Tuition Remission (also referred to as a waiver) is a benefit to graduate and professional students holding a Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant, Program/Project Assistant or Lecturer Student Assistant appointment to help alleviate the cost of tuition.
For all eligible fellowships administered by the program/department/school level, you may submit the non-resident tuition remission form directly to the Bursar’s Office. The current Fellowship Information Form process will be retired.
Eligibility
The University remits the full tuition for Research Assistants, Teaching Assistants, Program/Project Assistants and Lecturer Student Assistants (RA, TA, PA, and LSA), and the non-resident tuition for certain Instructional Academic Staff and University Fellows who hold eligible appointments. See additional information on Tuition Remission Eligibility for Instructional Academic Staff.
Students are responsible for paying their segregated fees and any other fees such as the Official Document Fee, the International Student Fee and Late Initial Enrollment Fee not covered by the tuition remission. These fees must be paid by deferred due date, regardless of when the Bursar’s Office is notified of the eligible appointment.
RA, TA, PA, and LSA
Instructional Academic Staff
University Fellows
How to submit a remission
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Use the Remission form
You’ll need to know the type of remission prior to completing the form. Types include: RA, TA, PA, LSA, Athletics, Chancellor’s, Law School, Regents, Miltary, Powers Knapp, SSDI and Midwest Poultry, WDFL, Foreign Languages and Areas Studies (FLAS), and Advanced Opportunity Fellowship (AOF)
Use the tuition remission form
For fellowships administered by the Graduate School
Programs do not need to submit a remission form; these are handled by the Graduate School.
For fellowships funded by the Graduate School, administered by departments
Programs should submit remission forms for all fellows they payroll, including those funded on the allocation letters form the Graduate Student Support Competition (GSSC).
For fellowships not administered by the Graduate School
Consult the tuition remission policy. If the fellowship qualifies for remission, complete the remission form.
National Institute of Health: National Research Service Award (NIH NRSA) fellowships
These are processed via Internal Third Party.
Bursar's Office posts to the student's tuition account
The Bursar’s Office will review the file, and apply the specific type of tuition remission to the student’s tuition account.
- If any portion of the student’s tuition and fees is not covered by the remission (in cases where the remission is covering the non-resident tuition only), the student must pay the remaining balance before the tuition due date to avoid a late payment fee.
- If the student holds an eligible RA, TA, PA or LSA appointment, they are also eligible for a deferred due date to pay the required segregated fees.
Due Dates
Departments may begin submitting tuition remission authorization forms when enrollment opens for that specific term. For example, if Summer term enrollment begins April 4th, you can begin submitting forms for Summer term on that date. Forms should be received by:
- For Fall term – submit forms by mid-July
- For Spring Term – submit forms by mid-November
- For Summer Term – submit forms by mid-April
Receiving timely authorizations allows our office to send accurate student account bills. It also allows students to receive their financial aid refund (meant to cover living expenses) as early as Federal Regulations permit. Many students holding RA, TA, PA and LSA appointments also receive student loans or other financial aid. If the tuition remission form is not received before financial aid is disbursed, the aid is applied to pay tuition and fee charges, and their refund is delayed.
It is understood that some appointments cannot be made until immediately before or after the start of the term. In such cases, notify the Bursar’s Office as soon as the appointment is made.
Tuition Remission Audit
After the final payroll for the term, an audit is run against SFS (Shared Financial System) data to verify that graduate assistants actually worked a qualifying appointment. SFS pay data is used to calculate the percentage appointment that was actually worked by the student. Any questions are verified using HRS (Human Resources System) data. If remission is cancelled, the student will be billed for the outstanding tuition balance.
Students who graduate mid-term are eligible to keep their remission if they remain on payroll for no less than 33% FTE through the date that they received their degree. The Bursar’s Office will confirm mid-term graduate dates with the Graduate School.
Students with Grader/Reader appointments need to work enough hours to meet the 33% FTE equivalency requirement. Grader/Reader appointments may be combined with other RA, TA, PA, or LSA (Lecturer Student Assistant) appointments to earn remission eligibility.
Tuition Remission Surcharge
Tuition remission surcharge is a policy to help recoup the waived tuition costs by University and Wisconsin State Statute for RA and PA appointments that are eligible for remissions. The tuition remission surcharge is calculated based on the percentage of stipend charged/student’s level of work.
