General – All Assistantships and Qualifying Fellowships
Tuition scholarships for graduate assistantships (GA) and qualifying graduate fellowships generally cover just the fall and spring semesters in each academic year. Some fellowships include tuition scholarships which cover summer semester and summer interim terms but only where specified in the fellowship agreement.
Qualifying graduate fellowships are those which pay a stipend at least equal to the UA minimum GA stipend rate for a 0.50 FTE assistantship, provide for tuition or any other benefits in the formal agreement, and are approved by the Graduate School to receive benefits. For example, the GAANN fellowships are designated as qualifying for the same benefits as assistantships.
The amount of tuition scholarship that can be awarded in each of the fall or spring semesters is based on the FTE of the assistantship and is limited to the full time on-campus graduate rate for the semester.
Arrangements for Winter Interim Session
The Graduate School will permit graduate students who hold a spring assistantship or spring qualifying fellowship to take any unused part of their spring tuition scholarship to cover classes in the winter interim session .
The total tuition scholarship for the combined winter interim and spring terms is subject to the same FTE basis of the assistantship and is limited to the full time on-campus graduate rate for just the spring term.
For example, where a graduate student takes 12 hours for the spring 2013 semester and holds a spring graduate assistantship with 0.50 FTE, he will receive full tuition scholarship to cover all of the enrolled hours. As he is registered full time he will use all of his spring tuition scholarship and will not have any surplus to carry over and cover the winter session
If another student has a qualifying fellowship for the spring and takes just 6 hours then she will receive full tuition scholarship for the spring hours. If she registers for 1 hour in the winter interim that additional hour will ALSO be covered by the tuition scholarship.
Terms and Conditions
Only tuition scholarships processed through GA TOPS may take advantage of these special arrangements.
These tuition scholarships do not cover college course fees, college facility/technical fees, or any other similar expenses. For example, those expenses not covered by tuition scholarships include (but are not limited to):
- Activity service fees (where not included in tuition rates)
- Recreation service fees (where not included in tuition rates)
- Athletic privileges (where not included in tuition rates)
- Health Center service fees (where not included in tuition rates)
- International student fees
- Housing and housing-related charges
- Books
- Application fees
- Deferment or late payment fees.
Tuition scholarships may be used to cover the following:
- On-campus graduate classes
- On-campus undergraduate classes (BUT only where these are pre-requisites for a graduate degree program)
- On-line graduate classes (BUT only where the student is taking at least 6 hours of on-campus classes in addition and the on-line classes are required for the degree program)
Students in distance learning degree programs may not hold assistantships and therefore do not receive tuition scholarships.
The awarding of any tuition scholarship is subject to the Graduate School’s academic policies that apply to assistantships and fellowships generally – see “Tuition Policy” on the Graduate School web site at
http://www.graduate.ua.edu/admin/policy/tuition_policy.html and “Tuition Award Regulations” at
http://www.graduate.ua.edu/admin/policy/ga_TuitionAwardRegulations.pdf. These policies also detail how the tuition award varies with the FTE of the assistantship.
John Chambers
Director of Administration
(Document Version 1.-1) 
