Tuition, Fees, and Funding

Fellowships are monetary awards that students use to pursue graduate studies. In general, fellowships require no work obligations on the part of the recipient.

Campus Fellowships: Merit-based campus and departmental fellowships are sometimes awarded to UW–Madison graduate students by their graduate programs. To inquire about eligibility and application procedures, students must contact their graduate program.

External Fellowships: Many federal agencies, professional organizations, and private foundations provide fellowships for students pursuing graduate studies. Students are encouraged to look for and apply for external fellowships, and to understand the unique terms and conditions of each fellowship for which they apply. The Graduate School supports a number of federal/private fellowships through the provision of tuition support and health insurance. If students are awarded one of these fellowships, they should contact the UW–Madison Fellowship Officer at funding@grad.wisc.edu.

International Fellowships: The Institute for Regional and International Studies serves as a resource center and provides information and support to faculty, students, and staff interested in identifying international research grants, scholarships, and other funding opportunities, including programs sponsored by Fulbright, National Security Education Program (Boren Scholarship), HEA (Higher Education Act), Title VI-FLAS (Foreign Languages and Area Studies), and other program competitions. Questions about funding for international research should be directed to the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS).

For further information on fellowships, visit the Graduate School’s Funding Information webpage.

See Enrollment Requirements, International Students Maintaining Legal Status, Maximum Levels of Appointments, Tuition Remission, Payroll Benefits for Graduate Assistants, Fellows, and Trainees

Students are responsible for learning about and complying with campus deadlines. Failure to meet deadlines for enrollment, payment of fees, changing courses or credits, and receiving a degree can cost time, money, or both. The Office of the Registrar’s Enrollment Deadlines page lists enrollment, fee payment, and course change deadlines. Visit the Graduate School’s Degree Deadlines page for more information about the deadlines for achieving dissertator status or receiving a degree in any given semester.

Graduate students should note that Graduate School deadlines do not necessarily correspond to undergraduate enrollment deadlines. Refer to the Office of the Registrar’s Enrollment Deadlines for detailed and specific enrollment and refund deadlines and dates.

See Add/Drop, Course Changes, Pass/Fail, Withdrawal

Concurrent appointments describes a situation where a graduate student holds multiple appointments as a fellow, trainee, and/or graduate assistant. Federal agencies and non-federal donors often place restrictions on the amount of work in which an awardee may engage, or on additional stipends an awardee may receive. In addition, the university has a concurrent appointment policy that places limits on multiple appointments for fellows or trainees.

Whenever assistantships (RA, TA, or PA) are combined with fellowships or traineeships, total compensation cannot exceed the department’s full-time RA rate that was reported to the Graduate School for the current year (fellowship/traineeship + assistantship = total compensation). The list of approved program rates can be found on the Graduate Assistantships webpage, under “Assistantship stipends by program”.

The concurrent appointment policy for fellows/trainees can be found here in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Policy for Supplementation and Concurrent Appointments for Graduate Students Holding Predoctoral Fellowships or Traineeships.

See Maximum Levels of Appointments

Project/Program Assistants (PAs), Research Assistants (RAs), and Teaching Assistants (TAs), fellows, and trainees who hold at least a 33.33% appointment (or an equivalent) may be eligible for health insurance, vacation, sick leave, and remission of tuition. Students should contact their department/program staff benefits coordinator for details.

Graduate students enrolled in service-based pricing programs, such as online and accelerated programs, are ineligible to receive tuition remission. See a list of UW–Madison academic programs with service-based pricing (NetID login required).

See Enrollment Requirements, Insurance and Medical Benefits, Tuition Remission, Payroll Benefits

Departments/programs determine eligibility for most Teaching Assistantships (TAs), Research Assistantships (RAs), and Project/Program Assistantships (PAs). Other possible university appointments include fellowships, traineeships, reader/grader, and student hourly positions. Students should contact their program for information on how to obtain an assistantship.

More information can be found in the Payroll Benefits appendix.

The Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedures (GAPP) outline employment-related practices for graduate student teaching, research, and project assistants.

See Enrollment Requirements, Fellowships, Maximum Levels of Appointments, Project or Program Assistant (PA), Research Assistant (RA), Teaching Assistant (TA), Traineeships