This portal is for the submission of applications to SGS programs.
School of Graduate Students
Promotion of Academic Excellence Program
Request for the Provision of Tuition and/or Fellows Health Insurance from the Office of the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies
The School of Graduate Studies in its commitment to supporting graduate student success provides access to fellows' health insurance and provision of tuition remission to doctoral students who secure fellowship support.
Fellows's Health Insurance Enrollment and Tuition Remission for Externally Funded Fellows
To incentivize and support graduate student success, the School of Graduate Studies will provide doctoral students who secure nationally or internationally competitive fellowships with the minimum number of tuition credits required each semester they are on the fellowship.
Each year, Rutgers University sponsors a Student Health Insurance Plan with UnitedHealthcare Student Resources (UHCSR) to provide health insurance to doctoral students who are on internal or external fellowship support.
The School of Graduate Studies manages student enrollment in collaboration with the graduate programs. SGS doctoral programs based in the NB/P Chancellor area may request enrollment of their fellows through this portal.
The effective enrollment date is September 1, annually.
Requests for the tuition benefit and/or health insurance enrollment should be submitted to the portal by graduate program staff and should include copies of the fellowship award documents. If additional information is needed, the request will be sent through the portal. The decision on whether tuition will be provided will also be communicated to the program through the portal.
Tuition Remission to Support Doctoral Degree Completion
To support and incentivize graduate student success, graduate programs may request up to 3 credits of tuition support for unfunded doctoral students who are in the final year of their program of study. We recognize that there may be times when a student has expended their funding package, and the cost of tuition is a barrier to timely completion of their PhD. SGS will receive and review requests from graduate program staff for the one semester provision of up to 3 credits of tuition to help a student finish their degree.
Requests for the tuition benefit should be submitted to the portal by graduate program staff and should include a written request from the graduate program director that explains the need for the tuition and the plan and timetable for the student to complete their degree. A clear and compelling case should be made for why the tuition is needed including an explanation for why the tuition cannot be covered by the graduate program or the school in which the program resides. A small percentage of these requests can be granted each year.
Requests may be submitted through the SGS Submittable Portal and will be reviewed weekly: https://rutgersnewbrunswick.submittable.com/submit/7aa7988c-31b0-419b-a3d2-7f05bfa43f30/request-for-the-provision-of-tuition-and-or-fellows-health-insurance-from-the-off
Questions regarding the program should be directed to Senior Associate Dean Teresa Delcorso-Ellmann at sgs.sadean@grad.rutgers.edu.
Program Purpose: The School of Graduate Studies Conference and Research Award program is designed to provide support to Ph.D. students in the School of Graduate Studies (School 16) who do not have access to the conference funding programs available through the New Brunswick/Piscataway and Newark Biomedical Sciences programs. The purpose of the SGS Conference and Research Award program is to help defray costs associated with off-campus research activities and presenting at academic, scholarly, and scientific conferences. Priority will be to support students who do not have access to other resources to support these activities and who are making good progress in their degree program. Support is provided in the form of a $1000 stipend award that will be paid to the student through student accounting.
The application portal is now open, and applications will be accepted until December 15, 2025. Students may apply for a $1000 stipend to support research or conference travel between July 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026. The award is a stipend intended to support travel expenses related to conference travel or research.
Funding is available to support up to 200 students. Awards will be distributed equitably across our graduate programs.
Priority will be given to students who are ABD. For conference travel requests, the student must plan to present at the conference. For research travel requests, priority will be given to students who do not have access to other sources of funding to support their research.
Informational Webinar: To support student success, we are hosting an information webinar on September 18, 2025 at 10am. The purpose of the webinar is to review how to apply for SGS Research and Conference Travel awards. The session will be recorded and can be viewed on Box.
Review Process: Only completed applications will be reviewed. The review process is a three-stage review process. In stage one, a technical review will confirm your eligibility to be considered for the award program. Only eligible applicants will be moved forward to stage two. In stage two, your application is reviewed by your graduate program which will be asked to endorse and rank your application. In stage three, the SGS Conference and Research Travel Award committee will review the top ranked applications and make award decisions. All decisions by the SGS Committee are final and confidential.
Questions? Please send your questions about the competition or application process to: SGS_Awards@grad.rutgers.edu.
Log in to get started: We use the university's single sign on (SSO) tool on the Submittable platform. If you have used our platform in the past, click on the "Have an Account? Sign In" button and follow the links for Single Sign On. If you are a first-time user, click on the "Create Your Account" button and follow the links for Single Sign On.
Program Timeline
- September 5, 2025: Application Portal Opens
- September 18, 2025 at 10am: Information Webinar for graduate students, GPDs, faculty and staff
- December 15, 2025: Application Deadline
- December 15-19, 2025: SGS Technical Review
- December 22, 2025-January 30, 2026: Graduate Program Review
- February 2-20, 2026: SGS Review
- March 1, 2026: Applicant Notification
Questions? Please send your questions about the competition or application process to: SGS_Awards@grad.rutgers.edu.
Log in to get started: We use the university's single sign on (SSO) tool on the Submittable platform. If you have used our platform in the past, click on the "Have an Account? Sign In" button and follow the links for Single Sign On. If you are a first-time user, click on the "Create Your Account" button and follow the links for Single Sign On.
GradFund External Funding Application Report
Let us know when you’ve started your application, or when you’ve won. SGS students may be eligible for additional resources from the School of Graduate Studies. Plus, we want to help you develop a competitive application and ultimately, celebrate your success!
In your report, please tell us whether you plan to apply for a specific award, if you have an application in development, have submitted it or have results. You may report one award per form and you should plan to initiate a form for each award that you plan to apply for, each cycle that you apply for external funding. As you move through the application process, be sure to return and provide an update.
Log in to get started:
We use the university's single sign on (SSO) tool on the Submittable platform. If you have used our platform in the past, click on the "Have an Account? Sign In" button and follow the links for Single Sign On. If you are a first time user, click on the "Create Your Account" button and follow the links for Single Sign On.