NSF GRFP Fellows at Stony Brook University 

The Graduate School serves as the administrative home for Stony Brook graduate students in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).

NSF fellows receive a three-year, annual stipend of $34,000. Funding is to be used within five years. On or before April 29th, fellows must declare their staus (tenure or reserve) for the upcoming academic year in the GRFP Research.gov Module. A Summer (June 1st) or Fall (September 1st) start date is also selected. 

After the fellowship declaration deadline has passed, the Graduate Finance team reaches out to tenured fellows and their graduate program coordinators to begin appointment paperwork. The annual stipend is paid out bi-weekly on Fridays. Direct deposit enrollment is available through the RF self-service website. Fellows who do not enroll in direct deposit will be issued a Key Bank pay card.

In addition to the bi-weekly stipend, NSF fellows are entitled to a Cost of Education allowance and health insurance. Details can be found be found below.

 

Cost of Education (COE) Allowance

An annual $4,000 COE allowance is granted to tenured NSF fellows. Typically, the first priority of these funds is to pay the cost of health insurance premiums. After that, remaining funds can be used for:

• Campus Fees

  Effective Spring 2021, those graduate students with a Graduate Tuition Scholarship (GTS) will also receive a scholarship to cover broad-based fees. More details can be found here. 

  If you would like to put your COE allowance toward any remaining fees not covered by the fee scholarship, please email  gradfinance@stonybrook.edu once you have registered for the semester. A request will then be generated to the Office of Grants Management (OGM). After OGM reviews, the Office of the Bursar is notified to cut the check and apply it to the requested fees.

• Computer Equipment/ Laptop

  Computer equipment over $500 must be purchased on the fellow's behalf by the Graduate Finance team. The Graduate Finance team will purchase via the SUNY procurement system (Wolfmart) in order to charge the NSF grant directly. This will eliminate the need for a fellow to submit a reimbursement and may also save on tax, which is a non-reimbursable expense.

  Please email gradfinance@stonybrook.edu with information (screenshots/web links/etc.) on the computer model/type that you are interested in buying so that the purchase can be initiated.

• Books, Memberships, Software, and Other Educational Supplies/Materials

  If you wish to purchase supplies/materials for research, this can be done one of two ways:

  1. Email gradfinance@stonybrook.edu to check availability on the SUNY procurement system (Wolfmart). Be sure to include screenshots/web links/etc. of the items you wish to purchase. If available through Wolfmart, this allows for the NSF grant to be charged directly; thus, eliminating the need for a fellow to submit a reimbursement . Additionally, it may also save on tax, which is a non-reimbursable expense.

  2. In lieu of Wolfmart, purchases could be made out of pocket and then submitted for reimbursement through the NSF Expense Reimbursement Form. The Graduate School will review the submission. If nothing appears to be outstanding, the Graduate School then submits to the Office of Grants Management (OGM) on the fellow's behalf. After OGM, it is reviewed by Research Accounts Payable. Due to the various offices that are involved and in some cases, the request for additional documentation, the reimbursement process does take time. Please budget accordingly.

     Typically, expense reimbursements are sent as paper checks to the address on file. If you would like to set up direct deposit for reimbursements, please submit an ACH Payment Enrollment Form*. There are instructions for completion in the upper left-hand corner of the form.

     * The ACH Payment Enrollment Form is for reimbursements only. For direct deposit of the bi-weekly stipend payments, please visit RF Self-Service.

• Travel (Domestic & International)

  Travel guidelines can be found on Procurement's website.

  For travel reimbursement, please utilize the NSF Travel Reimbursement Form .

  We would advise that any NSF GRFP Fellow seeking to utilize COE funds for travel purchases or for reimbursement, first connect with our team at gradfinance@stonybrook.edu.We will be able to provide information on the latest processes and procedures. 

  

Health Insurance

As a tenured NSF Fellow, you have two health insurance options available:

• GSEHP

  You can enroll in the Research Foundation’s fellowship insurance plan, referred to as Graduate Student Employee Health Plan (GSEHP) . Information including  premium types and costs can be found here.

  If GSEHP is chosen, fellows can elect to either use their COE allowance to cover the premium OR can have the premium deducted from their bi-weekly stipend. Academic Fellowship Form examples showing these two UMR payment options are below:

  • Grant Pays:  In this example, a fellow has elected to use use the COE allowance (i.e. the grant) to cover the cost of GSEHP for self only (i.e. individual premium). The bi-weekly paystub will reflect this payment under earnings, not deductions.
  • Fellow Pays:  In this example, a fellow has elected to deduct the cost  of GSEHP for self only (i.e. individual premium) from the bi-weekly stipend. The paystub will reflect this payment under deductions.

  Further details regarding Academic Fellowship Forms and GSEHP enrollment forms will be emailed to fellows prior to the start of their tenure.

  Note: Fellows who elect GSEHP(or who have coverage through their parents/spouse) must waive the mandatory Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) in SOLAR  at the beginning of EACH academic year, by August 26th. More details regarding the waiver process can be found on the Student Health Service site.

• SHIP

  Fellows can opt for the Stony Brook University Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP). This is the mandatory health insurance plan required by the university. Information including coverage details and rates can be found here. 

  If SHIP is chosen, you can elect to use your COE allowance to pay the premium. Since SHIP charges show on your campus bill, please follow the instructions above for Campus Fees.

  Note: Fellows who elect  GSEHP (or who have coverage through their parents/spouse) must waive the mandatory Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) in SOLAR  at the beginning of EACH academic year, by August 26th. More details regarding the waiver process can be found on the Student Health Service site.

Note: Fellows who elect GSEHP (or who have coverage through their parents/spouse) must waive the mandatory Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP) in SOLAR  at the beginning of EACH academic year, by August 26th. More details regarding the waiver process can be found on the Student Health Service site.

 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

• What are the NSF award numbers used for citations and IRB approvals?
  Effective August 15, 2022, the NSF award number 2234683 is to be used for citation purposes.

  For any IRB submissions, 95384 would be utilized; this is part of a larger account number of 1177574-1-95384.

• Why is the Cost of Education (COE) allowance capped at $4,000?

  When a Fellow is on tenure, the Institution receives a 12k Cost of Education allowance to offset the required tuition and fees. Even though tuition and fees together are near 12k, Stony Brook covers tuition and sets aside only 8k out of the 12k. This allows the Fellow to access the remaining 4k allowance as they see fit. Many Fellows will choose to use this for all (or a portion of) the required fees as well as for any other approved usage (health insurance premiums, travel, research-/education-related expenses, etc). In short, if the full 12k was used by the institution to cover a fellow's actual tuition and required fees, there would be no Cost of Ed allowance for fellows to utilize. At least with the 4k allotment, IF you have health insurance to pay, the COE can cover it.

  Said in a different way, say you are a G4 student taking 9 credits each semester. Your 2021-2022 tuition as G4 would be $8,478 ($11,310 if G3 taking 12 credits) per year. Then Stony Brook pays your fees; which amounts annually to around $2,242. This would leave $1,280 for G4 (or nothing left for G3). This would not leave enough money to cover fellowship insurance which is approximately $3,500 depending on your needed coverage. Basically, fellows get more in spending allowance than was allotted from NSF COE.

• How can the COE allowance be utilized?

  Health insurance premiums followed by fees is generally the pecking order for the COE usage. However, it is important to note that each Fellow's personal circumstances vary. For example, some may be already covered by a spouse's or parent's health insurance plan so in such cases, will typically utilize the COE for fee coverage and then for educational related expenses such as books, software, travel, etc.

• I'm an NSF Fellow on tenure. Do I need to be enrolled in summer courses in order to receive the fellowship stipend?

  No. NSF Fellows on tenure do not need to be registered in the summer term in order to receive their summer fellowship payments & benefits

• I've exhausted my COE allowance. Are there additional funding resources?

  The annual  COE allowance granted to tenured NSF fellows is capped at $4,000. However, as a Stony Brook graduate student, you might consider some of the funding opportunities available through the Graduate Student Organization (GSO). For example, the Resource Access Project (RAP) provides travel grants (up to $500/fiscal year) to students attending conferences, and the Distinguished Travel Award offers monetary support to students who present their work at prestigious conferences, performances and professional meetings.

  The GSO typically sends a blast email to all students when applications open. In the meantime,  more information can be found here on the GSO website.

• Is the NSF GRFP fellowship taxed?

  As per NSF:

  Stipendsmay be considered taxable income. Fellows may find it helpful to consult the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS)Tax Topic 421: Scholarships, Fellowship Grants, and Other Grants and Publication 970: Tax Benefits for Education. Specific questions regarding the taxation of Fellowship funding and personal tax liability should be referred to the IRS. As such, NSF will not respond to questions regarding tax issues.

  Thus, students should consult with the IRS or a tax professional if they have any questions.

  In the past, GSO has typically hosted Spring tax clinics for graduate students. The link to the GSO webpage that would contain that information can be found here: https://www.stonybrookgso.org/tax-clinic.