Fellowship Guidelines

The Graduate School provides strategic leadership for graduate education at Ohio State by ensuring high standards for graduate programs and supporting the effective recruitment, retention, and support of excellent graduate students. In alignment with the vision and mission of the Graduate School, the Graduate School’s fellowship programs are designed to help graduate programs recruit highly qualified students to the Ohio State Graduate School and to advance the excellence of graduate education at Ohio State.

Graduate School fellowships provide one or more years of stipend, tuition, and fees for partial support to the program and the student towards completion of their terminal degree. Students in two-year terminal master’s programs are only eligible for one-year fellowships; students in doctoral or three-year terminal master’s degrees may be awarded multi-year fellowships. Fellowship years run for three consecutive semesters, autumn semester through summer semester or summer semester through spring semester. No portion of the fellowship year may be deferred.

A competitive process is held annually to award Graduate School fellowships through the University Fellowship program (UF) and the Graduate Enrichment Fellowship program (GE). A decentralized, college-driven process - the Graduate School College-Allotted Fellowship Program (CAF) and Early Offer Inclusive Excellence Fellowships (EOIE) - are also held annually. The Graduate School also administers separate competitions for the Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship (for SROP and McNair Scholars), the ENGIE-Axium Fellowships, and the J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius Fellowship (athletics).

For multi-year fellowships, funding after the first year is contingent on maintenance of good academic standing (Graduate School Handbook 5.1) and reasonable progress (Graduate School Handbook 5.4) towards the doctoral or three-year terminal degree.

All Graduate School Fellowships:

• Provide a monthly stipend (Appendix D)
• Pay a student’s instructional fees and most general fees
• Pay learning technology fees
• Pay resident or nonresident tuition
•  Provide the 85% university subsidy of the Student Health Insurance premium

This publication provides the guidelines for the 2022-2023 academic year. All aspects of the Fellowship program, including eligibility requirements, allocation formulas, nomination, evaluation, and award processes are under review for future cycles.

 

University Fellowships are designed to recruit academically strong candidates for admission into our graduate programs. The spirit of these awards is to nominate the program’s strongest academic candidates in an equitable and inclusive manner.

There are three University Fellowship types:

• University Fellowship (UF)
  • Offers support for the first year of graduate study
• Distinguished University Fellowship (DUF)
  • Offers support for the first and dissertation years of graduate study
• Susan L. Huntington Dean’s Distinguished University Fellowship (DDUF)
  • Offers support for the first, second, and dissertation years of graduate study

Graduate programs have a maximum number of nominations they can submit to the University Fellowship competition (i.e., UF, DUF or DDUF). Every graduate program has a guaranteed minimum number of nominations (three) or the number as determined by the nomination formula, whichever is greater. This number is the graduate program’s nomination cap (Appendix B).

Programs may nominate as many eligible students for multi-year awards (DDU, DUF) as they wish within their nomination cap (Appendix B), but only if they are willing to provide full intervening years of support, so that the student receives 6 years minimum support in total (Section 4). Students nominated for a DUF or DDUF will be automatically considered for a UF.

Students nominated for University Fellowships may be also be nominated for Graduate Enrichment Fellowships (Section 14) provided the program justification specifies how the candidate(s) enhance the diversity of the program and/or the Graduate School (Section 8.4).

See Section 14.1 for additional information about maximum years of Graduate School fellowship support.

The number of nominations allowed per graduate program is based on a formula that accounts for each program’s number of awards by headcount in each award (irrespective of the number of award years) over the past three years and the number of acceptances of fellowship awards by headcount over that same period (see Nomination Caps Calculation Summary).

This formula provides incentive for recruiting eligible nominees and balances the stability of considering prior cap numbers with an incentive to strategize to increase acceptances.

Nomination cap = (Base number + Bonus number) × .75

Nomination Cap: the maximum number of University Fellowship nominations allowed for a graduate program

Base Number: a program’s average number of awards (combining awards from both University and Graduate Enrichment Fellowship programs, including College Allotted Fellowships) for the last three years.

Bonus number: ½ of a program’s average award acceptances for the past three years.

The Graduate School is committed to effective recruitment, retention, and support for all graduate students and inherent in this commitment is the belief that the academic benefits of a diverse student body are critical to excellence in graduate education and research. As a leading public, land grant, research, urban, community-engaged institution, the academic benefits of a diverse student body and campus community are embedded in Ohio State’s and the Graduate School’s core mission and goals. As part of its commitment to prepare and sustain graduate programs for excellence, the Graduate School has identified that a diverse student body is critical to ensure the quality and integrity of graduate programs. Diversity in graduate education enhances collaborative skills by providing experience working and teaching in diverse groups, where shared knowledge and best practices are informed from a variety of perspectives. A diverse learning environment thus elevates the level of intellectual discourse, nurtures career development, and generates a positive culture for the next generation of learned scholars.

One of the goals of the Graduate School is to administer awards to recognize and recruit a diverse group of outstanding student scholars. Graduate Enrichment Fellowships (GE) are an essential component of the Graduate School’s efforts toward advancing this excellence in education and research. Graduate Enrichment Fellowships are designed to recruit the best and most well-rounded candidates that will enhance the graduate education environment for better learning and community wellness by bringing diverse characteristics and experiences.

There are three competitive Graduate Enrichment Fellowship types:

• Graduate Enrichment Fellowship (GE)
  • Offers support for the first year of graduate study
• Distinguished Graduate Enrichment Fellowship (DGE)
  • Offers support for the first and dissertation years of graduate study
• Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Enrichment Fellowship (DDGE)
  • Offers support for the first, second, and dissertation years of graduate study

The number of nominations a program can submit in the GE competition is unlimited. This policy reflects the Graduate School’s commitment to support graduate programs as they pursue diversity among the graduate students they admit to their programs.

Programs may nominate as many eligible students for multi-year awards (DDGE, DGE) awards as they wish, but only if they are willing to provide full intervening years of support  (Section 4). Students nominated for a DGE or DDGE will be automatically considered for a GE fellowship.

Students nominated for the Graduate Enrichment Fellowship may be also be nominated for University Fellowships (Section 14) provided they meet the eligibility criteria for the University Fellowship competition (Section 5) and the total number of University Fellowship nominations are within the nomination cap. See Section 14.1 for additional information about maximum years of Graduate School fellowship support.

Graduate School Fellowship support is guaranteed for the length of the awarded fellowship only (Table 1). However, the Graduate School expects graduate programs to provide intervening years of support as summarized below. Such support, particularly when guaranteed at the time of the fellowship offer, can be an effective tactic in recruiting talented students.

For one-year fellowships (UF and GE), the Graduate School encourages graduate programs to continue support of their Fellows provided they are making reasonable progress towards their degrees.

For multi-year fellowships (DUF, DDUF, DGE and DDGE), the Graduate School requires that intervening years of support must be provided by the graduate program at a level no less than that of a unit’s monthly stipend for GA appointments. Programs are strongly encouraged to match the stipend-level(s) offered by the Graduate School fellowships. The programs must guarantee this support in writing to the fellow at the time of the initial fellowship award notification.

Graduate programs must commit to a minimum of 2 (for students awarded four years of fellowship support) to 4 (for students awarded two years of fellowship support) years of support for the various multi-year fellowships as specified in Table 1. A commitment of fewer years will be considered if it is consistent with the program’s doctoral completion norms.

The graduate program is not obligated to fund the student after the dissertation/thesis year if the student does not complete their dissertation or thesis and graduate at the end of that year, or if the student has received a total of six years of combined support from the program and Graduate School.

The graduate program is not obligated to fund the student after the dissertation/thesis year if the student does not complete their dissertation or thesis and graduate at the end of that year, or if the student has received a total of six years of combined support from the program and Graduate School.

Incoming graduate students cannot apply for Graduate School fellowships. Instead, fellowship awards are based on nominations of admitted graduate students by Ohio State graduate programs.  Prospective students are encouraged to work with their department of application or admission to inquire about being nominated for a fellowship opportunity.

Individuals who will be graduate students at Ohio State in a new graduate program in summer or autumn semester of the competition year are eligible for nomination.  Current students continuing in their program are ineligible for nomination.  Students transitioning from a Master’s program to PhD program are eligible for nomination. 

Eligibility conditions for students nominated for Graduate School fellowships are summarized in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Eligibility requirements for nomination of candidates for Graduate School Fellowships

	cGPA Min*	Citizenship	Eligible Programs	Fellowship Years	Program Support
University (UF)	3.6†	all	all	1
Distinguished University (DUF)	3.6†	all	terminal master's, doctoral¶	2	4
Susan L. Huntington Dean’s Distinguished University (DDUF)	3.6†	all	doctoral	3	3
Graduate Enrichment (GE)	3.2‡	U.S. citizens§	all	1
Dean's Graduate Enrichment (DGE)	3.2‡	U.S. citizens	terminal master's, doctoral¶	2	4
Dean's Distinguished Graduate Enrichment (DDGE)	3.2‡	U.S. citizens	doctoral	3	3
Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship	3.1 | §	U.S. citizens	doctoral	2	4
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius Fellowship (athletics)	3.0 |	all	all	1
Early Offer Inclusive Excellence	3.6 †	U.S. citizens	doctoral	1
ENGIE-Axium Fellowship	3.6 †	all	all	1

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*If the cumulative undergraduate GPA of a student fails to meet the minimum cGPA requirement then a waiver or a petition may be requested, and graduate GPA will be considered if applicable.

† Minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA (cGPA) of at least 3.6 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent on another scale, such as 4.5 on a 5.0 scale, 5.4 on a 6.0 scale, etc.); OR First Class rank in a British-based grading system; or overall per-centage of at least 88% for other international percentage graded systems.

‡ Minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent on another scale, such as 4.0 on a 5.0 scale, 4.80 on a 6.0 scale, etc.)

§ Includes students eligible for DACA status

| Minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or equivalent on another scale, such as 3.75 on a 5.0 scale, 4.5 on a 6.0 scale, etc.)

¶ Must be a doctoral student (PhD or DMA) or student in a full-time 3-year terminal degree program (e.g., MFA).

Persons ineligible for fellowship consideration with or without a waiver or petition are as follows:

• A student who has not been admitted to the Ohio State Graduate School
• A student with an incomplete set of fellowship application materials
• A student who has been admitted conditionally or admitted as part of the Graduate School Bridge program (Graduate School Handbook 2.6)
• A student who will be enrolled in a professional degree program (e.g., Medicine, Law)
• A student who is enrolled in a combined Bachelor’s/Master’s Program

Graduate programs should screen their prospective nominees carefully so that they do not nominate ineligible candidates or more than the number of candidates permitted by their nomination and waiver caps.

The Graduate School believes that rigorous, established criteria for nominations are the foundation and threshold baseline of the University Fellowship competition. The Graduate School’s waiver policy enables graduate programs to nominate exceptionally qualified applicants who may fall short on the required minimum undergraduate cGPA. Waivers cannot be used for Graduate Enrichment (Section 6.2) or College-Allotted Fellowship nominations (Section 9.3), as those nominations use a petition process. The number of waivers allotted to each graduate program is 25 % of the graduate program’s nomination cap or two, whichever is greater.

If all application materials are present and the nominee’s credentials do not meet the minimum undergraduate cGPA for the University Fellowship competition, the nomination will be reviewed only if the nominee is able to be awarded a waiver from the program’s allotted waivers.

Any nomination not meeting all of the fellowship eligibility criteria for the University Fellowship competition that has not been identified as having a waiver will not be included in the competition. Missing items from the fellowship packet are not a permissible basis for a waiver.

Programs may petition the Graduate School to nominate a well-qualified applicant who may fall short on the minimum criteria for undergraduate cGPA for a Graduate Enrichment Fellowship. Petitions should be submitted by written request from the Graduate Studies Chair to the Associate Dean of the Graduate School. This request must:

1. describe how the nominee will contribute to diversity, and
2. provide a detailed justification for granting an exception to the cGPA minimum for the nominee.
3. be submitted though the student’s page once their name is available in the nomination system by the appropriate deadline.

Petitions must be approved prior to the submission of the nomination materials. There is no limit on the number of petitions that can be requested for GE nominations. Graduate programs are responsible for entering all approved petitions in the nominee screen in the Graduate School Nomination System.

There is a single Graduate School online nomination system used for Graduate School Fellowships. The Graduate School provides an annual workshop at the start of each competition to orient Graduate Program Coordinators to the nomination system. Packets submitted following the submission deadline listed in the Fellowship Calendar will be deemed ineligible to ensure the greatest fairness to all graduate programs.  Incomplete packets may be reviewed but will be scored accordingly.  Incomplete packets may result in a lower overall score.  Programs are strongly encouraged to reach out to Fellowship Services (grad-schoolfellowships@osu.edu) with any questions or concerns in advance of the nomination deadline.

The GradAwards system (Step-by-step Instructions | Log in) is used to administer the Fellowship Competition. Please refer to the Fellowship Calendar for when nominations will open.

Graduate programs may only submit their allotted number of nominations for the University Fellowship competition in accordance with their nomination cap (Appendix B). The Graduate Enrichment program does not have nomination caps. The total number of nominees for College-Allotted Fellowships (CAFs) are determined for each College by the Graduate School based on the average of the last five years of UF and GE awards by headcount, including College-Allotted Fellowships. The number of CAFs allotted to each program is determined by the College (Section 9.1).

Graduate programs must nominate each nominee for the correct competition (e.g. UF, GE, EA, etc.) in the nomination system by the listed deadline in the Fellowship Calendar.

EDWARD | (Step-by-step Instructions | Log in) is the document management system that is available for programs to use to upload nomination documents and compile them into a nomination packet.  EDWARD is an optional tool that is available to programs to compile nomination packets but is not required to assemble packets.  Creating packets in EDWARD will not automatically upload them to GradAwards.  Programs must upload final packets to GradAwards for each nominee.  EDWARD is run by the Office of Graduate and Professional Admissions.

For each nominee, the graduate program must upload a complete set of fellowship nomination materials in the order listed below as one PDF.

Final nomination packets must be submitted as one single PDF.  The GradAwards system is not able to load a PDF in portfolio PDF format.  Combining files means that all files will be converted to PDF format, whereas creating a PDF portfolio preserves the files in their original file format and you can edit or modify them in their native application without removing them from the portfolio.  Submissions must be submitted in a combined PDF format.

Required Nomination Materials:

• The graduate program’s signed justification statement
• The nominee’s statement of purpose
• The nominee’s curriculum vitae
• Three letters of recommendation (letters of recommendation from the admission application are permissible)
• The nominee’s undergraduate and (if applicable) graduate transcripts

Following compilation, nomination materials created in EDWARD must be uploaded to the Graduate School Nomination System by 5:00 PM on the day of the submission deadline in a single PDF document. Programs must verify that their PDFs have been successfully uploaded and are complete.

The GradAwards System (Step-by-step Instructions | Log in)  also serves as the fellowship management system.

Graduate School (GS) Nomination System Login

Step By Step Fellowship Nomination System Documentation

The GradAwards System is used to:

• Review applications and select candidates for various fellowships.
• Check the current number of nominations and waivers. For any nominee not meeting the undergraduate cGPA eligibility criteria, graduate programs must use a waiver or an

approved petition up to their allotted number of waivers (Section 6.1) or petitions (Section 6.2). They must check the appropriate waiver type in the GradAwards System and submit final nominations by the deadline.

• View competition fellowship award information when it is made available.
• View and download award letters and check for accuracy when they are posted.

Important deadlines for the Graduate School fellowship nominations are summarized in the Fellowship Calendar in Appendix F.

Transcripts reflecting courses taken for the 4-year undergraduate degree, graduate degrees (if applicable), and grades received in undergraduate or graduate courses (if applicable) that are relevant to the program of study of the nominee.

The Graduate School does not require standardized test scores. Scores should not be submitted if they are not required by the program. However, official notification of standardized scores (e.g., GRE and subject specific standardized test scores, GMAT etc.) should be included as an Application Management Engine (AME) sheet from Graduate and Professional Admissions if the program requires standardized test scores and mentions standardized test scores in the justification statement as support for the quality of the nominee.

Nominee’s curriculum vitae summarizing major scholarly pursuits and activities and other experiences including but not limited to publications, presentations, performances, awards, internships etc.

Statement of Purpose to be evaluated according to factors including but not limited to: clarity and quality of writing, non-academic experience, motivation for graduate study and research interest, career goals, and interest in the specific graduate program at The Ohio State University.

Letters of Recommendation - The quality of letters will be assessed from factors such as reputation and/or relevance of recommenders, the intellectual ability of the nominee, the quality and quantity of scholarly work and other attributes of the nominee such as experiences, leadership activities, motivation, work-ethic, overcoming hardship(s), and promise for success in graduate school.  Letters of recommendation used in the admissions application are permitted for use in fellowship nomination packets.

Program Justification Statement - It is the program’s responsibility to provide a narrative describing specific interpretation of the nominee’s credentials, including previous graduate work, if relevant. The statement should be submitted by the Graduate Studies Committee Chair and describe why the nominee represents the highest quality for their program. For the Graduate Enrichment Fellowship, the narrative should include how the nominee could enhance the diversity of the program and/or the Graduate School.

The information for this narrative may be gathered by the program through the following methods:

• Graduate School Admissions Application:
  • personal statements
  • letters of recommendation

• campus visits
• phone contact
• interviews
• surveys
• 15th-day enrollment report and other program-related means.

The justification should include the level of enthusiasm of the program for the applicant (Outstanding, Excellent, Very Good), how the nominee fits into the program’s research emphases, and/or how the applicant can promote programmatic goals or fill existing gaps. Graduate programs should emphasize all relevant attributes of all-around strength, not simply outstanding performance on a single measure.

Fellowship nominations are reviewed by the Graduate School fellowship review committees, and fellowship awards are made by the Graduate School based on the recommendations of the review committees.

The University Fellowship and the Graduate Enrichment Review Committees consist of members of the Graduate Faculty. Committee members are chosen to reflect a fair representation across all colleges and disciplines. Each committee member serves a three-year term. Each University Fellowship and Graduate Enrichment nomination is evaluated by three readers who are selected through a blocked-randomized process. Reviewers do not review nominees from their own programs, and they recuse themselves for discussion if in conflict of interest. Each nomination’s final score is an average of the three scores.

In addition to screening that the candidates meet the eligibility criteria for nomination, the members of the review committee evaluate nominees on the basis of the scoring criteria outlined in Section 8.3 and 8.4.

University fellowships are used to recruit new, incoming graduate students to Ohio State. For programs participating in the University Fellowship competition, the following criteria must be used by a program in assessing nominees for University Fellowships. Academic productivity, as defined below, should be a heavily weighted criterion; however, programs should also consider the nominee’s experiences and characteristics as this information will assist with identifying the nominee’s potential contributions to the University and the Graduate School as a fellow.

Academic Productivity (heavily weighted):

• Cumulative/major undergraduate and graduate GPA (if relevant); reputation/difficulty of the undergraduate program/institution
• Publications, scholarly works, abstracts, performances and creative exhibitions, research laboratory outputs such as posters, presentations, etc.
• Previous track record of academic achievement including but not limited to high school graduation awards, college major, college and university awards and honors, and major accolades (e.g., National Merit Scholarship; AP scholar, NSF pre-doctoral award, Fulbright).

 

Experiences

• Quantity and quality of scholarly activities, including but not limited to shadowing, communications, volunteer efforts, performances, research activities, and internships.
• Extracurricular and non-academic experiences (e.g., community service, other major activities, leadership experiences, travel/experience abroad, outreach activities, teaching or other work experience).

Characteristics

• Qualities and attributes that are associated with success in graduate school (e.g., work-ethic, overcoming hardship, discipline, focus, grit, resilience, readiness, achievement orientation, motivation, organization, maturity).

Multi-year fellowships

To determine the recipients of multi-year DDUF and DUF awards, the review committee additionally considers the overall strength of program support for the candidate and the track record of the program in providing intervening years of support (as presented in the justification statement). These elements and the final score from the review committee are used to advise the Graduate School to determine multi-year awards.

In scoring nominations for the GE competition, a nominee’s academic productivity, experiences and characteristics (as defined in UF criteria above) will be equally weighted by the review process. In considering a nominee’s experiences and characteristics, the nominee’s potential contributions to the University and the Graduate School as a fellow, including their contributions to diversity of the Graduate School and the program, will be considered.

Nominating graduate programs are expected to provide a narrative describing how the nominee contributes to a diverse graduate student body in a manner that supports excellence in graduate education for their graduate program and/or the university. The narrative should include how the nominee’s matriculation to Ohio State would advance the educational mission and excellence of the Graduate School, including how the nominee’s prior academic and life experiences enhance the intellectual discourse of the university. Nominees that demonstrate diversity in thoughts and/or life experience and those that contribute to increasing multiple aspects of program diversity are most likely to succeed.

The Graduate School allots approximately one-half of its first-year University Fellowship awards for distribution at the college level.

The purpose of this decentralization is to give graduate programs flexibility when they may want to make offers in order to recruit top students. It also allows the graduate programs to make early offers.

 

The Graduate School determines the number of College-Allotted Fellowship awards that each college will receive. This number is based on the average number of UF and GE fellowship awards won by the college’s graduate programs during the last five-year period, and therefore are awarded to our highest quality and competitive graduate programs to recruit the most sought after graduate students for the University.

Each college determines how these fellowships are allotted to its graduate programs and sets its own internal review process. After this notification is made, colleges must notify the Fellowship Office of the awards allotted to each program and provide a description of the policies and procedures established to distribute them. College-allotted awards may be entered into the GradAwards system between the system opening and the business day most closely following April 15 (11:59 p.m.) Procedures established to distribute awards to programs or to individual students at the college level are subject to the discretion of the college’s dean.

The Graduate School monitors all nominees to ensure that they meet the eligibility requirements for awarding fellowships. Although a college may require programs to submit application materials for its internal review, the Graduate School does not require the submission of materials with a college-allotted award unless a petition is required.

Interdisciplinary graduate programs that cut across colleges and programs that do not report to a specific college dean are allotted awards directly from the Graduate School. This number is based on their performance in the past five years. College deans have the discretion to award additional fellowships from their total to the interdisciplinary graduate programs in which their colleges participate.

College-Allotted Fellowships awarded to a nominee by the program may be a UF, DUF, or DDUF. For each year of fellowship support offered, one College-Allotted Fellowship is spent. For example, offering a two-year DUF through a college-allotted award will cost that college two of its allotted fellowships.

In general, awards made through the College-Allotted Fellowships (CAF) process must meet all of the eligibility criteria for the University Fellowship program (Table 1).

To allow for some flexibility, the Graduate School will review a limited number of petitions from the college for an exception to the minimum undergraduate cGPA as described in Table 2.

Table 2: Number of petitions allowed for CAFs

Number of college-allotted awards	Number of petitions
< 6	1
6 to 11	2
11 to 16	3
> 16	4

Each college first reviews these petitions from its graduate programs. Those it approves are sent to the Graduate School for final review. It is within the colleges’ purview not to allow any college-allotted awards to be offered to students who do not meet the fellowship nomination criteria.

The petition to the Graduate School must be in the form of a written request addressed to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and uploaded on the nominee’s page in the GradAwards System. This request must provide a detailed justification for granting the GPA petition.

Petitions must be approved prior to the online submission of the college-allotted award.

All College-Allotted Fellowship awards must be submitted online by the deadline indicated on the Fellowship Calendar.

Programs may use CAFs to supplement the competition awarded fellowships and may do so by nominating the student in the Graduate School Nomination System. Graduate programs must inform awardees at the time of the fellowship offer of their willingness to provide (or not provide) additional financial years of support, supplemental stipend and the conditions, if any, that need to be met for continued support.

Awards made through the College-Allotted Fellowship process, no matter how early in the academic year, are subject to the Council of Graduate Schools’ Resolution regarding acceptances and financial aid offers.

The confidential fellowship award list for each graduate program will be made available in the GradAwards system following review.

Graduate School award letters will be made available in GradAwards for review by graduate programs to ensure accuracy following the award decision. Notification to Fellowship Services after the letters are first made available can request the award letter be sent to nominees. CAFs may be awarded at this time, and they will then be added to the first award letter. All letters will be sent on the official awards notification date. The Graduate School sends the official fellowship award letters to fellowship awardees by email. Students enter their official decision to accept or decline their award through the GradAwards system.  Programs are not permitted to enter an official decision on behalf of the awardee.  Only the awardee may enter an official decision via the GradAwards Nomination System.  For the 2022-2023 cycle, the Graduate School will accept a direct email acceptance or declination from the student (e.g. the student directly emails grad-schoolfellowships@osu.edu indicating their official decision).  Forwarded acceptances or declinations sent to the program will not be accepted.  The awardee must accept or decline in GradAwards or email Fellowship Services directly to enter an official decision.

The offer letter will be emailed to the students as soon as possible and no later than one week after letters are made available to the programs. In cases where the student is awarded a College-Allotted Fellowship or a reallocated fellowship after the initial award send letter date, a new letter listing all fellowships awarded may be sent immediately by the program, or automatically by the Graduate School within days of the award being made. Students who receive an additional award after entering an official decision of ‘Accept’ in the Graduate School Nomination System will not need to accept their new award.  The previously entered acceptance of the original offer will automatically be applied to the new award and offer.   Students who have not yet accepted their award in GradAwards will need to enter their official decision to accept or decline into the GradAwards system.

Please note that declinations of a fellowship are final and cannot be reversed.  Awardees can enter their official decision to accept or decline a fellowship award up to the April 15^th 11:59 p.m., ET deadline. Programs that wish to award a College-Allotted or reallocated fellowship to a student who has declined a fellowship before the April 15^th deadline can do so in the nomination system. Any nominee that does not accept the Graduate School offer by April 15^th will forfeit that offer but could accept a reallocation or CAF offer made after April 15th. The program should inform the student that they will not receive the declined offer, only the later offer should they choose to accept it.

To avoid confusion on the part of awardees, graduate programs are strongly encouraged to reference and attach a copy of the Graduate School letter in their own offer letter to the student. Graduate programs must inform awardees at the time of the fellowship offer of their willingness to provide (or not provide) additional financial years of support, supplemental stipend and the conditions, if any, that need to be met for continued support. 

Programs should not notify students of any award until the award is entered into the GradAwards system and has “AWARDED” status.  Any other status in GradAwards (e.g. nominated or pending) does not indicate that the student has been awarded.

Fellowship Services does not notify students of unsuccessful nominations and will defer students to confirm with programs regarding their funding status (e.g. departmental awards or fellowships, CAFs, GTA/GRA support).  Each graduate program is responsible for notifying its unsuccessful nominees.

Ohio State follows the Council of Graduate Schools’ (CGS) April 15 award resolution agreement. The Council of Graduate Schools resolution states that fellowship recipients have complete freedom of choice in accepting their awards until April 15, with the last award accepted on or before that date being the one to which the student is obligated.

Graduate programs may make offers in advance of this date but cannot state or imply that these offers are contingent on acceptance prior to April 15. Contact the Fellowship Office for statements acceptable to the Council of Graduate Schools.

Acceptances received by the Council of Graduate Schools deadline (April 15 at 11:59pm Eastern Time) will be honored, even if April 15 falls on a Saturday or Sunday.  Fellowship Services may not process these acceptances until the following business day (e.g. the following Monday if April 15 falls over a weekend).

The fellowship appointment for students who begin their fellowship in autumn is mid-August through mid-August of the following year. The fellowship appointment for students who begin their fellowship in summer at the request of their program can be from mid-May through mid-May of the following year.

The fellowship offer applies exclusively to graduate study in the graduate program making the nomination. Any change in a student’s enrollment status, including entry into a combined program or transfer to another program, must be approved by the Graduate School prior to that change and could result in the loss of the fellowship and/or full fee authorization support.

Fellowship students must be in attendance on the Columbus or Wooster campus and be pursuing a graduate degree in the program specified in the fellowship award letter from the Dean of the Graduate School. Exceptions to the residency requirement might include language study or research at another institution; however, fellows must continue to enroll at Ohio State and follow the policy for attendance of their classes.

Fellows are expected to abide by the professional codes of ethics and responsibilities of the university and those commonly accepted in the fellow’s field of study. These codes include, but are not limited to, the Graduate Student Code of Research and Scholarly Conduct and the Code of Student Conduct and Codes of Academic Misconduct. Fellows must also maintain good academic standing (Graduate School Handbook 5.1) in the Graduate School and make reasonable progress (Graduate School Handbook 5.4) toward the graduate degree.

Fellows have minimum credit hour requirements. Master’s and pre-doctoral candidacy fellows must enroll for a minimum of 12 credit hours during autumn and spring semesters and 6 hours during summer session when utilizing Graduate School fellowship support. Doctoral post-candidacy students must carry a minimum of 3 credit hours each term of fellowship support.

Fellowships provide a competitive stipend and fee authorization for the full-time effort of the graduate student toward requirements for their degree. Graduate School fellows must not hold another paid student appointment or student employment during the term of the fellowship appointment. Supplemental stipend support for effort aligned with the graduate degree is permitted.  However, there may be no work expectations associated with the supplemental pay.  The Graduate School supports GTA and GRA experiences occurring during intervening years.

If the fellow graduates prior to the end of the fellowship period, the fellowship will terminate (see exception to withdrawal cost) at the end of the semester that graduation occurs.

The Graduate School reserves the right to terminate fellowship support before the end of the award period for the following reasons:

• The fellow is no longer enrolled in Graduate School.
• The fellow is registered for fewer than the required minimum number of credit hours.
• The fellow fails to maintain reasonable progress towards the graduate degree or fails to maintain good standing.
• The fellow receives a terminal degree.
• The fellow changes graduate programs without obtaining written approval from the appropriate graduate programs and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs.
• The fellow accepts employment or any other type of financial support.
• The fellow has been found in violation of the professional codes of ethics and responsibilities of the university. These codes include, but are not limited to, the Graduate Student Code of Research and Scholarly Conduct (Graduate School Handbook Appendix C) and the Code of Student Conduct. Violations are determined through the formal disciplinary and/or grievance procedures established by recognized bodies of the university.

A request for activation of the dissertation year or thesis year (DYF) portion of any multi-year fellowship is made with the strong expectation that the fellow will complete all degree requirements and graduate within the dissertation year. The dissertation year must be activated before the student’s seventh year of graduate study.

Requests to activate the dissertation year must be made in writing by the fellow’s Graduate Studies Committee Chair to the Office of Fellowship Services (grad-schoolfellowships@osu.edu) and must confirm the student has met the following criteria:

• Completed all doctoral coursework.
• Completed the candidacy exam successfully and is within the five-year candidacy time period.
• Has a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.60 (3.2 for GEFP fellows, or 3.1 for Osmer Fellows).
• Received continuous departmental support during non-Graduate School fellowship years.

Dissertation years cannot be activated until all of the above criteria have been met.  Students who have scheduled but not completed candidacy exams are not eligible to activate dissertation years. 

Post-candidacy fellows may register for degree-related courses in excess of 3 credit hours with advisor approval. The DYF may not be used to support courses taken for another degree program.

Requests to activate the dissertation year are encouraged to be submitted at least four weeks prior to the desired start term of the fellowship.  Requests will be accepted after this time until the first day of the requested start term but may lead to delays of the student’s fee authorization and first stipend payment.  

Stipend. The yearly stipend will be made available to the student as outlined by the type of fellowship (Appendix D) in the award letter.

Fellows are paid on the last working day of the month. For fellows who start their appointment in the fall semester, the first and last stipend payment is on the last working day of August and is a half stipend. Students who begin their fellowship in summer will receive the current fiscal year stipend rate from mid-May through mid-August and the upcoming fiscal year stipend rate from mid-August through mid-May.

If the fellow leaves the fellowship early, the stipend will be prorated to reflect the date of departure.

Tuition & Fees. The Graduate School authorizes the payment of resident and nonresident tuition, any learning technology fees, and the general fees.

Fellows are responsible for all late fees if they are the result of being under-enrolled (e.g., enrolled for less than the required number of hours as specified in the Minimum credit hour requirements [Section 11.3]) or a failure to make payment by the deadline.  Tuition and fee authorization benefits may not be refunded to the student.

Expenses and Fees Not Covered by the Fellowship. Food and housing, application fee, books, equipment, lab fees, parking, and other personal expenses are not paid by the fellowship.  Ancillary fees (including Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union, COTA, Student Legal Services, and remaining health insurance) are not covered by the fellowship.

Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar’s website.  If a payroll deduction does not occur automatically, contact the Bursar’s Office to set up a payment plan to account for ancillary fees not covered by the fellowship.

Withdrawal Costs. Should an active fellow choose to withdraw or be asked to leave the university for cause during the semester, all tuition and fees previously paid by the fellowship for that semester (or summer term) will be reversed and those fees charged to the student.  Additionally, the fellowship stipend will be prorated to reflect the date of departure. Contact Fellowship Services for withdrawal costs.

An exception is a fellow in their final year who has fulfilled their responsibilities for graduation. With the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee Chair and their advisor, the student can terminate the program before the end of the semester without any withdrawal costs.

Health Insurance. Graduate fellows are eligible for the university’s subsidy of Student Health Insurance (SHI) premiums, which is currently 85% of the Comprehensive Student Health Insurance premiums. The fellow’s portion of the student health insurance is divided into equal payments and deducted from the monthly fellowship stipend. Graduate fellowships are non-service appointments and, therefore, fellows are not eligible for worker’s compensation or disability insurance. All domestic students who have coverage through a non-university health insurance plan and who want to waive SHI coverage can do so by completing the online waiver process on the SHI website.

Tax Liability. According to the Federal Tax Reform Act of 1986, fellowship stipends are considered taxable income. However, because fellowships are considered awards, the university does not withhold income tax from the monthly stipend for most students. Students will not receive a W-2 Form. Students may be required to file federal and state estimated quarterly income tax forms. Information and forms on quarterly filing can be obtained from a tax advisor or at Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Information about fellowships and taxes can be found at the IRS website. Students may also be required to pay the Columbus city tax (City of Columbus tax website).

Fellows should use their last payslip from the calendar year in Workday when filing their taxes and working with their tax professional.  This will list the fellow’s final earnings. 

We also encourage fellows to review IRS Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, for additional information regarding reporting requirements for the fellowship.  For federal taxes, students may go to IRS websites:  www.irs.gov  and http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040es.pdf,  which include the specific link to quarterly payment forms.

If fellows have questions regarding Workday or don’t have access to their payslip anymore, please contact HR Connection for assistance.

It is essential that all fellows that are international students declare their citizenship status in Workday when completing their initial hiring application, and complete Glacier when prompted.  Some international students may have federal tax withheld from their stipend payments depending on residency status and government policies.  If students do not input their citizenship status on initial hire, or complete Glacier in a timely manner, federal tax withholdings may be increased to account for previous months where withholding did not occur.  International students who have federal tax withheld from their fellowship stipend will receive a 1042-S form at the end of the year to report fellowship income to the IRS.

The Graduate School encourages fellows to work closely with a tax professional as we are not knowledgeable in providing individual tax advice or instruction.

Parking. Graduate fellows may purchase a student or a staff parking permit. Information regarding the parking permits can be obtained from CampusParc.

Library. Graduate fellows have staff library privileges.

Students may be nominated for more than one type of award through the Graduate School fellowship competition and/or the College-Allotted Fellowship process. If the nominee wins multiple awards, additional year(s) of support may be added. If the nominee is awarded more than one type of fellowship (e.g., UF, GE, and EOIE), the fellowships will not be combined into one award. Instead, the awards will be distributed in an order determined by a Graduate School rubric that, in general, supports the lower stipend awards being distributed first. The stipend level will vary across multi-year awards (I.e., DUF, DDUF, DGE, DDGE) and combination award fellowships (e.g., UF, GE, and EOIE).

• For any fellowship awarded across multiple years (including those created by combining or reallocating), one year must be reserved for the thesis/dissertation year. This year will be funded at the dissertation year stipend level.
• The maximum number of Graduate School fellowship competition fellowship years (University Fellowship Competition and Graduate Enrichment Fellowship Competition) awarded to a student through this process is three years.
• A one-, two- or three-year competition award could be supplemented for additional years by College-Allotted Fellowship(s), up to the maximum levels of funding described below.
• Students are eligible for maximum Graduate School recruitment fellowship funding at the following levels, based on the program they have been accepted to:
  • 2-Year Master’s Program: 1 year total of a University Fellowship, Graduate Enrichment Fellowship, College-Allotted Fellowship, or ENGIE-Axium Fellowship.
  • 3-Year full time terminal degree Master’s Program: 2 years total of a University Fellowship, Graduate Enrichment Fellowship, College-Allotted Fellowship, and/or ENGIE-Axium Fellowship.
  • PhD Program:  4 years total of a University Fellowship, Graduate Enrichment, Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship, College-Allotted Fellowship, Early Offer Inclusive Excellence Fellowship, and/or ENGIE-Axium Fellowship.
• Students will be awarded a stipend in accordance with the awards received, not based on the total number of years. For example, a student awarded a Distinguished University Fellowship and a Graduate Enrichment Fellowship through competition will receive their stipend at the following levels:
  • Year One: first year of DUF at the standard stipend amount
  • Year Two: GE at the standard stipend amount
  • Dissertation year: dissertation year of the DUF at the dissertation year stipend amount
• Students whose combined awards reach three years only through the addition of reallocations (i.e., a Distinguished University Fellowship awarded through the University Fellowship competition and an additional year of UF funding through reallocation) will receive the stipend amount for a University or Distinguished University Fellowship in their first two years of study. As with all multi-year awards or award combinations, they will receive the dissertation year stipend in their final year.

The graduate program assumes financial commitments specified in their award letter to applicants in alignment with fellowship stipulations as outlined above for the intervening non-fellowship years when a student is granted multiple years of support.

 

Eligibility: University Fellowships may only be reallocated to students who were nominated in the University Fellowship competition. College-Allotted Fellowships (CAFs) may be re-awarded to any student who meets the eligibility requirements for the University Fellowship. Graduate Enrichment Fellowship offers that have been declined do not count for reallocation purposes. 

Graduate programs may re-award CAFs and reallocate University Fellowship awards that have been declined by the recipients. Reallocations are calculated by headcount for University Fellowships and by award years for College-Allotted Fellowships. This distinction recognizes that College-Allotted Fellowships are counted by award years and is designed to encourage programs to take strategic risks in making offers with their college-allotted awards. College-Allotted Fellowships that are declined can be reallocated any time after the declination or by the deadline (business day following April 15).

A program may reallocate one fellowship for every three declinations of a University Fellowship. This ratio of three-to-one ensures that the number of funded fellowships is in line with annual budget realities. Alternatively, one or two declinations may be used to fund one semester or two semesters, respectively, of a one-year fellowship, and the program may assume responsibility for the remainder amount of the year. Any reallocations of one or two semesters will be awarded during the student’s first semester(s) of study, or immediately following an initial award year should the reallocation be in addition to a competition or College-Allotted Fellowship.

Re-awarding of declined College-Allotted Fellowships or new CAF allocations may be submitted at any time from the opening of the system to the business day following April 15 deadline. If a CAF is declined through the GradAwards system, the CAF year can be re-awarded as per the original guidelines for the use of CAFs. If a reallocated CAF is declined before business day following April 15 deadline, it may be reallocated again.

Reallocation of University Fellowships is based on declinations entered into the GradAwards system. UF reallocations can be submitted as early as when three declinations are received and after the date when the confidential list of awardees is made available. To assist in recruitment, reallocated letters of offer can be made available as soon as each reallocation is approved. Each UF can only be reallocated once, regardless of whether a UF reallocation is declined. Declined UF reallocations cannot count towards the number of UF declinations necessary to fund another reallocation.

Students who are offered a College-Allotted or reallocated fellowship after April 15^th and before the business day following April 15 submission deadline will have until April 30^th 11:59 p.m., ET to accept their offer.

Reallocations resulting from declined College-Allotted and UFP competitions are additive for reallocation purposes.

a declined University Fellowship (any number of years) = 1/3 reallocation

a declined year of a College-Allotted Fellowship = 1 year reallocation

Example 1. A student declines a Distinguished University Fellowship awarded through the UFP competition and a University Fellowship (one year) awarded through the college-allotted process = 1 year and one semester available for reallocation

Example 2. A student declines a Distinguished University Fellowship (two years) awarded through the college-allotted process and a University Fellowship awarded through the UFP competition = 2 years and one semester available for reallocation

Programs participating in the reallocation process must receive the necessary number of declinations entered by the original awardee(s) into the GradAwards system before submitting the reallocation form to Fellowship Services at grad-schoolfellowships@osu.edu.  Programs may submit the form at any time a sufficient number of declinations have accumulated, but no later than the business day following April 15 at 11:59 p.m., ET.  Prior to awarding the student, the Graduate School will confirm that the program has the required number of declinations entered by the original awardee(s) into the GradAwards system to create the reallocated fellowship.

Funds available for reallocated fellowships may not be used to increase the monthly stipend for nominees awarded fellowships in this competition or to provide support to continuing graduate students already enrolled in the graduate program.

College-Allotted Fellowships that are declined can be re-awarded to a new nominee through the college-allotted process for that specific program only and no later than the business day following April 15 at 11:59 p.m., ET. Reallocations or College-Allotted Fellowships are not cumulative from year to year.

• Nomination: Have you nominated your students for the appropriate fellowships (DDU, DUF, UF, DDGE, DGE, or GE) and do they meet the fellowship eligibility criteria? If not, has a waiver been applied or petition approved by the Graduate School?
• Deadline: Have you nominated each student through the GradAwards system by the deadline?
• Waivers and Petitions: Have you identified the students in the GradAwards System who are being submitted under the waiver or petition policy? The total number of waivers cannot exceed 25% of a program’s nomination cap of total University Fellowship nominations actually made, or two whichever is greater. Graduate Enrichment petitions are reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
• Nomination Documents For every nominee, have you uploaded and verified the contents of the application as one PDF to GradAwards system with all of the following materials in the order listed by the deadline?
  1. Signed graduate program justification statement
  2. The nominees’ statement of purpose
  3. The nominee’s vitae
  4. Three letters of recommendation
  5. The nominee’s undergraduate and (if applicable) graduate transcripts
• Is the nominee displaying in full NOMINATED status in GradAwards by the nomination deadline?

Graduate School Nomination System Login

Nomination Caps are determined by program. The program's average number of awards for the past three years constitutes the base number. The bonus number is one-half of the program's three year average acceptances. The base and bonus numbers are added together then multiplied by 75% to determine the cap. Data from the University Fellowship and Graduate Enrichment Fellowship competitions are included in the calculations; however, the cap applies only to the University Fellowship program. Each program is guaranteed a minimum cap of 3. The number of Allotted Waivers is 25% of the adjusted cap or 2 whichever is greater.

2023 Fellowship Nomination Caps 

College	Program	Nomination Cap	Waiver Cap
All Colleges	All Programs	778	298
Arts and Sciences	All Programs	450
Arts and Sciences	Actuarial & Quant Risk Mgt	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Af Am & African Studies	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Anthropology	5	2
Arts and Sciences	Art	5	2
Arts and Sciences	Art Education	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Arts Admin, Education & Policy	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Arts Policy and Admin - MA	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Astronomy	16	4
Arts and Sciences	Atmospheric Sciences	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Audiology	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Contemporary and Curatorial	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Chemical Physics	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Chemistry	24	6
Arts and Sciences	Communication	8	2
Arts and Sciences	Comparative Studies	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Dance	5	2
Arts and Sciences	Dance Studies	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Design	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Earth Sciences	7	2
Arts and Sciences	East Asian Lang & Lit	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Economics	14	4
Arts and Sciences	English	30	8
Arts and Sciences	Evol, Ecol & Organ Biology	6	2
Arts and Sciences	French & Italian	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Geodetic Science	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Geography	5	2
Arts and Sciences	Germanic Lang & Lit	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Greek & Latin	3	2
Arts and Sciences	History	13	3
Arts and Sciences	History of Art	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Italian	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Linguistics	7	2
Arts and Sciences	Mathematical Sciences	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Mathematics	47	12
Arts and Sciences	Microbiology	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Molecular Genetics	4	2
Arts and Sciences	Music	5	2
Arts and Sciences	Medical Humanities and Social Sciences	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Near East Lang & Cultures	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Philosophy	4	2
Arts and Sciences	Physics	46	12
Arts and Sciences	Political Science	23	6
Arts and Sciences	Portuguese	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Psychology	40	10
Arts and Sciences	Slavic & E Europ Lang & Lit	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Sociology	24	6
Arts and Sciences	Spanish & Portuguese	6	2
Arts and Sciences	Speech and Hearing Science	5	2
Arts and Sciences	Speech Language Pathology	4	2
Arts and Sciences	Statistics	15	4
Arts and Sciences	Theatre	3	2
Arts and Sciences	Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies	4	2
Business, Fisher College of	All Programs	13
Business, Fisher College of	Human Resource Mgmt	3	2
Business, Fisher College of	Master of Accounting	4	2
Business, Fisher College of	Business Administration	3	2
Business, Fisher College of	Specialized Masters in Business-FIN	3	2
Dentistry	Dentistry - MS	5	2
Education & Human Ecology	All Programs	35
Education & Human Ecology	Consumer Sciences	3	2
Education & Human Ecology	Educational Studies	14	3
Education & Human Ecology	Human Dev & Family Sci	3	2
Education & Human Ecology	Human Nutrition	3	2
Education & Human Ecology	Kinesiology	3	2
Education & Human Ecology	Teaching & Learning	9	2
Engineering	All Programs	87
Engineering	Aerospace Engineering	5	2
Engineering	Architecture	3	2
Engineering	Biomedical Engineering	11	3
Engineering	Chemical Engineering	7	2
Engineering	City & Regional Planning	3	2
Engineering	Civil Engineering	6	2
Engineering	Computer Science Engrg	6	2
Engineering	Electrical & Computer Engrg	10	2
Engineering	Engineering Education	3	2
Engineering	Food, Agr & Biological Eng	3	2
Engineering	Industrial & Systems Engrg	3	2
Engineering	Landscape Architecture	3	2
Engineering	Materials Science & Eng	4	2
Engineering	Mechanical Engineering	11	3
Engineering	Nuclear Engineering	3	2
Engineering	Structural Engineering	3	2
Engineering	Welding Engineering	3	2
FAES	All Programs	40
FAES	Agr Comm, Edu, & Leadership	3	2
FAES	Agr, Environ & Dev Econ	5	2
FAES	Animal Sciences	4	2
FAES	Entomology	3	2
FAES	Environment & Natural Res	14	3
FAES	Food Science and Technology	3	2
FAES	Horticulture & Crop Science	5	2
FAES	Plant Pathology	3	2
Law	Masters of Law	3	2
Medicine	All Programs	48
Medicine	Anatomy	3	2
Medicine	Athletic Training	3	2
Medicine	Biomedical Sciences	18	5
Medicine	Dietetics and Nutrition	3	2
Medicine	Genetic Counseling	3	2
Medicine	Health & Rehabilitation Sci	3	2
Medicine	Immunology & Micropathogenesis	3	2
Medicine	Occupational Therapy	5	2
Medicine	Physical Therapy	4	2
Medicine	Respiratory Therapy	3	2
Nursing	Nursing	5	2
Optometry	Vision Science	3	2
Pharmacy	Pharmacy	5	2
Public Affairs, John Glenn College of	Public Affairs, John Glenn College of	15	4
Public Health	All Programs	18
Public Health	Health Services Mgt & Policy	4	2
Public Health	Public Health	14	3
Social Work	Social Work	8	2
Veterinary Medicine	Veterinary Medicine	3	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	All Programs	53
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Biophysics	3	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Biostatistics	8	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	East Asian Studies	3	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Environmental Science	3	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Latin American Studies	3	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Mol, Cell & Dev Biology	8	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Neuroscience	12	3
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Ohio State Biochemistry	6	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	OSU Nutrition	4	2
Graduate School - Interdisciplinary	Slavic & East Europ Studies	3	2

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^* Allotted waiver calculations are based on the adjusted cap
Source: Fellowship Annual Reports

Graduate Fellowship Allotments, Awards, and Acceptances
Fellowship Cycle 2022
(The fellowship cycle runs May 1st through the following April 30th)
Fellowship Type	Awarded/Allotted	Accepted
University (UF)	362	143
Graduate Enrichment GE	164	76
University College Allotted Fellow (CAF)	175	154
Osmer	15	10
Engie-Axium (EA)	26	18
Early Offer Inclusive Excellence (EIOE)	17	9
All Recruitment Fellowships	759	410
Presidential	40	40

Fellowship Type	Awarded	Accepted
IRS (Scholarships)	28	21
CPT Scholarships	2	2
AGGRS	37	37
Dinius	1	1

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Data Prepared on 5-9-2022

Data Note: Accepted totals for UFs & CAFs include
reallocations/re-awards that were accepted by students without other fellowship offers.

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The Graduate School provides the Presidential Fellowship for a number of exemplary Graduate Students in their dissertation year.  Summary information is available below, and any inquiries regarding graduate data should be sent to the Graduate School.

2017-2021 Presidential Fellowship Data by Plan

Previous Fellowship Summaries

2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006

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2022–2023

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	Dissertation Year*
Presidential	$36,000	--	$3,000
University	$30,420	$2,535	--
Distinguished University	$30,420	$2,535	$3,000
Dean's Distinguished University	$36,000	$3,000	$3,000
Graduate Enrichment	$30,420	$2,535	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$30,420	$2,535	$3,000
Dean's Distinguished Graduate Enrichment	$36,000	$3,000	$3,000
Early Offer Eminent Scholars Pilot	$36,000	$3000	$3000
Early Offer Inclusive Excellence	$30,420	$2,535	--
Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship	$30,420	$2,535	$3,000
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$30,420	$2,535	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--

 

 

2021–2022

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	Dissertation Year*
Presidential	$36,000	--	$3,000
University	$30,420	$2,535	--
Distinguished University	$30,420	$2,535	$3,000
Dean's Distinguished University	$36,000	$3,000	$3,000
Graduate Enrichment	$30,420	$2,535	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$30,420	$2,535	$3,000
Dean's Distinguished Graduate Enrichment	$36,000	$3,000	$3,000
Early Offer Inclusive Excellence	$30,420	$2,535	--
Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship	$30,420	$2,535	$3,000
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$30,420	$2,535	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--

 

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services, and Program Fees). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

2020–2021

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	Dissertation*
Presidential	$32,100	--	$2,675
University	$26,316	$2,193	--
Distinguished University	$26,316	$2,193	$2,675
Dean's Distinguished University	$32,100	$2,675	$2,675
Graduate Enrichment	$26,316	$2,193	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$26,316	$2,193	$2,675
Dean's Distinguished Graduate Enrichment	$32,100	$2,675	$2,675
Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship	$26,316	$2,193	$2,675
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$26,316	$2,193	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--

 

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services, and Program Fees). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

2019–2020

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	Dissertation*
Presidential	$32,100	--	$2,675
University	$26,316	$2,193	--
Distinguished University	$26,316	$2,193	$2,675
Dean's Distinguished University	$32,100	$2,675	$2,675
Graduate Enrichment	$26,316	$2,193	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$26,316	$2,193	$2,675
Dean's Distinguished Graduate Enrichment	$32,100	$2,675	$2,675
Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship	$26,316	$2,193	$2,675
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$26,316	$2,193	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--

 

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services, and Program Fees). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

2018–2019

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	Dissertation*
Presidential	$31,476	--	$2,623
University	$25,800	$2,150	--
Distinguished University	$25,800	$2,150	$2,623
Dean's Distinguished University	$31,476	$2,623	$2,623
Graduate Enrichment	$25,800	$2,150	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$25,800	$2,150	$2,623
Dean's Distinguished Graduate Enrichment	$31,476	$2,623	$2,623
Patrick S. Osmer Fellowship	$25,800	$2,150	$2,623
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$25,800	$2,150	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--

 

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services, and Program Fees). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

2017–2018

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	Dissertation*
Presidential	$30,864	--	$2,572
University	$25,296	$2,108	--
Distinguished University	$25,296	$2,108	$2,572
Dean's Distinguished University	$30,864	$2,572	$2,572
Extended Dean's Distinguished University	$30,864	$2,572	$2,572
Graduate Enrichment	$25,296	$2,108	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$25,296	$2,108	$2,572
Patrick S. Osmer SROP Fellowship	$25,296	$2,108	$2,572
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$25,296	$2,108	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services, and Program Fees). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

2016–2017

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	DQS*†	Dissertation*
Presidential	$27,312	--	--	$2,276
University	$21,852	$1,821	$2,154	--
Distinguished University	$21,852	$1,821	$2,154	$2,276
Dean's Distinguished University	$27,312	$2,276	$2,609	$2,276
Extended Dean's Distinguished University	$27,312	$2,276	$2,609	$2,276
Graduate Enrichment	$21,852	$1,821	$2,154	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$21,852	$1,821	$2,154	$2,276
Patrick S. Osmer SROP Fellowship	$21,852	$1,821	$2,154	$2,276
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$21,852	$1,821	$2,154	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--	--

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services, and Program Fees). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

^† Doctoral Quality Supplement. The DQS is a $3,000 supplement added to fellows in programs identified as High or Strong Quality Doctoral Programs. The supplement is applied over nine months during the autumn and spring semesters. Summer stipend amounts will return to the standard monthly stipend amount.

2015–2016

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	DQS†	Dissertation
University	$20,808	$1,734	$2,067	--
Distinguished University	$20,808	$1,734	$2,067	$2,168
Dean's Distinguished University	$26,016	$2,168	$2,501	$2,168
Extended Dean's Distinguished University	$26,016	$2,168	$2,501	$2,168
Graduate Enrichment	$20,808	$1,734	$2,067	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$20,808	$1,734	$2,067	$2,168
Summer Research Opportunities Program	$20,808	$1,734	$2,067	$2,168
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$20,808	$1,734	$2,067	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--	--

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

^† Doctoral Quality Supplement. The DQS is a $3,000 supplement added to fellows in programs identified as High or Strong Quality Doctoral Programs. The supplement is applied over nine months during the autumn and spring semesters. Summer stipend amounts will return to the standard monthly stipend amount.

 

2014–2015

Fellowship Name	Annual	Monthly Stipend Amounts
		Standard*	DQS†	Dissertation
University	$20,400	$1,700	$2,033	--
Distinguished University	$20,400	$1,700	$2,033	$2,084
Dean's Distinguished University	$25,008	$2,084	$2,417	$2,084
Extended Dean's Distinguished University	$25,008	$2,084	$2,417	$2,084
Graduate Enrichment	$20,400	$1,700	$2,033	--
Dean's Graduate Enrichment	$20,400	$1,700	$2,033	$2,084
Summer Research Opportunities Program	$20,400	$1,700	$2,033	$2,084
J. Parker and Kathryn Webb Dinius	$20,400	$1,700	$2,033	--
NSF-GRFP	$34,000	$2,833	--	--

* Monthly stipend amounts indicated do not include deductions for other student fees (Student Activity, Recreational, Student Union Facility, COTA Bus Service, remaining health insurance, and Student Legal Services). For detailed information about fees, see the Specific Program Tuition and Fee Locator on the Registrar's website.

^† Doctoral Quality Supplement. The DQS is a $3,000 supplement added to fellows in programs identified as High or Strong Quality Doctoral Programs. The supplement is applied over nine months during the autumn and spring semesters. Summer stipend amounts will return to the standard monthly stipend amount.

The Graduate School offers campus visit recruitment grants up to $250 per student (up to $5,000 per graduate program) to support programs as they recruit the most sought-after applicants, namely fellowship nominees. Graduate programs are encouraged to supplement the Graduate School’s $250 to further enable campus visits by qualified candidates.

Any legitimate travel costs will be reimbursed, including travel, lodging, and per diem.

All travel must be in compliance with Ohio State travel policy, including using the least expensive means of travel.

Eligible campus visits must occur between September 1 and April 15 of a fellowship competition year.

To be eligible, students must be:

• nominated by their programs for a UFP or GEFP or are awarded a College-Allotted Fellowship (nominees need not win a fellowship)
• new to Ohio State (previous Ohio State students can be considered in exceptional circumstances)

1. Campus visit
2. Program reimburses student
3. Program submits the approved reimbursement documents from the Office of Business and Finance office website
4. Graduate School reimburses program

• Programs are responsible for processing the student’s travel and final reimbursement. The program then requests reimbursement from the Graduate School.
• To request funding, programs must submit the reimbursement documents from Workday; documents must be in approved status.
• Reimbursement requests must be submitted to grad-schoolfellowships@osu.edu (Attn: Graduate School Fiscal Officer) by April 30 of a fellowship year. 

2022/2023
Graduate Associate Teaching Award(GATA)
Monday, August 29, 2022	GATA Nominations Open
Friday , November 18, 2022, 11:59PM	GATA Nominations Deadline
Monday, December 5, 2022	GATA Student Application Opens
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 10:30AM-12:00PM	GATA Workshop
Friday, February 10, 2023 11:59PM	GATA Student Application Deadline
Graduate Associate Leadership Award(GALA)
Friday, September 2, 2022	GALA Nominations Open
Monday, November 14, 2022	GALA Nominations Deadline
Friday, February 17, 2023	GALA Student Application Deadline
Presidential Fellowship
Friday, September 2, 2022	2022 Presidential Nominations Open
Friday, October 21, 2022 5:00PM	Presidential Nominations Deadline
Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship (AGGRS)
Monday, August 1, 2022	2022 AGGRS Applications Open
Friday, September 30 2022 11:59 pm	2022  AGGRS Applications Due
Recruitment Fellowships
Monday, August 29, 2022	Graduate School Fellowship and Awards system opens to receive nominations for CAFs
Monday, October 3, 2022	Inclusive Excellence Nominations Open
Wednesday November 9, 2022	Graduate Fellowship Workshop (RSVP by November 4)
Monday, November 14, 2022	Programs should begin creating nomination packets for new fellowship nominees
Monday,  November 28, 2022	Graduate School Fellowship and Awards system opens to receive nominations for UF/GE/Osmer/ENGIE-Axium/CAF
Monday, December 5, 2022	Graduate School Open House (RSVP by November 30th)
Thursday, December 15, 2022	Deadline to request GPA calculation from Graduate and Professional Admissions for EOIE nominations
Tuesday, January 10, 2023	EOIE Nominations Due (nominees must have been admitted to their program)
Tuesday, January 10, 2023	Deadline to request GPA calculation from Graduate and Professional Admissions for UF, GE, Osmer, and ENGIE-Axium nominations
Tuesday, January 17, 2023	Deadline to have admission petitions sent to Grad-SchoolPetitions@osu.edu
Friday, January 20, 2023, 5:00PM	Deadline to request GPA petitions for GE fellowships
Friday, January 20, 2023, 5:00PM	Deadline to submit GPA petitions for non-traditional grading scales (narrative transcripts, etc.) to Grad-SchoolPetitions@osu.edu
Tuesday, January 24	Deadline for all fellowship nominees to be admitted
Wednesday, January 25, 2023 5:00PM	Deadline to nominate and upload of all UF, GE, Osmer, and ENGIE-Axium packets finalized, no late submissions can be considered
Friday, February 24, 2023, 12:00PM	UF, GE, Osmer, EA, CAF recipients made available to view through nomination system
Friday, February 24, 2023, 12:00PM	UF, GE, Osmer, and EA letters made available
Monday, February 27, 2023, 8:00AM	Award Letters Send Option for all competitive awards (UF, GE, EA, Osmer)
Tuesday, February 28, 2023, 3:00PM	UF, GE, Osmer, EA letters sent. Reallocations can be sent to grad-schoolfellowships@osu.edu
Friday, March 31, 2023, 5:00PM	Deadline to request GPA calculation for CAFs from Graduate and Professional Admissions
Friday, April 7, 2022, 5:00PM	Deadline to request GPA petitions for CAFs
Saturday, April 15, 11:59PM	Fellowships must be declined or accepted (Council of Graduate Schools National Deadline)
Monday, April 17, 5PM	CAF and reallocation requests due.
Sunday, April 30, 5:00PM	CAFs and Reallocations must be declined or accepted.
Matching Tuition and Fee Authorization
Third Monday of November, 2022 (21st)	Spring 2023 MTFA Student-Specific Requests Due
Third Monday of April, 2023 (17th)	Summer 2023 MTFA Student-Specific Requests Due
Third Monday of July, 2023 (17th)	Autumn 2023 MTFA Student Specific-Requests Due
Dinius Fellowship
Monday, February 6, 2023	Dinius Applications Open
Friday April 7, 2023	Dinius Applications Close