GSG Empowerment Award

The GSG Professional Development Fund Program, which includes the GSG Travel Award and the GSG Empowerment Award, aims to support USC graduate and professional students in pursuing skills development necessary for success post-graduation. The program is intended to be a last-resort source of funding for students who have not been able to obtain funding from other sources (ex., their programs, advisors, conference or workshop organizers, fellowships, scholarships) or who have obtained funding that does not cover their full expenses. The funding limit for GSG Empowerment Award is $300 per student per academic year (Current AY: August 2025-May 2026).

If you have any questions regarding the Professional Development Fund Programs, please reach out to the GSG Director of Academic Affairs at gsgacad@usc.edu and Director of Grants at gsgtgea@usc.edu.

Note for PhD students: The intent of the GSG Professional Development Fund Program is to support opportunities that students would not otherwise be able to participate in. While the eligibility guidelines are intended to be flexible, we encourage PhD students to utilize this fund for activities that would not be supported by alternative funds available to them (such as grants, department funds, or fellowships). Since these alternate funds typically cover academic conferences, for example, PhD students might instead consider requesting GSG funding for a skill-based workshop or networking event. If alternate funds described above are not available or not sufficient to cover the cost of attending an academic conference, students may still apply for funds to support this type of professional development activity. Please see details in the guidelines below.

• Applicant must be a registered graduate student of USC at the time of the request and at the time of award disbursement.
  • Post-doctoral fellows and undergraduate students are not eligible (Unless there is a proof regarding payment of Graduate Student Programming Fee).
  • Enrollment is required to receive disbursement of a grant. If you are working towards a dissertation, you must still be enrolled in a non-enrollment course.
• Applicant must have paid the Graduate Student Programming Fee for the semester they are applying.
• Consider your financial aid package
  • All applications are reviewed by the Office of Financial Aid as part of the grant disbursement process. Additional aid may be available through the Financial Aid process.
• Students may request an award to fund anticipated costs or to offset the cost of a past event or expense.
  • If the applicant is requesting funds for a past event or expense, the event must have occurred (or receipt must be dated) within the last 6 months of the application submission. Costs must be demonstrated through documentation such as receipts.
  • If the applicant is requesting funds for a future event or expense, projected expenses must be justified by official vendor quotes.
• Students are eligible for a maximum of one award per academic year.

The proposed activity must meaningfully contribute to the student's professional development and take full advantage of the entire award amount. At the discretion of the reviewers, an application may be denied if it does not meet this criterion. For future proposed activities, students must indicate specific events or activities that will take place and upload a corresponding budget with official vendor quotes. Applications that vaguely describe plans or goals without concrete references may be denied.

Eligibility criteria are intended to be flexible. Some examples of expenses that would be eligible include:

• Non-degree workshops, training programs, or certificate courses.
• Online courses (e.g., Coursera, edX, LinkedIn Learning, specialized industry training).
• Annual or short-term subscriptions to professional software or tools not provided by the university.
• Preparation materials for professional licensing or qualifying exams.

The award may not be used towards tuition or fees associated with enrollment in a USC degree program.

Applications may be submitted at any time during the open application period and will be reviewed during the current semester by a committee of two or more graduate students. Applications must be submitted through our online portal. If this is your first time applying for any of the GSG grant programs, (GSG Travel Award, GSG Empowerment Award, Caretaker Subsidy, Emergency Fund, Neuropsychological Evaluation Fund), you will need to join the GSG Organization on EngageSC.

All applicants must provide the following items in English and ALL documents should be uploaded in PDF version to be reviewed.

• Personal Statement
• Signature PageYour faculty advisor (or if not available, then your department academic advisor) need to verify by signature if alternative source of funding is available for the conference you are applying for.
  • Your faculty advisor (or if not available, then your department academic advisor) need to verify by signature if alternative source of funding is available for the conference you are applying for.If your advisor confirms that alternative source of funding is available, please provide documentation of alternative funding in the corresponding section of the application.
  • If your advisor confirms that alternative source of funding is available, please provide documentation of alternative funding in the corresponding section of the application.

• Funding details
  • If requesting a reimbursement, please provide all relevant receipts. Note: receipts that are more than 6 months won't be considered.
  • If requesting funds for future expenses, please provide a budget outlining anticipated costs, as well as quotes, invoices, estimates, or a screenshot of where you are basing the requested amounts from. Requests without supporting documents may be denied.
  • Your funding details documentation should clearly state the total amount you are requesting from the fund.
  • Ensure all vendor quotes are legible:
    • The vendor quote should clearly show the total amount, expected date(s) of service, and the name of the vendor/service provider.

All required documents should be submitted in PDF format. If there are multiple receipts, combine all receipts into one PDF. Missing, incomplete, illegible, or corrupt documents will delay the application process.

If you have any questions about the application process, please email the GSG Director of Academic Affairs at gsgacad@usc.edu.

• Applicants can expect selection of their application for award, changes to make to their application to ensure eligibility, or rejection of their application

• The GSG Director of Academic Affairs may submit messages to the applicant through the application portal to request additional information or support documents. You may also receive email messages about your application from the GSG Director of Academic Affairs (gsgacad@usc.edu). Please respond as quickly as possible to all messages to ensure timely application review.

• For approved applications, applicants can expect to receive their award by the end of the academic semester. International Students should anticipate up to 3 months to receive a grant.

• Most recipients can expect the award to be paid in a single lump-sum grant.

• If the award adversely impacts an applicant’s financial aid package, the applicant will be advised to work with the Office of Financial Aid before proceeding to accept the GSG grant.

• If you are an international student living outside the United States, your award may be subject to taxes.

• Please keep in mind that the Empowerment Award is not a guaranteed award and depends on availability of the funds.

• Applicants should wait 8-10 weeks after deadline closes before reaching out to Director of Academic Affairs to follow up. Inquiries sent before 8-10 week timeline asking for follow up on review process will be ignored.

If you have any questions about the application process, please email the GSG Director of Academic Affairs at gsgacad@usc.edu.

In order to maximize the fund and benefit as many students as possible, we ask that the GSG Empowerment Award be secondary to any other funding sources that an applicant may obtain for the same activity.

Support for professional development activities for doctoral students (i.e. PhD) should be provided by the department or school. However, this GSG Empowerment Award can be applied for in the absence of department or school funding availability. Faculty and staff should not direct doctoral students to this fund as a first resort for funding.

Students should propose activities that take advantage of the full GSG Empowerment Award. Students are eligible for a maximum of one GSG Empowerment Award per academic year. Students may submit up to one application per semester. Students must have paid the Graduate Student Programming Fee for the semester during which they submit their application. Students may be asked to upload a screenshot of a USC eBill listing this line item.

• We reserve the right to deny applications if we suspect abuse of the program. The policies of this program may change at any time. Awards are processed as stipends and may impact financial aid packages. We will work with impacted students to the best of our ability. Award selection cannot be guaranteed under any circumstances. We strongly advise applicants to not base any financial decisions solely on the potential outcome of their application. If you have additional questions, please reach out to the GSG Director of Academic Affairs at gsgacad@usc.edu.
• The policies of this program may be subject to change at any time.
• Awards are processed as stipends and may impact financial aid packages. We will work with impacted students to the best of our ability.
• Award selection cannot be guaranteed under any circumstances. We strongly advise applicants to not base any financial decisions solely on the potential outcome of their application.