Professional Development Fund

Professional Development Fund (PDF)

Instructions 

The Professional Development Fund (PDF) is a scholarship offered by UC Davis SAVMA for veterinary students. The PDF assists veterinary students by awarding funding to students who plan to attend professional conferences, seminars, and symposia, or participate in research projects, externships, or any other pertinent veterinary-related experience outside of school. Students who receive funding will be notified by the award date. Those students will need to submit copies of their receipts and proof of attendance after the event in order to get reimbursed. The reimbursement will be in the form of a check in their homeroom mailbox or via an electronic transaction. 

For each funding period, the SAVMA Vice President will announce the due date for the PDF application via email to all SAVMA members in the student body. Every applicant must submit a completed online form that will be linked in that email. Any form that is incomplete or does not fulfill the requirements will not be considered for funding during that period. 

The online application form will prompt you for: 

1. SAVMA ID number and contact information
2. Experience start date, end date, and other information
3. List of expected expenditures and amounts
4. A brief written description of the experience/event
5. List of sources of outside funding/awards 

Application Requirements 

1. Applicants must be SAVMA members who will be incurring expenses by attending a veterinary related experience outside of school.
2. Applicants apply before the experience has occurred and within the appropriate funding period for the term in which the event occurs. See the funding periods listed below. For example, if an applicant wants to attend a conference from June 12 - June 14, they would apply when the Summer application is open.
3. Applicants can apply once per funding period, but can combine multiple experiences into one application if claiming $400 or less, total.
4. Students will only be reimbursed up to the amount that they were awarded.
5. Applicants can receive awards up to $400 yearly, in the funding cycle of Fall, Spring, and Summer. Applicants can apply for less than $400 at a time, and may apply again for another experience(s) in a different funding period until they are awarded $400 total. The funding totals will be reset at the end of every Summer period. The start of the Fall period will be considered the start of the year. For example, if a student receives $400 in the Spring period, they cannot receive funding until the following Fall period. a. Please note that the value is based on the awarded amount and not the actual reimbursed amount. If a student applies for $400 but only requests $200 for reimbursement after the event, that student is not eligible for another application during that funding cycle.
6. Eligible expenses include airline tickets, hotel/lodging costs, commuting costs (gas, rental car, rideshare, public transport), admission costs to conferences/symposiums/training courses, and required educational materials for a training course.
7. Ineligible expenses include food, gifts, or other extraneous costs unrelated to the educational experience. Lodging costs outside of the dates of the experience will be ineligible.
8. Paid experiences (ex. paid externship job) are not eligible for funding.
9. Other sources of financial support must be included in the “additional funding” section of the application, including, but not limited to scholarships, externship grants, and/or stipends from the experience. 10. Applicants must complete the online forms and include receipts and proof of attendance.

2025-2026 Funding Periods

If you have any questions please contact SAVMA Vice President Mollie Davies (modavies@ucdavis.edu). 

Update: The Professional Development Fund is supplemented by ALL for Students. Thank you for your contribution!