GPSA Funding Guidelines

To promote the equitable allocation of student fees and the sustainable growth of student organizations, the GPSA Office of Financial Affairs has adopted certain funding principles to review requests for the upcoming year. 

An overview of the GPSA funding process and the amount allocated to each GPSA Request Fund for the current academic year can also be found at the following link. 

Funding Eligibility Criteria

In addition to student organizations, any graduate or professional student in good standing can request GPSA funding. However, no more than $8.50 per graduate or professional student attendee will be funded per event. 

For any individual or group to receive any type of funding through GPSA, the event must adhere to AT LEAST one of the following principles listed below: 

• Appeals to a wide audience of graduate and professional students
  • If graduate and professional students are not the overwhelming majority of the beneficiaries, other sources of funding should contribute appropriate shares of the cost
• Works to advance graduate and professional student interests and wellness 
• Contributes to the general UC San Diego community 
• Develops leadership and communication skills of graduate and professional students

For student organizations requesting GPSA funding, you must meet ALL of the following criteria for your event to be considered: 

• The student organization must be registered with the Center for Student Involvement (CSI)
• The Principal Members of the student organization must be graduate and professional students only
• The student organization must use the Triton Activity Planner (TAP) to plan the event that they would like to receive funding for 

Funding Process Requirements & Tips

While you can find an overview our funding process on the GPSA Funding landing page, we also have a few tips to ensure that all eligible events are able to receive GPSA funding: 

• A representative for the funding request should attend both the GPSA Finance Committee meeting and the GPSA General Council meeting when your request is on the table for discussion 
  • Funding requests cannot be amended during GPSA-affiliated meetings without the presence or written consent of the individual or a representative from the group requesting funding
• Funding requests MUST be approved by both the GPSA Finance Committee and the GPSA General Council before the expenditure of any funds to ensure full reimbursement 
  • The only exception to this are requests made to the Early Request Fund (ERF) as the GPSA Executive Team (e.g., the President and all Vice Presidents) approves requests to this fund
• Recurring events will be funded at the discretion of the GPSA Finance Committee and will typically consider the total number of unique graduate students in attendance over the course of all events
• Money must be spent in the matter listed on the approved funding request
  • For example, if there are large discrepancies between the number of actual versus expected attendees included on the funding request, it will be up to the discretion of the GPSA Vice President of Financial Affairs, the GPSA Finance Committee, and the GPSA Fund Manager to provide full reimbursement to an event
• Strictly follow the reimbursement procedure and communicate any anticipated delays with the GPSA Vice President of Financial Affairs to avoid unecessary delays

Finally, all events that receive GPSA funding are required to follow the guidelines listed below: 

• All events that feature an artist or non-UC San Diego speaker are required to fill out a performance agreement and follow all performance agreement policies outlined by the University Events Office
  • This includes events that would like to provide a Speaker Honorarium to invited guests 
• All advertisements for the event must include the line, “sponsored by the GPSA” 
• All event promotional materials must be sent to the GPSA Vice President of Financial Affairs at least five days before the associated funding request is reviewed at the GPSA General Council meeting
  • If your event is approved by the GPSA General Council, the finalized advertisement for the event will be forwarded to the gsa-announce-l@ucsd.edu listserv and distributed to all graduate and professional students 
• All events must submit a list of all attendees, along with each attendee’s name, PID, department or program affiliation, and their affiliation to the University (e.g., undergraduate, graduate, professional, staff, faculty, etc.) in order to receive funding

Items and Services Ineligible for Funding

The GPSA is able to provide funding for graduate and professional student organizations and programs through the Graduate Student Association Fee. Therefore, all requests must fall within the University’s legal guidelines for funding activities with student activity fees, with can be found on the UC Regents website.

We have several examples of items and services that the GPSA will not fund: 

Items

• • • Apparel 
    • Gifts and giveaways (e.g., flowers, gift cards)
    • Items deemed hazardous by UC San Diego Environmental Health & Safety
    • Items that would allow a student organization to generate income 
    • Purchase or rental of firearms 
    • Raffle tickets, prizes, or other items perceived as items for students’ personal gain or use 
    • Stamps and postage 
    • The purchase of permanent items
    • Website hosting
    • Any non-listed item that violates university policy

• Purchase Fees

• • • Any “rush” or expedited fees charged by vendors (e.g., rush printing, Priority Mail Express shipping, next-day delivery)
    • Association/membership fees
    • Parking permits and reserved spaces
    • Payment of fines, violations, or late fees
    • Scholarships or direct monetary donations 

• Event Fees

• • • Events that charge admission fees to UC San Diego graduate or professional students

• Event Locations

• • • Any events held at a UC San Diego property or location where uninformed graduate or professional foot traffic could not easily access the event
    • Off-campus events 

• Travel

• • • Gas reimbursements or rental vehicles driven by students
    • Travel and lodging fees (e.g., for event speakers, performers, etc.)
    • Travel costs

• Vendors and Services

• • Alcohol, alcoholic beverage services, or controlled substances 
  • Non-approved vendors or services 
  • Services or labor provided by any UC San Diego graduate or professional student
  • Services or labor provided by any UC San Diego student organization at an event being hosted/co-hosted by that same organization
  • Third-party legal and financial services 

Finally, the GPSA will not consider any retroactive funding requests (i.e., the GPSA will not fund events that have already happened or events that would happen before a funding request is able to be properly reviewed by both the GPSA Finance Committee and GPSA General Council).

Please note that the list above is not comprehensive and there may be additional items that are ineligible for funding. If you have any questions, please contact the GPSA Vice President of Financial Affairs at vpfinance@gsa.ucsd.edu.