GSA Funding

The GSA provides funding to graduate students and student organizations for various activities that benefit the graduate student body. 

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Graduate Student Activity Grant

The Graduate Student Activity Grant (GSAG) will provide supplementary funding for broad-based educational, cultural, service projects, or social events that may not be able to accommodate all graduate students. The GSAG will not exceed two hundred fifty dollars ($250) per award (one award per event) and the number of awards will be left to the discretion of the Grant Committee.

Eligibility: All Rice graduate students, undergraduate students, faculty, staff and campus organizations may submit proposals. GSA requires that all grants requests have a graduate student sponsor who will serve as the contact person. In the scenario that you cannot find a graduate student sponsor, please contact the GSA officers.

Grants will only be considered by the GSA Council at one of the following GSA Council meetings: August, October, December, February, April, June. The deadline for grant submissions is 11:59 PM on August 1, October 1, December 1, February 1, April 1, and June 1 of the month during which the application is to be considered. This gives the Grant Committee enough time to review all applications.

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Other Grants Available on Campus

There are additional grants available for the purpose of student-led activities or projects. See the following sites for more information:

GSA Community Service Funding

Student Activities list of available grants

CIC Community Service Grant

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Proposal Procedure:

1) Submit proposal to the Grant Committee via the Online Submission Form on the GSA website. Please submit only one grant request per event. Note that the deadlines for submission are 12:00 am August 1, October 1, December 1, February 1, April 1, June 1 for a grant application to be considered at the August, October, December, February, April and June meetings, respectively.

2) Answer any questions / address any suggestions from the Grant Committee. Notification of Grant Committee approval/denial should be received within two weeks after submission.

3) Send a representative from the party submitting the proposal to the GSA Council meeting. A representative MUST be present for the approval vote to be conducted. If a representative is not present at the meeting, the proposal will be denied. GSA Council meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month.

4) The GSA Council will vote on each request presented to it by the Grant Committee every other GSA Council meeting starting in August (Fall: August, October, December; Spring: February, April, June). Grant requests must be submitted BOTH before the first of the month of the same month's GSA Council meeting and before the event. A majority vote of the GSA Council is needed to approve any grant proposal.

5) Upon GSA Council approval, funding will be provided on a reimbursement basis. All documentation must be turned in within one (1) month of the event/activity and activity must take place within three (3) months of being allocated funding. To receive reimbursement, GSA must receive the following:

• A complete, submitted post event evaluation form, to be reviewed by the Grant Committee
• Original receipts and invoices for services/fees paid
• Appropriate event reimbursement forms (i.e. entertainment, business, meeting, or petty cash forms as required by Rice)
• For more details on the reimbursement procedure, we recommend that you read this document before you apply for funding. We also suggest that you keep a copy for reference till your reimbursements are settled.

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Grants Late Policy:

If a proposal is submitted after 12:00 am August 1, October 1, December 1, February 1, March 1, June 1 for a grant application to be considered at the August, October, December, February, March and June meetings, respectively, the GSA Grants Committee and GSA Council has the right to not consider the proposal until the following grant’s month.

•  A first time offense within the fiscal year for a club/organization will receive a warning and the option to appeal the rollover if the grant money is needed before the next grant’s meeting.
•  After a second offense, the proposal will not be considered until the following grant’s month and no appeal will be permitted.