Revised Tuition Payment Plan for Fall 2011

1. Revised Tuition Payment Planfor Fall 2011  Dr. Dave Wentling Office of Graduate Studies Graduate Advisors Workshop

2. Tuition Payment Plan • In continuing efforts to attract and retain the best graduate students and address the fiscal challenges of the university, the university worked tirelessly to develop a revised plan for graduate student tuition. • In 2005 a decision was made to pay resident tuition for all graduate assistants, but due to a large reduction in funding for tuition payments, a revision to the tuition payment plan was necessary. 

3. Guidelines for Resident Tuition Payments A) For Doctoral GAT’s and GANT’s and GAR’s supporting teaching, who are employed by academic departments and paid from State funds: Resident tuition will be paid from university funds (allocated to each college): • For up to 5 years for doctoral students admitted without a master's degree • For up to 4 years for doctoral students admitted with a master's degree B) Resident tuition for Doctoral graduate assistants funded by external grants and contracts must be paid from those grants and contracts.

4. Guidelines (cont.) • Colleges will be allocated a set of flexible funds. • Funds can be used strategically by colleges to support competitive tuition and fees efforts for graduate assistants, such as: • tuition for doctoral GAR’s and GANT’s (not supporting teaching) • tuition for select master’s graduate assistants. • For master's graduate assistants funded by external grants and contracts, the employing faculty will determine if the tuition payment benefit is paid, on a student by student basis.

5. Guidelines (cont.) • Colleges will have access to “grandfathering” funds to fulfill "formal" commitments of tuition payments for: • Up to one year for master's students who received such commitments upon enrolling at Texas A&M in semesters prior to Spring 2011 • Students who would not be eligible for tuition payments according to the college selection criteria. • Each college will establish and publish their respective policies for selecting the master's students who receive tuition payments.  • Payment of resident tuition for graduate assistants funded by non-college academic units will be determined by employing unit on a student-by-student basis.

6. Guidelines (cont.) • In some instances the university-provided tuition payment for resident tuition may not be credited to a student’s account before the payment deadline. • This action may occur in those instances where information is not provided in a timely manner by the employing department. • In these cases: • Student is responsible for paying tuition before the deadline, and his/her account will be credited for the university-provided payment at a later date. • Student will receive a refund of the money paid, once the university-provided tuition is credited to his/her account. Graduate Assistants should consult the business office of his/her department with any questions.

7. Guidelines (cont.) • Payment amount is based on resident, designated and graduate tuition. Only tuition for the required registration is covered as part of this program. • Colleges or departments may elect to cover select students’ fees with strategic or discretionary funds. • Only enrolled hours at Texas A&M University will be paid. • Registration (hours) at other System components will not be paid. • Students must be registered full time to qualify. • Full time is defined as Fall & Spring 9 hours, summer is defined by the following table: http://ogs.tamu.edu/forms/documents/GA-Tuition-Table-Summer.pdf • Courses taught by the English Language Institute do not count toward official course registration. • Full course waivers do not fulfill registration requirements.

8. Eligible students • Students eligible for a Non-resident Tuition Waiver are required to have the waiver entered prior to resident tuition payment even if a competitive tuition waiver already exists. • Each eligible graduate assistant must be at least 50% FTE to receive payment. • All eligible graduate assistants must be on the payroll no later than the 12th class day for Fall/Spring & 4th class day for each summer term (or 10 week session).

9. Not Eligible • Graduate Assistants – Lecturer (GALs) are NOT eligible. • Department/Colleges will have the ability to enter a student tuition payment into the Online Payment Request System (ONPAR). The student’s information will then route to the appropriate dept/college level for approvals. Colleges and Departments will be able to verify payment postings on Compass using TSISCRV.

10. Final thoughts • Pathways to the Doctorate Fellows, Graduate Diversity Fellows, Graduate Merit Fellows, and NSF Fellows have tuition paid from their award and are not eligible for the graduate assistant tuition payment program. ISS should be contacted for clarification on International Sponsored Students’ eligibility.

11. Questions: Please email us at david-j-wentling@tamu.edu meganp@tamu.edu Or call 979-845-3631 Thank You!