GSC Awards

Please complete the Conference Award Application here. 

Range of Support 

          Awards are contingent upon the availability of funds and the number of applications received. As of the 2023 – 2024 fiscal/academic year, the GSC will award up to a maximum of $400 per applicant, even though the cost of attending the conference may exceed that amount. Students are highly encouraged to provide detailed explanations for the amount requested and demonstrate efforts to find the cheapest alternative (e.g., room sharing, carpooling, etc.). The GSC Conference Award is not a guaranteed source of funding. Conference Award winners are not guaranteed to receive funding before their conference begins. We encourage students to submit the required application materials by the earliest eligible Conference Award deadline. 

Eligibility  

• The applicant must be enrolled as a student in a graduate or professional degree program at the University of Kentucky (i.e., must pay student service fees) and be in good academic standing.

• The applicant must have a GSC Representative “In Good Standing” as of the application deadline.

• Conference attendance must be completed before graduation: If your conference has already taken place at the time that your application is due, you must still submit a budget report along with your application. For instance, if you apply during the March round and your conference took place in February, you must submit your budget report along with your application.

• Applicants are eligible to receive one (1) GSC award per academic/fiscal year; the fiscal year begins on July 1 *. To implement the 'one award per year' policy, all awards are treated as given on the application deadline. A student may apply as many times as desired per year until they win an award, if they follow all necessary guidelines. Applicants may reuse previous application content, but revisions are encouraged.

• Group applications are not allowed. If several students are attending the same event, each student must apply separately for funding, and each student must be responsible for creating their own application.

*The GSC observes a standard fiscal year that runs from July 1 to the following June 30. Conference Award recipients must claim reimbursement during the same fiscal year the award was received. Therefore, students attending conferences between July 1 and the start of the fall semester should wait to apply for conference funds until the Fall semester after they return.  

Conference Funding Evaluation Criteria and Process 

          For more information regarding the criteria used by the Awards Committee to evaluate the conference award applications, please refer to the Conference Awards Evaluation Rubric. 

Conference Award Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

A: All GSC Award applications will open ~three-weeks (21 days) before the award deadline. 

Q: Is there a limit to the number of awards a student can receive? 

A: Applicants can only win one of each type of award per academic year. We try to award funding to as many different individuals as possible. 

Q: I have been granted a Conference Award. How will I receive my award? 

A: Awards will be dispersed by the University of Kentucky’s Accounts Payable via check. Please allow time for processing all the paperwork before inquiring about your award. Reimbursements should be expected in the mail within 60 to 90 days. 

Please complete the Professional Development Awards Application for GPSOs here. 

Range of Support 

       For GPSOs: this GSC Award will fund up to $400 for expenses related to hosting a professional development workshop or event by GPSOs each round. Award winner GPSOs will receive up to $200 for the event. Successful applicants make a strong case for the importance of attending the specific professional development workshop and event, demonstrate financial need and efforts to secure additional funding, and clearly describe the skill(s) to be learned. Applicants will also be required to provide an itemized budget for the requested funds 

Eligibility  

• The applicant must be enrolled as a student in a graduate or professional degree program at the University of Kentucky (i.e., must pay student service fees) and be in good academic standing. 

• The applicant must have a GSC Representative “In Good Standing” as of the application deadline. 

• Professional development seminar or event attendance must be completed before graduation: If your professional development seminar or event has already taken place at the time that your application is due, you must still submit a budget report along with your application. For instance, if you apply during the March round and your professional development seminar or event took place in February, you must submit your budget report along with your application. 

• Applicants are eligible to receive one (1) GSC award per academic/fiscal year; the fiscal year begins on July 1 *. To implement the 'one award per year' policy, all awards are treated as given on the application deadline. A student may apply as many times as desired per year until they win an award, if they follow all necessary guidelines.

• Group applications are not allowed. If several students are attending the same event, each student must apply separately for funding, and each student must be responsible for creating their own application. 

*The GSC observes a standard fiscal year that runs from July 1 to the following June 30. Professional Development Award recipients must claim reimbursement during the same fiscal year the award was received. Therefore, students attending a professional development seminar or event between July 1 and the start of the fall semester should wait to apply for professional development funds until the Fall semester after they return. 

Professional Development Award Funding Evaluation Criteria and Process 

Professional Development Award Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

A: All GSC Award applications will open three-weeks (21 days) before the award deadline. 

Q: Is there a limit to the number of awards a student can receive? 

A: Applicants can only win one of each type of award per academic year. We try to award funding to as many different individuals as possible. 

Q: I have been granted a Professional Development Award. How will I receive my award? 

A: Awards will be dispersed by the University of Kentucky’s Accounts Payable via check. Please allow time for processing all the paperwork before inquiring about your award. Reimbursements should be expected in the mail within 60 to 90 days. 

The GSC GPSO funding program is designed to empower GPSOs by providing a level of fiscal autonomy to those communities. It is intended to allow GPSOs to directly and positively impact their local communities and respond to the immediate communal needs of their memberships.  

The GSC currently provides a maximum $500 budgets for the first 50 eligible GPSOs that register with the Graduate Student Congress. The deadline for GPSO's to submit their registration, which includes plans and justification for how funds will be used, is TBD. GPSOs can register here: ___. Recognized GPSOs must meet the following requirements to be eligible for GPSO funding:

1. It must be the Representative Body for students in a graduate or professional program/department which is the advocacy body for those students with those units.
2. It must be advised by a faculty member in the organization's home unit (i.e., program, department, or college).
3. It must be an organization whose membership is limited to graduate/professional students. 
4. The organization must complete the registration form ___. 
5. It must send a representative to attend monthly Graduate Student Congress meetings. If the representative cannot make a meeting, they must send an alternative. .