apply for a fully funded summer research experience with a faculty member in their discipline at a Ph.D.-granting university in the U.S.

Eligibility

CSU juniors, seniors, and graduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents may apply. You must be enrolled at CSUEB in Spring 2027 and for at least one semester of academic year 2027-2028. Selection turns on three criteria: potential for success in completing a doctoral program, probable effectiveness of the student and faculty plan, and level of economic and educational disadvantage.

How to apply

Find a CSUEB faculty sponsor, develop a Faculty Sponsor and Student Plan with them for the funded activities that will prepare you to enter a doctoral program, then complete the 2027-28 Sally Casanova Scholarship application. A complete application has the application itself, three essay questions, transcripts, a budget, and a faculty letter of recommendation, all submitted online. The has the instructions.

A sample application from an earlier year shows the format, and a Word version can be filled out and emailed to the Office of Graduate Studies, with the recommendation letter format inside it for your mentor. The current application differs from both.

Past recipients are listed in the . To ask questions or schedule an appointment, email gradstudies@csueastbay.edu. Students who plan to apply should book a review of their application before submitting it.

California Pre-Doctoral Program, Health Professions Track

Applications open December 2, 2026 on the Chancellor’s Office website, with the deadline usually in the first two weeks of February. The Health Professions Track is part of the California Pre-Doctoral Program but has its own focus, application, and review process.

The track is for students pursuing health professional doctorates with an explicit research component, including Ph.D., Dr.P.H., D.N.P., D.S.W., and Au.D. degrees in fields such as public health, kinesiology, social work, human development with a health emphasis, health and social psychology, speech, language and hearing sciences, and nursing. Students seeking strictly clinical or practitioner degrees, such as doctorates in law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, or clinical psychology, aren’t eligible. The track expects to award funds to about ten juniors, seniors, and master’s students across the CSU.

Scholars receive a $5,000 scholarship administered through the Office of Financial Aid at their campus. It funds travel to visit U.S. health professional doctoral-granting institutions and to attend professional meetings, and academic and professional development such as membership in professional associations, journal subscriptions, standardized test preparation and fees, and materials for scholarly projects. Scholars may also apply for a fully funded summer research experience at an institution that confers health professional doctorates.

Eligibility

All CSU upper-division undergraduate and master’s students except international students may apply. Current and previous Pre-Doctoral Scholars can’t reapply. Applicants must be matriculated at a CSU campus and enrolled there for at least the fall term of 2027-28, and each must have a faculty mentor from their home campus available for the duration of the plan in the application. Selection turns on potential for successful application to and completion of a health professional doctoral program, probable effectiveness of the Collaborative Mentorship Plan, and level of economic and educational disadvantage.

How to apply

The online application is on the California Pre-Doctoral Program website and includes three essays, a Collaborative Research Plan, a budget plan, academic transcripts, and a letter of recommendation from your CSU faculty mentor. Instructions are in the , and the is also available.

Arnab Mukherjea, Faculty Director for the Health Professions at the Office of the Chancellor, meets with potential applicants in person or over Zoom. Email amukherjea@calstate.edu.

Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program

Applications open in mid-December 2026 through the . Last year they were due February 16. Send your documents to gradstudies@csueastbay.edu by January 18, 2027 so the Office of Graduate Studies can review them with you first.

Through the Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program, the CSU provides financial assistance to a limited number of people pursuing doctoral degrees who intend to apply and compete for CSU instructional faculty positions after finishing the doctorate. The program increases the diversity of people qualified to fill those positions.

Awards include a $5,000 dissertation fellowship toward tuition and living expenses, $2,500 grants to support research, $1,500 grants up to twice a year for conference travel for the fellow and mentor, and an optional forgivable loan. Applicants don’t need to be accepted into a doctoral program when they apply, but must enroll in Fall 2027 to receive the award.

Program and are on the Chancellor’s Office website, and past recipients are in the . To schedule an appointment, email gradstudies@csueastbay.edu.

Research competition and OSCAR

The CSU Student Research Competition is held each year, typically in April. It showcases research and creative activity by CSU undergraduate and graduate students across the full range of academic programs, with participants presenting before juries of professional experts from corporations, foundations, public agencies, and California colleges and universities. Details on entering are on the student research competition page.

The OSCAR Scholars’ Program offers development workshops and supports faculty-mentored research and creative activity, which gives students more frequent and more individual attention and feedback from CSUEB faculty. OSCAR awards tuition scholarships to Scholars who attend its development workshops, along with grants for travel and supplies. Scholars range from first-year students through graduate students and vary in GPA, major, and background. See the OSCAR Scholars page for how to apply.

Golden State Teacher Grant

The Golden State Teacher Grant Program supports students earning a teaching credential who commit to teaching in a high-need field at a priority school in California for four years, within five years of completing a teacher preparation program. The California Student Aid Commission awards one-time grants of up to $20,000 to eligible students enrolled in a teacher preparation program approved by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing at a California institution of higher education. Applicants agree to the program’s terms and conditions or repay the grant. Details and the application are on the .

Cal-Bridge

Cal-Bridge supports students from historically underrepresented groups in physics, astronomy, computer science, and computer engineering, and prepares them for Ph.D. programs at UC and other partner institutions. Applicants must be at least 18 by the start of the program. For the main program, you must be enrolled at a CSU campus majoring in physics, astronomy, computer science, computer engineering, or mathematics, and able to graduate within two years of entering the program; community college students in the process of transferring to a four-year institution may also apply. For Cal-Bridge Summer, enrollment at either a CSU or a California community college qualifies. Application materials are on the .

Information sessions

The Office of Graduate Studies and the Chancellor’s Office hold information sessions on the Graduate Equity Fellowship, the California Pre-Doctoral Program, and the Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program. Dates are posted on the graduate events page.

Slides and a from a previous session cover all three programs.