Tuition Remission Surcharge Rates

It’s both. A qualifying appointment needs to have an effective date on or before the cutoff date and it needs to be entered into the system on or before the cutoff date for a grad student to be eligible.

Yes, if a qualifying appointment is funded on multiple funding strings, the surcharge will be split between the funding strings based on the total salary/stipend on each string.

Tuition remission (TR) surcharge automatically follows salary/stipend. If funding of an RA/PA appointment changes mid-semester, the surcharge associated with the original funding string will stay on that funding string unless the associated salary is moved, and TR surcharge will start hitting the new funding on the first TR run following the change. TR surcharge associated with pay periods after the funding change was made will hit the new funding string.

Any grad assistant with a 33% full-time equivalent (FTE) appointment on the cutoff date will be eligible for tuition remission, regardless of what happens the rest of the semester. A grad student no longer has to work a 33% FTE equivalent for the entirety of the semester to qualify for a tuition waiver.

Yes, although the department should let Aaron Ranke in Business Services and/or the Bursar’s Office know that this has occurred, so the tuition waiver isn’t removed from the student’s account.

A grad student holding a qualifying appointment on the semester cutoff date is eligible for a tuition waiver and tuition remission (TR) surcharge will be assessed regardless of what happens after the cutoff date. If an otherwise eligible grad student leaves mid-semester and the employing department would like to remove the tuition waiver and the associated TR surcharge, it is on the employing department to let the Bursar’s Office and/or Business Services know about this desire.

Grad assistants need to have a 33% or more full-time equivalent (FTE) appointment entered in Workday to be eligible for tuition remission. If they don’t have that, they’re not eligible. Historically grader/readers and other hourly PA’s haven’t had an FTE associated with their position, so they would not qualify.

Yes. We are posting tuition remission journals monthly, so there will be a lag between the PAA and the movement of the surcharge. View the tuition remission run schedule. Surcharge will move on the first tuition remission run after the PAA is fully approved and posted. Do not move tuition surcharge on your own unless it is not allowed by a sponsor and you have talked to Karen Ryan at RSP or Aaron Ranke with accounting services.

It depends. If sponsored funding is involved, you cannot move tuition away from the associated salary unless the sponsor doesn’t allow tuition charges on the grant. If sponsored funding is not involved in the transfer, you can likely move tuition away from the associated salary, but please contact Aaron Ranke in business services before putting through the transfer.

This would yield no surcharge on either funding. We don’t assess tuition remission surcharge for TA appts and we won’t be hitting any appt below 33% FTE with surcharge. This grad student would still qualify for a remission since they have a TA appt at or above 33% FTE.

No. A grad student must have a single RA/PA/TA/LSA appointment at or above 33% FTE to qualify for a tuition waiver. We are no longer stacking appointments – not even multiple teaching appointments on identical funding. This grad student would not qualify.

Tuition remission (TR) surcharge posts with a lag. We cannot calculate and book tuition remission (TR) journals until payroll data is available in Workday. We book TR journals on the earliest possible date following the posting of the final payroll of each month. This often translates into surcharge hitting the month after the payroll hits (September surcharge hitting in October, November surcharge hitting December, etc.). View tuition remission run date schedule

In addition, since we charge TR surcharge at a rate of $595.97 per pay period, the entire semester surcharge assessment won’t hit a funding string until the final run of the semester (hits in January for fall semester, and May for spring semester). This creates a scenario in which a grad student can hold a qualifying appointment on a grant on the semester eligibility/cutoff date and can then terminate their appointment prior to the semester end date and maintain their eligibility. If this happens, surcharge will continue to hit the grant at a rate of $595.97 per pay period until the semester ends, even if the grant ends prior to the end of the semester. These are legitimate charges as they are tied directly to the salary/stipend that hit the grant prior to the grant ending. Tuition remission is never final until the semester is over. The best way to avoid unexpected TR charges is to fill out a workbook so you know when/how much TR surcharge is going to hit your funding string for a given semester.

Reach out to tuitionremission@rsp.wisc.edu before moving the surcharge. Once they give the go-ahead, you can transfer the surcharge on your own. RSP is keeping track of these situations to ensure proper compliance with Uniform Guidance.

Tuition remission surcharge associated with pre-Workday PAA’s will not move automatically, but you SHOULD NOT put through a manual adjustment to make the surcharge follow the salary that was moved in the PAA. Pre-Workday PAAs will be picked up periodically by business services and business services will do the calculations and book the journals to move the surcharge. So the surcharge will move with no action taken by you.

If you have an urgent need for surcharge to follow a pre-workday PAA, please reach out to Aaron Ranke – aaron.ranke@wisc.edu.