Group Grants

GSA Group Grants help to fund projects and programs that benefit a wide variety of graduate and professional students (as opposed to supporting the work of just one).  Typically, Groups are awarded grants to cover up to $500 of their expenses.  The GSA Executive Board reserves the right to increase or decrease this amount if the specific activities warrant such.  However, please note that increases are rare and will only be awarded in exceptional circumstances.

There are two main categories of activities that qualify for Group Grant funding: Social and Academic.

Social Grants

The GSA offers Social Grants to encourage graduate and professional students to come together independently outside of academic settings in order to foster a greater sense of community.  Funds will be available for clubs and sports groups as well as for group service and volunteer activities. 

Academic Grants

The GSA offers Academic Grants to encourage independent graduate and professional student run activities with an academic orientation.  In the past we have funded graduate and professional student conferences and workshops held at Boston College.  We would also like to help foster interdisciplinary work and contact. 

If you are requesting remuneration for speakers or other event participants who are not performing contracted services:

• You may not request cash; instead request monies for gift certificates
• Please justify the remuneration costs
• In cases where a lottery is being used, please specify the prize allotment mechanism 
  

The Group Grant application deadlines for the 2012-2013 Funding Cycles are as follows:

Fall: October 15

Winter I: December 1

Winter II: February 1

Spring: March 15

The Group Grants application is available online. 

After being awarded a grant, please contact the GSA Financial Director gsafunding@bc.edu after the actual expense to apply for reimbursement, or before the event if you have to pay in advance to a vendor or a person

The Review Process and Some Important Things to Keep in Mind

Our goal is to get money into the hands of graduate students who are doing great things, so that they can do even better things.  In the process of doing this, we strive for a fair and balanced review process.  To achieve such a review process we have some specific ways of doing things.  We want you to be aware of our process.

There are two committees which review grants - one for Individual Research and Conference Grants and one for Group Grants.  All grants are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary committee whose members are part of the GSA Council.  Each committee is organized by a Chair who is responsible for communicating with applicants and grantees, overseeing the distribution of completed grant applications to committee members and running the committee meetings.   

During each round, there are deserving applications that do not receive funding.  If your grant does not receive funding, you will be provided with an explanation of why the grant did not get funding and things you can do to improve the grant.  You should consider these comments and re-apply for funding.  Sometimes, the committee's comments will make complete sense to you, and sometimes you might think the committee's comments are off the mark.  Remember, it is a multi-disciplinary committee, so you need to sell your work, or your project, or your event, to a diverse group of people. 

Whenever and wherever possible, you should be as specific as you can be about how much funding you will need and why.  We suggest that you complete an itemized budget prior to your application, both to aid your own planning as well as to help the committee see why your application deserves funding.  Any and all attachments you submit in support of your application will be considered.  To give an example: If you would like money to produce an anthology of graduate work or some other kind of publication, you will need to have an estimate of printing costs which include the number of copies you will make, the kind of printing you will use, and any other costs associated with document production, editing or distribution.  To give another example: If you are seeking funds to support travel expenses, such as airfare, please submit a price quote from a reputable travel website or agent, such as Travelocity or Expedia. 

Grant applications are reviewed blind.  Once you send your materials to us, the Chair of the committee removes your name and other information before distributing copies of your grant to the committee members.  It is sometimes the case that members of the committee are in the same department, or know the applicant well and can figure out who the person is based on the other application materials.  In these cases, the committee member in question participates in the discussion of the application but abstains from all other parts of the decision-making process about the grant in question.

Directions for Reimbursement:

After being awarded a grant, please complete the "Reimbursement Request" form, which can be located on the Treasurer Resources page of this website.  (Directions for completing this and other related forms are included in the pdf files.)

Additionally, please note that you will need to complete a "Travel Expense" form if you are requesting reimbursement for any travel-related expenses (flights, gas, hotel, etc.).

Click here for detailed Group Grant instructions.

Click here for the Student Affairs Business Service Center (SABSC) site
if you're looking for any other financial forms not listed on this page.