Information for Staff & Faculty

Recipients of a university-administered fellowship that is managed by a college, program, or department within the University of Minnesota system are eligible for a Non-Resident Tuition Waiver (NRTW) benefit per University Policy. Please note that non-resident tuition waivers qualify as “other financial assistance (OFA),” and will qualify towards a student’s financial aid package. If you have any questions about how a non-resident tuition waiver will affect a student’s financial aid eligibility, please contact [email protected].

Eligibility requirements for the fellowship:

• Awarded or administered (if award is from an external source) by a unit within the University of Minnesota system
• Minimum fellowship amount required for an NR Waiver in 2024-25 is $8,646/academic year or $4,323/semester
• Minimum fellowship stipend amount is determined by equivalency to the minimum rate for a 25% graduate assistantship per the Graduate and Professional Assistant classification minimum amount list on the Academic Salary Floors document
• Request must be made prior to the term or within the term in which the waiver will be applied

To receive the waiver (or an extension of the waiver), graduate program staff should fill out this Google Form. Please allow up to one week to review requests and apply an NRTW to a student record. Then, tuition calculations are run every Saturday.

Retroactive requests are not accepted. If a department needs to make a retroactive request for an NRTW, the department will fill out a Third Party Billing Authorization Form and provide a chartfield string to charge. Questions about retroactive requests for NRTWs can be directed to [email protected].

NRTWs can be rescinded (removed once applied). However, students should note that if rescinded then they will see a bill for the tuition difference on their student account.

Recipients of university-administered fellowships that are managed by the Graduate School (i.e. IDF, DDF, DOVE, NSF, Ford, GEM, Graduate School Endowed Fellowships) will have the waiver automatically applied. There is no additional documentation needed by the graduate student recipient and/or program. Please refer to the fellowship’s Terms and Conditions for more information.

For fellowships that require program nomination, the program will submit the application materials through Formsite. Below are steps to set up your Formsite account(s) and manage application submission.

1. Create a username/password to upload program nomination(s)
   1. If more than one staff person will be viewing/updating the nomination (e.g. DGS and GPC), be sure to create a username/password that can be shared.
2. In the electronic nomination form, complete the required fields and upload any required documents. Select either SAVE/UPDATE or SUBMIT.
3. SAVE/UPDATE - You will remain in the form and may continue editing.
4. SUBMIT - You will exit the form. A nomination confirmation email will be sent to the DGS and to the support staff indicated on the electronic form.
   1. Both options will save the nomination, overwriting any previously saved/submitted information, and enable Graduate School staff to access the information.
   2. Both options will allow program staff to continue editing the nomination until the application deadline.
   3. Faculty reviewers will not view saved/submitted information until after the nomination deadline.
5. To update existing an existing nomination, log in as “Returning User” to edit.
6. Selecting SAVE/UPDATE button or the SUBMIT button at the bottom of the screen will save your nomination information, overwriting any previous information.

Graduate School Fellowships and Grants are reviewed by a Faculty Review Committee. While a fellowship review can be an intensive time commitment, the benefits of serving on a review committee include gaining a deeper understanding of the purpose of the fellowship and having the privilege to read outstanding applications and selecting award recipients.

The Graduate School invites UMN Faculty who have graduate program membership in one or more UMN Graduate Programs on the Twin Cities, Duluth, and/or Rochester campuses to submit interest in serving on a future fellowship review committee.