Georgia Tech awards and coordinates numerous student fellowships varying in value from a few hundred dollars that may be awarded on top of other funding such as an assistantship, to full fellowships that cover tuition, fees and pay a stipend.
Centrally-Administered vs Department-Coordinated
Centrally-administered fellowships are those that are managed centrally by the graduate fellowships manager in the Office of Graduate Education. To be considered centrally-administered, the fellowship itself should be open to students from across the Institute, and students from multiple disciplines should be eligible. Examples of centrally-administered fellowships are President’s and Georgia Tech Institute Fellowships, NSF GRFP, DOE-Krell, NDSEG, ARCS, DZL, D’Onofrio, Chih, Hearst, Haley & Campbell. The graduate fellowships manager manages these fellowships and directly sets up the award and payment in coordination with the Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid and the Office of the Bursar.
Most fellowships are department-coordinated and handled separately by individual academic departments. Department-coordinated fellowships are either fellowships that are either nominated and awarded at the school-level or "one-off" fellowships that the student receives externally and "brings with them" to Georgia Tech. Examples of department-coordinated fellowships are Dean’s Fellowships, NASA, Fulbright, Beyers BBISS, UCEM, Apple, Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, JP Morgan, Verizon, Graduate Fellowships for STEM Diversity, Quad, etc. NIH and Ford fellowships are department-coordinated but there are coordinating official(s) in the Office of Sponsored Programs.
Although the Graduate Fellowship Manager can offer advice, the individual academic department is responsible for stewardship and compliance with the terms of a department-coordinated fellowship.
To best help the student, the department should identify a single contact person who will help set up the fellowship.
The department should utilize the Fellowship Payment Request, in coordination with the Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid and the Office of the Bursar, to disburse funds to the student.
The Graduate Fellowships Manager has created guidance on how to process department-coordinated fellowships for academic-level departments. The guide may be updated periodically so check the "last updated" date and refresh your browser.
How to Process Department-Coordinated Fellowships (last updated September 19, 2024)
If the funding organization needs a document to trigger payment to Georgia Tech, departments should utilize the Request for Support template.
Fellowship-Specific Guidance for Departments
To best assist the department, the Graduate Fellowships Manager has created fellowship-specific guidance for academic level departments. The guidance includes information on the following fellowships, in order of prevalence, NSF GRFP, DOE Krell (CSGF| NNSA LRGF | NNSA SSGF), NDSEG, Ford Foundation, NASA, Fulbright, NIH (F30, F31, T32), GEM, HHMI Gilliam, President’s Fellowship & Georgia Tech Institute Fellowship, ARCS, Chih, Hearst, Haley, Campbell, DZL, and Schmidt Science Fellows. The guide will be updated periodically so check the "last updated" date and refresh your browser.
Processing, Awarding, and Nominating Graduate Fellowships: Guidance for Academic Departments (last updated June 6, 2024)
Student-Facing Fellowships Information
For student-facing information, please see Paying for Grad School and Fellowships and Funding.
Fellowships Process
Here is a flow-chart that provides a brief overview of the fellowships process:
Award President's Fellowship and Nominate GT Institute Fellowship
Each winter, the VPGPE will allocate the number of President's Fellowship awards for the coming Fall to each college by notifying the associate deans. Awards for the President's Fellowship may be made on a rolling basis, but nominations for the Georgia Tech Institute Fellowship will have a specific deadline. For full details, graduate coordinators may utilize the How to Award President's Fellowship and Nominate GT Institute Fellowship in Slate document. For student-facing information, or to learn more about the awards, see President's Fellowship (PF) and Georgia Tech Institute Fellowship (GTIF).
Out-of-State Waiver
To request an Out-of-State Waiver (OOSW), historically referred to as a ‘Non-Resident Tuition Waiver’ or ‘NRTW," please refer to OOSW Requests. Requests must be done each term.
Fellowship Payment Requests
To coordinate a lump sum, tuition, fee and/or stipend payment to graduate-level fellowship students with the Office of Scholarships & Financial Aid and the Office of the Bursar please refer to Fellowship Payment Requests. Requests may be done each term, or annually.
Important Information for Processing and Maintaining Fellowship Students
- Fellowship students must be enrolled full-time for funds to be disbursed. Full-time enrollment is 12 hours with at least nine of those hours taken on a letter-grade or pass/fail basis.
- At Georgia Tech, the fellowship calendar runs from August 1 through July 31, and fellowships are disbursed according to the following:
- Fall = August, Septebmer, October, November, December
- Spring = January, February, March, April
- Summer = May, June, July
- Please see the Financial Aid and Bursar's website for term-specific disbursement and refund schedules and Stipend Pay Dates for further information.
- Students cannot be a GRA/GTA and a ‘fully funded fellowship’ student at the same time. Please make sure that any hires are terminated and waivers are removed from Banner.
- If your student still requires access to OneUSG Connect and/or Workday, please submit a Direct Hire eRequest via the Administrative Services Center website to add them as an "Affiliate" in OneUSG Connect. New affiliates will receive emails from Equifax to complete an electronic affiliate onboarding packet.
- OOSWs must be requested each term, while Fellowship Payment Requests may be submitted either each term, or annually.
Fellowships Working Group
Launched in Fall 2022, the Fellowships Working Group is led by the graduate fellowships manager and focuses on the greater goal of collectively improving graduate-level fellowships processing and the experiences of fellowship holders at Georgia Tech. The Fellowships Working Group pulls together representatives from the offices of Graduate Education, Bursar, Scholarships & Financial Aid, Donor Relations, Corporate Relations, EVPR, Office of Sponsored Programs, and Legal Counsel to discuss challenges in administering fellowships, build consensus around shared obstacles, identify data needs, and make plans for training and outreach deliverables.
As of Fall 2023, this group has created the following resources:
- Incoming Funds and Fellowships Ownership Flowchart. Use this resource to determine how, and through which channels, fellowships should be administered, including identifying how the funds are stewarded and which offices are involved in the processes.
- Fellowship Payment Request Bursar Flowchart. Use this resource to understand the steps taken by the Bursar Fellowships Team when processing the fellowship payment request and identify potential impediments.
- Fellowships & Funding Decision Makers. Use this resource if after the "Incoming Funds and Fellowships Ownership Flowchart" is utilized there are still questions about ownership and which office will own and process a fellowship.
- Fellowships & Funding Thresholds. Updated each academic year, use this resource to determine how your student's fellowship should be setup and what the fellowship can and cannot pay, based on specifics of the award.
Other Reference Documents Regarding Graduate-level Fellowships
Need Assistance?
Faculty and staff who would like a graduate fellowships overview and/or need assistance processing and setting up graduate-level fellowships should begin by viewing this 30-minute presentation followed by Q&A. Recording made on July 9, 2024.