New graduate tuition support programs developed

From a UNT News Service press release

The Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies will implement three premier programs for funding graduate tuition, which will provide some level of tuition support beginning in Fall 2007 for all UNT graduate students who meet basic qualifications.

"This is a major step toward increasing UNT's competitiveness for quality graduate students and elevating our image and reputation as a research institution," Graduate School Dean Sandra Terrell says. "Implementation of these programs is great news, but there is more to come and much more to do before all full-time graduate students on assistantships or Graduate School Fellowships are fully funded."

The new programs are:

• the Graduate Tuition Surcharge Grant
• the Graduate Research Assistant Tuition Scholarship
• the Toulouse Doctoral Fellow Tuition Scholarship.

To qualify for the programs, students must be:

• admitted to a UNT graduate degree program
• enrolled full-time (nine semester credit hours in long semesters and six semester credit hours during the summer)
• employed as at least a quarter-time research assistant, teaching assistant, teaching fellow or graduate assistant — or recipient of a Toulouse Doctoral Fellowship award
• in good academic standing while making progress toward their degree.

For students who qualify, the Graduate Student Surcharge Grants will pay the required $50 surcharge above undergraduate tuition for each graduate semester credit hour they have enrolled to take.

Under the Graduate Research Assistant Tuition Scholarship, the graduate school will cover tuition and mandatory fees (excluding course-specific fees) for graduate students who receive research assistantships created by the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering. Students selected for these assistantships will have three years of support from their colleges.

Finally, for recipients of the $20,000 Toulouse Doctoral Fellowship, the graduate school will provide a Toulouse Doctoral Fellow Tuition Scholarship. This scholarship brings $3,000 in tuition support for the first year of the student's doctoral work. During the second and third years, when the Toulouse Doctoral Fellow is receiving assistantship support from the department, the scholarship will pay tuition and mandatory fees (excluding course-specific fees).

Funding for these programs is coming from a $1 million allocation in the current fiscal year budget and a $1 million allocation in next year's budget — that begins in September 2007.

Graduate students enrolling in Fall 2007 will be the first to benefit from the new tuition funding programs.

Currently, graduate enrollment (officially at 6,845 students for the 2006-07 academic year) accounts for more than 20 percent of UNT's total student population. The university offers 111 master's degree programs and 50 doctoral programs.

UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Roddy Wolper (940) 565-2943
Email: rwolper@unt.edu

Read other stories in this issue:

• President's Note
• Our condolences to Virginia Tech
• Participate in our Alumni Directory
• Moving Forward: UNT develops new graduate tuition support programs
• PBS documentary series features groundbreaking work at UNT
• Faculty Focus: Brian Richardson
• UNT Traditions: University Mace
• Featured Link: Matching Gifts
• Exes strive to help you get your green easier