Graduate Student Support

UC Berkeley's standing as the world's most distinguished research university and the nation's top public undergraduate institution is due in large part to the critical role played by its outstanding graduate students. As colleagues to faculty members, they bring fresh perspectives and new questions to shared research. As teachers and mentors to undergraduate students, they offer a valuable "second opinion" on course material.

Retaining top faculty and attracting the best undergraduates is dependent on how successful we are in recruiting stellar graduate students. Yet Berkeley faces a tremendous challenge—about 500 candidates a year choose institutions that offer more competitive fellowships.

Gifts for graduate student support are essential. Chancellor Berdahl recently declared graduate student fellowships a top fund-raising priority for the entire university.

There are several ways you can support graduate education in the College of Letters & Science:

• Named Endowment
  A named, endowed fellowship established with a gift of $500,000 will provide a full five-year fellowship package in perpetuity. The recipient will be identified throughout his/her career at Berkeley as holder of the named fellowship, and the fellowship will rotate to a new recipient every five years.

• Dean's Opportunity Fund
  Gifts of any size can become part of the Dean's Opportunity Fund for Graduate Education. The Dean will make allocations from this expendable fund to students and departments where the need, and the competition, are the greatest, thus enabling both flexibility and resources to compete for the most sought-after graduate students.

• Support a Student
  A gift of $75,000 will support a single graduate student for three years. This, when combined with two years of University teaching assistantships, makes it possible to support a student throughout his or her five-year career.

Make a secure gift online now to Graduate Student Support.

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For further information, please contact:

College Relations
College of Letters & Science
University of California, Berkeley
201 Campbell Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-2920
510-643-1964
510-643-7819 (fax)
Email giving@LS.berkeley.edu