Grants and Writing Resources for the University of San Diego

Two USD students won $10,000 in seed money at the April 2026 Torero Entrepreneurship Challenge for DIAL, an AI-powered virtual reality platform that lets users experience a day in the life of different careers. The same spring, nearly 50 undergraduates presented at Creative Collaborations, each with two minutes to explain a project on subjects from wildfire protection for homes to Alzheimer's disease.

Paying for Undergraduate Research

The Office of Undergraduate Research keeps a list of student funding opportunities. Its STAR and BURST programs pay a stipend for full-time summer research with a USD faculty mentor; STAR is for students with research experience and BURST for newcomers. The Beckman Scholars, McNair Scholars and Keck Humanities Research Fellows programs are affiliated with the office. Honors Program juniors and seniors can apply for the Hinman Grant, up to $1,000 for thesis research costs such as supplies and conference fees.

Student government money is open to every undergraduate. The ASG Academic Grants fund research and travel each semester, judged on how far a project can advance its field, whether it is feasible and how it fits the university's mission. The ASG Research Grant buys materials like chemicals, lumber, survey incentives and books, and gives priority to projects in art, history, architecture and the humanities. For summer work, the Career Development Center's Summer Internship Award pays up to $3,000 toward living and travel costs during an internship, research project or career-related community service.

Presenting the Work

The tradition behind Creative Collaborations goes back 36 years. It started when biology professor Marie Simovich matched USD students with San Diego organizations that needed help in the field. Today it is a spring showcase of student-faculty research, internships and creative work, presented in the PechaKucha format. Posters go up at the Fall Colloquium.

For an outside conference, OUR Travel Awards pay up to $500 toward airfare, ground transportation, lodging, registration and poster printing. Applicants must be full-time and in good standing, must have submitted an abstract of original research, and can receive one award in any 12 months. A faculty sponsor completes a recommendation, and both parts are due at least 30 days before the trip.

Graduate Fellowships and Law Journals

In the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, master's students in social innovation can hold a Kroc Practice Fellowship. It is a paid position of 15 hours a week on Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice programs such as Women, Peace and Security and Impact:Peace, with $5,000 in tuition support, and it is awarded during admission. Graduate assistantships, open to all in-person Kroc School students, carry $1,296 in tuition support for 40 hours a semester of research and teaching work with faculty.

Law students write for the San Diego Law Review. Founded in 1964 and run entirely by students, it carries at least one comment or casenote by a USD law student in almost every issue. The San Diego International Law Journal and the San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law are also on the university's journals list.

Writing Help and Finished Theses

The USD Writing Center in Learning Commons 203 gives free, in-person consultations of 45 to 60 minutes to undergraduates and graduate students in every discipline. Students can come up to three times a week, at any stage from planning to revision. The consultants are students nominated by faculty. Citation questions go to the Copley Library reference desk. Graduate students who can't easily get to campus also have the SOLES Graduate Student Writing Center, a virtual writing space.

Completed work goes into Theses and Dissertations on Digital USD, the university's repository, with separate collections for dissertations, theses and undergraduate honors theses.

Before an honors thesis, dissertation or course paper goes to its readers, our editors can give it a final edit for grammar, consistency and format. Visit our University of San Diego dissertation and thesis editing and University of San Diego essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• The Secret to Better Grades: Starting Your Writing Process Early
• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter
• Methodology Chapter Secrets: Building the Architecture of Your Argument