Grants and Writing Resources for Cal State LA
A Cal State LA mathematics master's student was one of 22 students statewide to receive the 2026 CSU Trustees' Award for Outstanding Achievement, the system's highest recognition of student achievement. The September award brings an $18,000 scholarship and the title of Hearst Foundations Scholar, and the student's research is in algebraic graph theory.
Presenting Research
Undergraduates and graduate students in research, scholarship or creative work can enter the annual Student Symposium on Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities. Oral presenters get ten minutes and then three for questions from jurors and the audience. Poster presenters stand with a 3½-by-5-foot board during their session. The Gamma Epsilon Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi gives Phi Kappa Phi Awards for first, second and third place, and the top ten oral presentations represent Cal State LA at the CSU Student Research Competition.
Graduate students have a shorter format in the Grad Slam: one speaker, one static slide, three minutes or less. In 2026 the first-place prize was $250 in Amazon gift cards, and the top two Cal State LA finishers could go on to the CSU-wide Grad Slam.
Fellowships and Graduate Funding
Humanities and social science majors who plan on academic graduate study can apply for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. Fellows receive $4,000 term stipends and $4,500 summer stipends for research with a faculty mentor, each for two years, plus $800 a year for research and travel. Students going after outside scholarships can work with the Honors College's National and International Scholarships and Fellowships Program, which reviews application materials before submission and runs mock interviews.
The Office of Graduate Studies posts its funding opportunities in one place. For 2026-2027 the Travel Support Program reimburses up to $750 in conference fees, transportation and lodging for domestic travel, once per academic year. The Culminating Project Fund reimburses approved supplies, equipment and services for a thesis, creative activity or dissertation. For the 2027-2028 award year, the Graduate Equity Fellowship pays up to $1,000 per semester based on financial need, to California residents or students with an AB540 affidavit who hold at least a 3.0 GPA.
Statement and the Writing Wing
Statement Magazine is the university's student-run journal of literature and art. It has run as a class and a student organization at once, and students handle every part of production. The 2007 to 2010 issues carried fiction, poetry, drama, creative nonfiction and artwork by Cal State LA students. In 2008 the magazine received the National Program Director's Prize in Content from AWP.
For course writing, the Writing Wing of the Center for Academic Success tutors the whole student body in every discipline, from first-year composition to graduate seminar papers and lab reports. Tutors help students read the assignment, organize and revise, and work narrative and parenthetical citations into an essay. They offer examples and guidance; the revising stays with the student.
Thesis Review and Submission
Graduate students can book a writing consultant at the Graduate Resource Center (GRC), which also runs workshops and webinars each semester. Its thesis reviewers check drafts for format requirements while the committee works with the student on content.
Under the thesis, project report and dissertation guidelines, master's students book a Thesis Review appointment for early format feedback, and EdD students book a Doctoral Dissertation Review. EdD students who work with an editor do not need to schedule that preliminary review. The committee-approved final draft is uploaded to ProQuest, and the student then submits the GS-13 form. A student who skips the format edits the GRC requests can be denied approval.
The GRC reads a thesis for format, and our editors can give the same draft a final edit for grammar, consistency and format before it is uploaded to ProQuest. See our Cal State LA thesis and dissertation editing and Cal State LA essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.
From Our Writing Guides
Compiled by James Peterson Brown, PhD, Managing Editor of Editors For Students. Links checked October 2026.
Editors For Students is an independent editorial service and is not affiliated with Cal State LA, and your faculty may endorse our services individually. We look forward to helping you bring your Cal State LA writing to its strongest, submission-ready form.