The Graduate College Handbook for Students, Faculty and Staff
Chapter VII: Tuition and Fees
D. Tuition and Fee Waivers
Tuition Waiver Policy stipulates the guidelines for waivers associated with assistantship appointments and fellowship and traineeship appointments. For the complete policy, see the Tuition Waiver Policy.
Waiver-generating appointments are defined as assistantship appointments (see chapter VIII.A.2) ranging from 25 percent through 67 percent time (based on a forty-hour week) for three-quarters of the term, defined as the period starting on the first day of classes and ending on the last day of final examinations. Three quarters of the term is defined for spring and fall as 91 days and as 41 days for the summer term. Waiver-generating assistantship appointments provide either a waiver of full tuition or waiver of base-rate tuition, depending upon the curriculum in which the student is enrolled.
A waiver-generating fellowship or traineeship provides a living allowance of at least $3,000 per semester and requires no services in return (see chapter VIII.B).
Waiver-generating fellowship appointments provide a waiver of all tuition assessed, regardless of whether the student's program is full or base-rate for assistantship waiver purposes. All waiver-generating appointments also waive the service fee, the health service fee, the Academic Facilities Maintenance Fund Assessment (AFMFA) fee and the Library/Technology fee. They also provide vision insurance, dental insurance, and partial payment of the health insurance fee.
Other provisions of the tuition waiver policy include:
- Summer Automatic Waivers: Students without summer waiver-generating appointments who held waiver-generating appointments for the previous spring semester are eligible to receive summer automatic tuition waivers if they chose to enroll in the summer semester. The summer automatic waiver provides the same tuition waiver (base rate or full) as that granted during the previous spring. However, only the service fee is waived. Authorized enrolling colleges may request reimbursement for summer automatic waivers from an appointing unit if that unit was billed for the waiver in the spring semester.
- Stand-alone waivers: At their discretion, colleges may waive the tuition and service fee for students with no waiver-generating appointments. This is called a stand-alone waiver, and does not waive any of the other fees that are assessed, nor does it provide vision or dental insurance. Students are advised to check with their prospective departments for further information.
- Courtesy Fellowship Waivers: Departments may request waivers for individual students who receive fellowships from outside the University that are not paid through the University system. These courtesy fellowship waivers include a waiver of all tuition assessed, regardless of whether the student's program is full or base-rate for assistantship waiver purposes, as well as the service fee, the health service fee, the AFMFA fee, and the Library/Technology fee. They also provide vision insurance, dental insurance and partial payment of the health insurance fee.
- Waiver priority: The campus has established a priority system to guide the work of the Office of Student Financial Aid in processing waivers in cases where students have more than one waiver-generating appointment or are eligible for waivers from multiple sources. If a student has a waiver-generating fellowship and a waiver-generating assistantship for the same term, the fellowship waiver (full waiver of tuition) will take priority. It is not possible to combine a base-rate graduate assistant tuition waiver with other partial tuition waivers (such as a waiver of non-resident tuition) to obtain a more complete waiver of tuition. Questions about the waiver priority system can be directed to the Office of Student Financial Aid.
Current tax law exempts teaching assistants (TAs), research assistants (RAs), and most fellows from having to pay taxes on the value of waivers of tuition and selected fees associated with these appointments. Some students holding graduate assistantships (GAs) or pre-professional graduate assistantships (PGAs) may be required to pay taxes on tuition and fee waivers that exceed a value of $5,250. Students receiving waivers associated with GA or PGA appointments will receive information from the Payroll Office to assist in determining what portion, if any, of the waiver should be considered taxable income and whether or not it will be necessary to withhold additional taxes from these students' paychecks. See the policy on Taxability of Tuition and Fee Waivers Associated with Assistantship and Fellowship Appointments for more information. For information about the taxability of stipends, see chapter VIII.B.4.
