Once a graduate student at Mizzou has established eligibility for the Tuition Support Program, the host department (which may or may not be the home academic unit) and home academic department complete the following steps for the student to obtain support.
For Degree-Granting Units
- A staff member from the department where the student has a fellowship or assistantship must complete a Determination of Eligibility Form covering the duration of the assistantship or fellowship contract, not exceeding the terms checked at the top of the form.
- If the host department is different from the student’s academic home department, the completed form must be sent to the student’s academic home department for the department chair’s/director’s signature.
- The completed, signed form then must be sent to the Graduate Student Tuition Support Program coordinator for processing. If any part of the form is not completed correctly, the form will be returned. Each department must designate a contact person to address any problems.
- If the student becomes ineligible for tuition support, the responsible department must inform the Graduate Student Tuition Support Program coordinator of the change. (The responsibility rests on the host department if the change is related to assistantship responsibilities and the academic home department if the change is related to academics.)
For Non-Degree-Granting Units
- A staff member from the department where the student has a fellowship or assistantship must complete the Non-Degree-Granting Tuition Support Program form and send it to the Tuition Support Program coordinator.
- When the tuition waiver request is approved, a copy of the form is sent back to the non-degree granting unit.
- The unit then must complete a Determination of Eligibility Form, attach it to a copy of the approved tuition waiver request form, and send both forms to the student’s academic home department for the department chair’s/director’s signature.
- The academic home department must send, by e-mail or campus mail, the two completed, signed forms to the Graduate School’ Tuition Support Program coordinator for processing.
Summer Tuition Waivers
A student who had a tuition waiver for the fall and spring semesters will receive a waiver for the following summer automatically.
A student without support in the preceding fall and spring semesters may be eligible for summer tuition support if the department completes a Tuition Support Program form and checks the box for summer.
To be eligible, the student must have one of the following:
- A qualifying assistantship or fellowship for the entire summer session
- Support for the preceding spring semester and the student has a qualifying assistantship or fellowship committed for the following fall semester
- A qualifying assistantship or fellowship committed for both the following fall and spring semesters and starting a program in the summer semester
Offering a Position with Tuition Support
Program-Specific Tuition-Support Policies
Degree-granting departments and programs are responsible for developing the criteria that determine whether a graduate student receives an assistantship in a category that qualifies for tuition support. These policies must be approved by the Graduate Faculty Senate, by the dean of the school or college, and by the Dean of the Graduate School.
Including Resident Tuition in Funding Proposals
If remission of tuition is not specifically prohibited by the guidelines of a funding source, resident tuition and insurance must be included in the budgets of all proposals that include graduate student stipends. When a student has qualifying assistantship on a grant, and a qualifying fellowship, then the grant must cover the full cost of the resident tuition and insurance, unless the department providing the fellowship has agreed to cover some or all of those expenses.
If remission of tuition is prohibited, the principal investigator (P.I.) on the grant proposal must complete a Tuition Support Cost-Share Request form and send it to the Tuition Support Program Coordinator. The cost of the resident tuition will have to be covered by another funding source, likely the department. Insurance will be charged to the grant, as it is part of the fringe requirement. If there are questions about charging insurance to a grant, you will need to talk to the Office of Sponsored Programs. After these steps are completed, the proposal should be submitted to Sponsored Programs Administration.
Determination of Eligibility for the Tuition Support Program
Download the Determination of Eligibility Form (pdf)If you have any questions while completing this form, please contact the Tuition Support Program coordinator via email or at 573-884-2326.
Determination Form Instructions
Items (1) through (7) must filled out by the student’s host department (the department providing the assistantship or fellowship).
Stipends for assistantships are disbursed through payroll, which is why the Personnel Action Form (PAF) is used. A PAF is not needed for a fellowships; they are processed through financial aid.
- Check the semesters in which the department will host the student in a graduate assistantship or fellowship.
The dates should match the Personnel Action Form (PAF) and the appointment dates listed under assistantship information on this form. If you do not know whether the student will be employed in the second semester, do not check the box. Send another form later when a new PAF has been completed. - Student name (last name first) should match the name on the PAF.
Some students may use a middle or nickname. If a student changes their last name in the middle of the semester, please notify the Graduate School as soon as possible. - Provide a Mizzou Student ID number.
This should match the student’s employee ID (EmplID) in Human Resources and the student’s PAF. - The academic degree home on the Determination of Eligibility form should match the academic degree home in the student information system.
Do not include the area of study. - Provide the name and phone number of the person in the host department who is completing the form for the student and who is knowledgeable about the assistantship and the waiver.
- For students with an assistantship or fellowship:
- If the student has an assistantship, please provide all of the following information:
- Title – In order to qualify for support, a student must have a qualifying title (title code in the brackets must match the PAF).
- Appointment Dates – Dates should match the semester(s) checked for part 1 and must match the PAF. If the appointment is for part of a semester, partial support may be given. Partial support will be pro-rated by the number of days worked compared to the number of total working days in the semester.
- Amount – Write the amount the student will be paid for the total appointment duration, no less than the required minimum stipend. Please note that the stipend level alone, especially for master’s students paid at the minimum stipend, may not be sufficient to cover the estimated expenses for international students. The student must be able to demonstrate they have adequate funds to cover the balance or the department needs to increase the stipend.
- FTE – Please provide the full-time equivalent under which the student will be employed. For example, 10 hours a week is 0.25 FTE, and 20 hours a week is 0.50 FTE. If the student has different FTEs for two semesters, please fill out two different lines. The minimum FTE is 0.25. Students with assistantships enrolled for the first time in Summer 2022 or later can be in a .25 assistantship ONLY if they have a second .25 assistantship or equivalent fellowship.
- Funding Source – Indicate whether the student is going to be funded from a grant/contract.
- If the student has a departmental fellowship or scholarship, please provide:
- Name of the fellowship/scholarship
- Beginning and ending dates of the fellowship/scholarship
- Amount of funding provided, with the minimum amount being no less than the equivalent salary value of a 0.25 FTE assistantship per semester.
- If the student has an assistantship, please provide all of the following information:
- The student’s academic program chair/director must sign the form.