BU Graduate School - Tuition Support Policy

Tuition Scholarship Support Policy for Grants and Contracts

Summary

When a PI requests support for an academic year stipend for a Research Project Assistant (RPA) from an external sponsor, the PI must also request full-time in-state tuition from the sponsor. Only the Graduate School can waive the requirement of requesting the tuition from the sponsor. If the sponsor funds the PI's request, then the PI must pay the full-time in-state tuition for the academic year RPA, with the RPA registering for 9 or 12 credits per academic year semester depending on student's level. That is, academic year RPAs on grants for which tuition funding was approved by the external sponsor must have the full-time in-state tuition paid by the grant, and in turn, the Graduate School provides tuition scholarships for RPAs. RPAs receiving tuition scholarships must meet the standard terms and conditions of tuition scholarships. If the student is a first-year, domestic, out-of-state student, the Graduate School will cover the difference between in- and out-of-state tuition; if the student is classified as international, the Graduate School will cover the difference between in- and out-of-state tuition. If the RPA is a doctoral student and has exceeded the four-year eligibility for Graduate School TA/GA stipends and tuition scholarships, the RPA is still eligible for tuition scholarship from the Graduate School for a 5th year and, if necessary, 6th year, provided that the student meets the standard terms and conditions of tuition scholarships and that a grant pays the full-time in-state tuition. When a grant pays full tuition, the department/school/PI, depending on the arrangement, receives funds released from other accounts, at the rate of ~50% of the tuition payment. At the discretion of the department/school/PI, these funds can be used to support graduate students in the summer or recruit new students.

Effective Date

Starting May 1, 2002, all proposals for funding to external sponsors submitted through the Research Foundation will be required to request tuition support for all of the Research Project Assistants (RPA's) supported on the sponsored project during the academic year. As outlined below, from May 1, 2002-April 30, 2003, this tuition will be 75% of the cost of in-state tuition. Effective May 1, 2003, the budgets will need to include 100% of the in-state tuition.

Tuition Requested

All project budgets must include 100% of the cost of in-state Graduate tuition. If an International student is to be supported on the project, the Graduate School will provide a Tuition Scholarship that will cover the difference between this amount and the cost of out-of-state tuition. All sponsors, including New York State, will be expected to cover 100% of in-state graduate tuition.

Cuts in Budget

If a sponsor cuts the proposed budget, the tuition charge for students supported on the project will be decreased by a percentage equal to the size of the reduction. For example, if the proposed budget for the project is $250,000 and the sponsor cuts the budget by $25,000 (i.e., a 10% cuts), then the tuition required to fund a student on the grant will similarly be cut 10%. This will hold only for across the board cuts - if specific budget items other than tuition are cut, this will not affect the tuition scholarship portion of the budget.

Sponsor Limitations

If a sponsor has a universal written policy that prevents the sponsor from paying for tuition costs, an official copy of the Sponsors policy will need to accompany the proposal submitted to Sponsored Program Development.

Cost Share

If the contract/grant requires cost sharing and there is insufficient institutional support other than tuition scholarship monies to meet the cost sharing requirement, then with prior approval of the cognizant Chair, Dean and the Dean of the Graduate School a partial or full tuition scholarship(s) may be given if the contract/grant is funded. Documentation of sponsor policy on cost share is required.

Exceptions

Any exception to this policy must be approved by the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (using the Request for Exception Form).

Re-Allocation Policy for Tuition Scholarship Revenues From Grants and Contracts

When grants and contracts pay tuition, the university will release other funds as follows:

Part One: Distribution of Funds to Academic Programs and the University Budget.

An amount equal to 70% of the revenue generated through inclusion of tuition charges on grants and contracts will be placed in a Graduate School Research Foundation account.

An amount equal to 30% of the revenue generated through inclusion of tuition charges on grants and contracts will be available for distribution to meet other University needs.

Part Two: Allocation of Funds to Support Academic Units

Released funds placed in a Graduate School IFR account will largely be used to support the graduate programs that generated these revenues through their contract and grant efforts. A smaller portion will be directed to support the needs of graduate students in other academic units on campus. These funds will be allocated as follows.

25% of the released funds will be used by the Graduate School to support recruitment efforts, Graduate Scholars awards, and/or provide other support to full-time graduate students enrolled in any of our academic programs.

75% of the released funds will be allocated to support graduate students in the programs that generated these funds. These allocations will be made on a proportional basis, that is, each unit will get an allocation proportional to their overall contribution to the entire pool of revenues. The funds allocated to academic units will be allocated on an annual basis. These funds are explicitly intended to support graduate students only. Toward this goal, academic units must use these funds in one of two ways.

• First, the funds may be used to support graduate students through the Graduate Scholars program. This program allows the awarding of fellowships to graduate students in recognition of their academic performance. These fellowships are not awarded with any expectation or requirements for services in exchange for the fellowship Award.
• Second, the academic unit may use these funds to support RPA assistantship appointments. These appointments may be for either a single semester or the entire academic year.

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Policy Regarding Eligibility of Grant-Supported RPAs for Tuition Scholarships

Graduate students paid as Research Project Assistants (RPAs) for the academic year may receive a tuition scholarship when their stipends meet the minimum standards established by the Graduate School, and when the grant or contract provided tuition funds to the University (or had this tuition requirement waived). All tuition scholarships provided to graduate Research Project Assistants (RPAs) are paid via the Graduate School's tuition scholarship allocation; thus, all RPAs must meet all Graduate School terms and conditions in order to receive a tuition scholarship. These terms are outlined below.

All tuition scholarship recipients:

1. must register full time (9 or 12 credits depending on Level).
2. must have a minimum graduate GPA of 3.0.
3. must not have any Incompletes; and no Withdrawns while on a tuition scholarship
4. must be in satisfactory academic standing with their graduate program
5. must apply for NY State residency immediately upon enrollment unless they are on international visas.
6. may receive no more than 4 semesters of tuition scholarship as a master's student; may receive no more than 12 semesters of tuition scholarship as a doctoral student if they arrived at Binghamton with a bachelor's degree; no more than 8 semesters of tuition scholarship as a doctoral student if they have a master's degree.
7. must sign and return to the Graduate School the Terms and Conditions for Acceptance of Tuition Scholarship form before a tuition scholarship can be awarded.

Tuition scholarships:

1. do not cover undergraduate courses, audited courses, or physical education courses
2. do not cover student fees

**Since RPAs are not limited in the number of semesters they can be employed as an RPA, there may be instances when a grant budget includes tuition for an individual who has received more than the maximum allowable semesters of tuition scholarships. In that case, the Principal Investigator should contact Sponsored Funds Administration to request that the funds included in the budget for tuition to cover such an RPA be paid directly to the Office of Student Accounts rather than distributed according to the existing cost-sharing agreement. Where possible, the RPA should be advised to register full time. However, when the total tuition collected is less than the actual tuition costs for full time registration, the RPA may be permitted to register for less than full time status (i.e., less than 9 or 12 credits, based on level) assuming this would not violate any visa requirements that may be applicable.