Funding for Unpaid Positions
Funding for research apprenticeships is competitive.
Summer research programs and research-based on-campus jobs or work-study positions are typically paid.
However, if you come across an opportunity that has no funding connected to it, consider these options:
- Each academic department at UC has an Undergraduate Director who oversees academic programming for undergraduate majors. Identify this person in your department and inquire about funding opportunities. Sometimes there is money and sometimes there isn’t. It never hurts to ask.
- The Undergraduate Research Fellowship provides up to $700 to help cover the costs of supplies, presenting at conferences, publication, and travel to field sites.
- Arts and Humanities majors:
- National Council on Undergraduate Research Arts and Humanities Student Scholarship: Apply for up to $300 to help offset the cost of supplies or a conference presentation.
- Taft Summer Undergraduate Research Mentor-Mentee Award provides up to $4,000 to support opportunities for students to conduct research for or with faculty in the summer.
- Taft Undergraduate Enrichment Award provides up to $2,000 for research-related expenses, e.g., travel to a library, archives, museum, or conference, a language immersion program, or an organized field trip. Can be used any time of year.
- Student Activities & Leadership Development's Lead and Grow Grant provides up to $500 to students to support experiential/professional endeavors outside of the classroom (e.g., poster printing, conference travel even when not presenting, professional devlopment books or memberships).
- Undergraduate Research Co-op Fellowship for Engineering Majors provides up to $9,000 for one semester for a full-time research co-op in the College of Engineering and Applied Science.