Tuition Payment Policy – Effective MAY 1

Karen A. Holbrook, Dean of the Graduate School Gene Hemp, Vice Provost

This memo is a follow-up to the memo sent March 12, 1996 from Dr. Hemp to Academic Deans re: “Payment of Graduate Student Fee Waivers.”

The purpose of this memo is: A) to review the categories of graduate students who are eligible for full or partial tuition payments from the University of Florida State Budget and, B) to review the current process for extracting tuition assistance funds for students whose stipends are provided for on grants and contracts and to explain the new mechanism which will be in place May 1, 1996.

A. Students eligible for tuition assistance:

1. All graduate assistants appointed on General Revenue funded accounts will continue to have their in-state and out-of-state tuition paid by the University.
2. All fellowship recipients, regardless of funding source, will have their tuition paid by the University.
3. All graduate assistants supported on non-General Revenue accounts (contracts and grants, miscellaneous gifts and grants accounts “MG&G”, and Auxiliary Enterprise accounts) will receive tuition payments, but the accounts which pay the stipend will also be charged a percentage of the stipend amount to offset the deficit which is accumulated each year. (For 1996-97 the percentage is 9%, as described below.)
4. Graduate Teaching Associates, Graduate Teaching Assistants and Graduate Assistants-Teaching (occupational codes 71956, 71966 and 71976, respectively) who are appointed on non-General Revenue accounts may be eligible for a tuition payment; however, in instituting the new system, the account will be charged until reversed. All requests to reverse charges should be directed to Associate Dean Richard Lutz, 280 Grinter Hall, in writing and should provide thorough documentation of the student’s teaching responsibilities.

B. Payment mechanism for partial tuition reimbursement:

Those of you who are currently supporting students on grants and contracts in the E & G units are aware that the University has required that $50.00 per credit be reimbursed by each account to partially offset the tuition paid on behalf of the student, regardless of whether the student is in-state or out-of-state. This additional funding provides the amount needed to offset the deficit between the state allocation and the total University expenditure for tuition payments. The tuition reimbursement is billed to each account once per term, requiring Contract and Grant personnel to handle each account by hand. The College of Engineering has been managing its tuition deficit by charging a percentage of the student’s stipend to the grant each pay period.

In order to automate the process and to bring the entire campus into a system that is in compliance with Federal cost accounting standards associated with grant and contract funding, the following mechanism will be put in place on May 1, 1996.

To collect the partial reimbursement of the in-state tuition for students in categories (3) and (4) above, the accounts which pay the stipend will also be charged nine percent (9%) of the stipend amount. The tuition charge will be assessed to each account on a monthly basis. The first charges will be assessed in the first week of June 1996 for May 1996. Initially, because of the automated nature of the procedure, all individual grant and auxiliary accounts will be charged. For those accounts that cannot accept a tuition charge, the charge will be reversed upon receipt by Contracts and Grants of an alternative account to be charged. When these alternative accounts are identified, they will be charged rather than the individual grants. If you have questions regarding procedural aspects of the new system, please contact Mr. Fred Cantrell at 392-1235. Questions regarding policy issues should be directed to Dean Richard Lutz at 392-4646.

Effective immediately, all new, competing and noncompeting grant proposals should request tuition funding at the rate of 9% of the stipend. This request should be described on the budget page as “Partial Tuition Payment.” The following statement can be used in the budget justification section:

“The University of Florida provides a significant portion of the tuition support for in-state and out-of-state graduate research assistants. The University’s policy requires that the remainder of the support is assigned to the grant or contract that supports the student. This amount corresponds to 9% of the stipend.”

The percentage-of -stipend approach to tuition reimbursement simplifies bookkeeping and results in identical treatment of all non-General Revenue accounts. Under this approach, it is unnecessary to factor in the FTE level of the appointment or the number of hours for which the student in enrolled.

The 9% charge factor will be in effect until the end of spring semester 1997. Each year the charge factor percentage will be analyzed and adjusted to reflect the deficit in tuition funding provided by the state. The charge for the next fiscal year will be announced by March 1 each year.