Policies & Resources

November 2002
Office of the Provost

A new program intended to cover the tuition assistance for Doctoral Graduate Research Assistants will begin in Spring 2003. This program is supported by $750,000 from funds made available through the tuition enhancement implemented this fall. If costs exceed the $750,000 available, the program will be curtailed or limited to only those funds available. The office of the Provost reserves the right to curtail the program.

The tuition assistance program is intended to enhance the research training in doctoral programs on the Lawrence campus. For sponsored research projects, grants and contracts, the principal investigator is expected to write the full cost of tuition into all grants and contracts. Therefore, it is expected that all tuition and fees will be paid by the agency or industry sponsor.

Current Graduate Research Assistants

Conditions for tuition assistance
The payment of tuition for graduate research assistants enrolled in doctoral degree programs on the Lawrence campus will be granted when the following conditions are met:

1. When the source of support for a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) is from externally funded projects, e.g., NIH, NSF, or DOE, or when the source of support for the GRA is the General Research Fund (GRF), the GRA is eligible for tuition assistance if the funding agency as policy will not allow funding of the tuition as an item in the grant budget or if the funding agency has declined to fund tuition. The externally funded grants that include support for graduate research assistants must be awarded on a competitive basis. The University reserves the right to review grants from foundations on a case by case basis to determine whether the grants are made under the same rigorous standards as used by NSF and NIH. GRA's supported from commercial entities are expected to have their tuition funded by the awarding entity.

2. For research training grants, e.g. the NIH National Research Service Awards program, the amount of tuition assistance will be only for that amount of the tuition not covered by the training grant.

3. It is expected that the support of a graduate research assistant through endowment funds will include the cost of tuition.

4. Since this is a new program, all graduate research assistants who are appointed at least 40% and who are supported by externally funded grants and contracts, GRF funds or research training grants will be immediately eligible for tuition support. However, if not already budgeted, the full cost of tuition for graduate research assistants must be included in all future proposals, renewals, and contracts as part of the proposal budget.

5. In addition, the salary compensation for a graduate research assistant must be the greater of either the minimum compensation for a GTA as given in the 2002 Memorandum of Agreement or the average Graduate Teaching Assistant compensation in disciplines or graduate programs where both types of appointments exist.

6. Raising the compensation of a GRA to cover tuition will not be permitted.

Eligibility requirements for payment of tuition.

The primary target for this assistance is a graduate student seeking a doctoral degree in a doctoral granting department. The "student must be admitted to and enrolled in a graduate program during the [period covered by the tuition assistance]......The research performed for the GRA appointment must be in the student's field of study or a related field."# Students seeking a master's degree in a doctoral degree program will also be considered if they intend to pursue the doctoral degree after completing their master's degree.

1. The maximum number of semesters of tuition assistance as a GRA and/or GTA in a doctoral program cannot exceed 10 semesters and up to 5 summer sessions.

2. A full time graduate research assistant is required to enroll in 6 hours with a 50% appointment or 7 hours with a 40% appointment for the entire academic semester session.* Enrollment should not exceed 12 credit hours in a given semester. For the summer session, graduate research assistants should enroll in no fewer than 3 hours and no more than 6 credit hours. After completion of the comprehensive examination and all other Graduate School and departmental requirements for candidacy to the doctoral degree and upon completion of eighteen post-comprehensive graduate credit hours, graduate research assistants may enroll in one graduate credit hour to be eligible for GRA tuition assistance.

3. The student must be in good standing in the doctoral degree program.

4. The GRA appointment must be appropriate to the degree program in which the student is enrolled.

Support for new doctoral graduate student assistants.

In addition to providing tuition assistance for existing Graduate Research Assistants, the tuition funds will also provide full tuition support for a limited number of new first year full time graduate student assistants or graduate student fellows. The tuition support will be restricted to PhD-eligible first year students during their first full year of graduate study. Up to 30 tuition awards are anticipated for the first year of this initiative with as many as 10 additional awards per year. The total amount of the awards given each semester is contingent on available financial resources.

Departments may nominate up to two entering graduate students for one-year, full tuition assistance. Nominations should be submitted to the Dean of Graduate School, 308 Strong Hall. The Graduate School will have three priority deadlines for nominations:

Fall semester: January 31^st, March 1^st, April 15^th
Spring semester: November 1^st
Summer session: April 15^th

Nominations for tuition support will not be accepted after April 15^th for the fall semester and Summer Session and November 1^st for the spring semester.

Nomination qualifications & materials