May 1, 2001
TO: Deans,
Department Chairs, and Graduate Program Directors
FROM: Ronald
Rogers
SUBJECT: GRADUATE ASSISTANT TUITION AWARDS – FALL 2001
AND SPRING 2002
1.0
General – Both In- and Out-of-State
This year the Graduate Council addressed several issues that affect
graduate students and assistantships.
(1)
Students
with conditional admission to a graduate degree program are now eligible to
hold any type of graduate assistantship. Thus, departments may award a
teaching, research, or administrative assistantship to a student with regular or
conditional admission without seeking special permission from the Graduate
Dean.
(2)
A
conditionally admitted student whose graduate GPA falls below 3.0 at any time
during his or her conditional status will not be allowed to hold a teaching
assistantship; however, he or she may hold a research assistantship.
(3)
Conditionally
and unconditionally (regularly) admitted students will not be placed on
academic warning (formerly called probation) until after at least 12 semester
hours have been completed with an overall graduate GPA of less than 3.0. (Under
the previous policy, unconditionally admitted students could go on academic
warning as early as after completing the first 6 hours.)
(4)
The
Council reaffirmed the policy that the following may not hold graduate
assistantships: (a) students in nondegree status; and (b) students on academic
warning. Only graduate students are allowed to hold graduate assistantships.
Students who have not yet earned a baccalaureate, even if they are
participating in programs such as the University Scholars Program, are not
allowed to hold graduate assistantships.
(5)
Students
who have provisional language admission are eligible to hold externally funded
research assistantships, but may not take graduate classes and may not hold any
type of teaching assistantship or internally funded research assistantship
until the language provision has been removed.
1.1 The
award of an assistantship of 0.50 FTE or greater that is funded as a permanently
budgeted Graduate Teaching, Research, or Administrative Assistantship entitles
the student to an award equal to the cost of in- and out-of-state tuition for
the semester appointed. In order to
qualify, each student must be (1) admitted as a degree candidate, (2) enrolled
in Graduate or Law School, and (3) have a signed memorandum of appointment on
file.
1.2 If the assistantship is less than 0.50 FTE, the award is
reduced proportionately. For example, a
student with 0.25 FTE is entitled to half of the award. Schedule 2 summarizes the amount of in-state
tuition payable by the university for different levels of FTE and
residency. The maximum award available
for the fall and spring semesters will be $1,507 for in-state students
and $4,081
for out-of-state students (based upon academic year 2000/2001 rates – subject
to change during annual budgeting process)
1.3 Out-of-state tuition
support will only be awarded to students where the assistantship is for 0.25
FTE or greater.
1.4 Schedule 3 lists colleges with authorized permanently budgeted
assistantships, the total number of 0.50 FTE appointments, and the maximum
dollar value of the semester tuition grants.
Permanently budgeted funds are held on “2” account budget lines. The Graduate School will not approve any
requests in excess of these limits unless separate authorization has been
obtained from Academic Affairs.
1.5 Where an assistantship of 0.25 FTE or greater is paid from
sponsored research funds, then the student will be entitled to an award for the
out-of-state portion of the tuition charge if the funding agency will not
approve out-of-state tuition payment.
The “Special Request for Out-of-State Tuition Award” form should be
forwarded to the Office of the Contract Accounting for certification. In-state tuition charges will have to be met
either from the temporary funds, sponsored funds, or other departmental
budgets.
1.6 No award is available if the assistantship is connected with
auxiliary or self-supporting activities or is paid from state line items.
1.7 Students
paid on an hourly basis cannot be supported under these arrangements.
1.8 All non-native speakers of English must successfully complete
the University’s International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP) before they
can hold a teaching assistantship (category 4005 and 4401 occupation codes).
2.0 Key Dates
2.1 For graduate assistants to have their fall tuition accounts
cleared by the Office of Student Receivables before the initial bills are
mailed, all tuition award forms must be forwarded to reach the Graduate School
by June 29, 2001. All forms not
requiring Graduate School approval must be forwarded to Student Receivables by July
6, 2001. For spring semester 2002
the dates are provisionally set for October 26, 2001 (Graduate School)
and November 2, 2001 (Student Receivables).
3.0 Forms
3.1 Several forms have been revised, updated, and improved -
please use these enclosed new forms to request tuition awards under these
arrangements. Electronic versions of these forms can be copied from the
Graduate School website at www.ua.edu/graduate/assistantship.
3.2 The “Teaching Assistants” form (Schedule 4) is used for
all assistants who will be teaching classes in any form or fashion during the
fall semester. Please ensure that each
student who is included on this form is entitled to teach according to the
SACS’ requirements, in particular the academic qualifications. For each student, you must ensure that the
SACS rules are satisfied. You may use
the flow charts on Schedules 5 and 6 to assist in determining which form to
use.
3.3 When completing these forms, please ensure that you note
whether or not the student satisfied the 18-hour rule by recording the fact in
the last column. If the student does
not satisfy the rule, then the student CANNOT have primary responsibility for
teaching and may only assist an instructor of record.
3.4 Both the Dean and the Dept. Head or Program Director must sign
the Teaching Assistants form.
3.5 The “Research, Administrative, & Other Assistants”
form (Schedule 7) is used for all other assistants who are not teaching.
3.6 Either the Dean or the Department/Program Head may sign the
Research, Administrative, & Other Assistantships form.
3.7 Where the student is approved under a permanently budgeted
assistantship only these forms are required; you do not have to complete a
separate out-of-state tuition form as the student receivable system will
automatically calculate the appropriate tuition award based upon the student’s
residency.
3.8 The “Contract and Grant Tuition and Fees” form
(Schedule 8) is used for graduate assistants, both teaching and research, who
are appointed under any funds paid from “5” or “6” accounts. The same SACS rules apply for teaching
assistants. These forms are prepared by
departments and approved initially by Contracts and Grants Accounting
office. This authorizes payment of
tuition awards from the relevant budget code.
Please contact the Contracts and Grants Accounting office for further
information.
3.9 The “Special Request for Out-of-State Tuition Award”
form (Schedule 9). As indicated above,
for students approved under a permanently budgeted assistantship, these forms
are no longer required. They are
however still required for the following:
·
A
student who is being supported by a department from a non-permanent budget line
for in-state tuition.
·
A
student who qualifies for Academic Common Market support.
·
Students
sponsored under the Capstone International Program Center and whom the Office
approves for Academic Affairs.
·
Law
School sponsored students.
·
National
Student Exchange Program students approved by the NSE Coordinator
4.0 Special Situations
4.1 Departmental awards may be made where budget is
available. The appropriate tuition
awards forms must be completed and forwarded to the Graduate School including
the account code for charging the in-state tuition award.
4.2 Graduate students paid from restricted funds, self-supporting
budgets, or budgets of auxiliary activities are not eligible for out-of-state
tuition awards under this program.
4.3 Graduate assistants whose appointments are terminated before
the end of the academic semester are eligible for reduced tuition awards as
shown in Schedule 10.
If you have any questions
concerning tuition awards for the fall and spring semesters, please contact Mr.
John Chambers at the Graduate School office on 8-8282. This memo and its
contents are displayed on the Graduate School’s website under Administrative
Updates.
RR/JEC/jc