Summer Research Internship VSPA Fee-Waiver Initiative

See VSPA Summer Research Internship Fee-Waiver Bridge Program for additional guidance.

UC Berkeley CALmessages Notice

Date: June 15, 2018
From: Office of the Vice Chancellor, Research
To: Deans, Department Chairs, Directors, Faculty, Senior Administrative Officers
Subject: Summer Research Internship VSPA Fee-Waiver Initiative

Summer Research Internship VSPA Fee-Waiver Initiative

In recognition of our commitment to providing increased opportunities for summer research interns, I am authorizing a waiver of the University Services Fee (USF) administered by the Visiting Scholar and Postdoc Affairs program. This two-year initiative will be directed at high school students and undergraduates as well as K-12 teachers who have been invited to campus through domestically-based, externally-funded outreach and training programs. Starting summer 2020, research interns covered under this waiver will be subject to a reduced USF of $500.

To qualify for the fee waiver:

  1. Research interns must be sponsored by an external agency, domestically-based program or funding source.
  2. Eligible interns include high school students, undergraduates, and K-12 teachers.
  3. Summer Research interns must first go through the normal VSPA Gateway approval process (including the exception letter) required for all non-PhD visiting student researcher appointments.
  4. Research internships are limited to 3 months in duration and are non-renewable

Fee waivers for visiting research interns with circumstances similar to those listed above that could help advance diversity and inclusion in UC’s undergraduate student pipeline will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Waivers should be requested using the same USF Waiver Form.

To apply for the fee waiver:

  1. Fill out the USF Waiver Form
  2. Once the intern’s information has been verified in the Gateway, notification of the fee waiver will be sent and no USF payment will be required for she/he to be processed into HCM.

For new grant proposals, faculty interested in hosting research interns should account for the reduced $500 per-student USF by incorporating it into a “participant support costs fee” or similar budget line in their funding proposal budgets. The Sponsored Projects Office is currently in the process of generating guidelines on how to include this in future proposals, and should have this information available in the near future.

This program is designed to provide temporary relief for faculty hosting eligible individuals until the new fees have been integrated into future funded contracts and grants

Randy Howard Katz
Vice Chancellor for Research

source: 2/15/2007 CALmessages: Summer Research Internship VSPA Fee-Waiver Initiative