Processing and Accounting for Graduate Assistant Tuition Waivers
How the Process Works:
After you have been offered a Graduate Assistantship by a Department, they will submit a “hiring” transaction to the Personnel & Payroll System (PERMs), along with position documents.
The Graduate School will review/approve the appointment, funding and waiver data in PERMs and forward to HRS for additional nightly updates/approvals of Graduate Assistantship employment transactions.
The Graduate School notifies Student Accounts and Scholarship Services of the amount of tuition waiver to be applied.
The next day, Payroll Services will review appointment lengths, enrolled hours and funding source from the latest update before awarding Qualified Tuition Reductions to Student Accounts.
Student Accounts will post the waiver on the student’s account to apply against tuition charge. Note that you must be enrolled in 10 credits and have tuition charges for the waiver to post.
Scholarship Services will account for your waiver as a placeholder on your financial aid account and assume the same projected amount for the second semester. Note there are some special waivers submitted by the Graduate School directly to Scholarship Services that are posted and disbursed directly to the student’s account.
Troubleshooting:
This waiver in conjunction with any other tuition waivers you receive cannot exceed the cost of your tuition charges. If this occurs, your tuition waiver will be reversed.
If this waiver is applied after your financial aid has disbursed and results in an overaward, you will see a swap of funding. Waiver will replace loan funding that is reversed.
If you no longer are receiving a tuition waiver, the Graduate School will notify Student Accounts and Scholarship Services of this change.
If your department has sent your appointment paperwork to the Graduate School, please be patient at the beginning of the semester to allow for this process to be completed. If you don’t see your waiver posted after 2 weeks, contact your department.
Processing Flow:
Student Admitted to the Graduate School
Student Offered a Graduate Assistantship Appointment by a Department
Department submits Assistantship Documents to Graduate School and a hiring transaction to the PERMS system along with position documents
Graduate School approves Graduate Appointment
Graduate School submits waiver amount to Student Accounts to post on student’s account toward tuition charges
Graduate School submits waiver amount to Scholarship Services to post on student’s financial aid account as a placeholder the same amount is assumed for the 2nd semester if applicable