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TBP Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility & Participation

  • matriculated graduate teaching assistant (TA)
  • graduate research assistant (RA)
  • graduate assistant (GA)
  • graduate fellow (GF)

You must satisfy all eligibility requirements (e.g., registration hours, financial support, service guidelines, etc. as set out in the TBP Guidelines).

Check with your departmental tuition benefit coordinator or director of graduate studies to verify your eligibility and to see whether you were added to the department’s TBP web list.

The departmental TBP coordinator submits this list at the beginning of Fall and Spring semesters. If your name is not on this list for the semester(s) in question, you cannot participate in the TBP for that term(s).

You may be eligible to participate in the TBP if each semester you

  1. receive from University funding a minimum of $6,750 for a 100% benefit, $5,063 for a 75% benefit, or $3,375 for a 50% benefit;
  2. are a matriculated graduate student registered for at least nine credit hours (but no more than 16; TBP covers up to 12 graduate hours for TA’s, GA’s, GF’s, and up to 11 for RA’s);
  3. are a student in good standing, e.g., cumulative GPA of 3.0 (Law School, 2.0);
  4. and have an eligible TBP work assignment not greater than 20 hours weekly (0.5 FTE).

To maintain TBP eligibility, all domestic nonresident students must apply for Utah residency upon completion of 40 graduate level semester credit hours at the University of Utah. Visit the Admissions Office website for details on how to qualify and how to apply for residency reclassifications.

Contact the tuition benefit coordinator in your home department.

You must be entered on your home department’s TBP web list (i.e., the department that accepted you for graduate study as a degree-seeking student).

Yes. Domestic, out-of-state students must apply for Utah residency upon completion of 40 graduate level semester credit hours at the University of Utah.

Visit the Admissions Office website for details on how to qualify and how to apply for residency reclassifications.

Payment

No, repeat courses are excluded from Tuition Benefit coverage.

The course can count toward your total minimum course registration (9 credits), but the program will not pay the tuition for the repeated course.

Undergraduate courses count toward the minimum registration of nine credit hours but do not qualify for a TBP credit.

Graduate students taking graduate courses who

  1. satisfy a supported TBP graduate student eligible category/s,
  2. register for nine credits but not more than 16, 
  3. and comply with the TBP service requirements

will have general graduate tuition and mandatory fees paid at the qualifying TBP percentage for graduate courses.

Students are responsible for payment of tuition for

  • hours over 12 graduate credit hours (or over 11 for Research Assistants),
  • undergraduate hours,
  • audit, contract, activity, or CR/NC courses,
  • special fees,
  • and/or differential tuition.

Nonresident students will be charged the in-state resident tuition rate.

No. The TBP covers general graduate tuition and mandatory (building, activity, computer, etc.) fees for the maximum 12 credit hours (11 for Research Assistants).

Check your student account in Campus Information Services.

Eligible students will receive a conditional tuition credit within six or seven days after the semester begins. Conditional tuition credit is determined using the appropriate percentage calculated from the anticipated dollar amount to be received during the semester. This amount is entered on the TBP web page by your home department.

Students must pay tuition and fees that do not qualify for the TBP (i.e., graduate credits above the 12 TBP eligible hours (11 for Research Assistants), undergraduate, contract, audited, or activity courses, differential tuition beyond the general graduate tuition, etc).

Contact the tuition benefit coordinator in your home department.

Course Registration

The student is responsible to register and to be continuously registered for at least nine credit hours throughout the semester.

To be eligible to participate in the TBP, students must be registered for nine credit hours before the semester’s 15th day of classes.

After the 15th class day, students not registered for the minimum nine credit hours cannot participate in the TBP for that semester.

Students adding and/or dropping credit hours after the last official day to add/drop classes are responsible for paying their tuition.

A student must be registered by the 15th day of the term or eligibility for that semester is foregone.

Each student is assigned a Student ID number by Graduate Admissions when accepted for graduate study at the University of Utah. By using this ID, a student can register for classes via the Internet from anywhere in the world. Therefore, a student should be able to be registered prior to the 15th day of the semester. A student must also satisfy all other eligibility criteria for TBP participation as well.

Yes. At least nine credit hours must be maintained throughout the semester to preserve TBP eligibility.

Situational Examples

No. Whether a student receives a 100%, a 75%, or a 50% tuition benefit during a semester, it counts as using one semester of eligibility.

Example: If a master’s candidate receives a 50% benefit during both Fall and Spring, two semesters of eligibility were used with two semesters of eligibility remaining.

No. A University of Utah graduate student is eligible for a one-time tuition benefit.

At the master’s level, this is four semesters with six additional semesters of TBP support if accepted as a doctoral candidate.

The maximum number of semesters a Ph.D. student entering with a bachelor’s degree may participate in the TBP is 10 semesters or five years.

Exceptions to this rule are:

  • If a student with a master’s degree from another institution is accepted to a U of U doctoral program, the student can receive up to eight instead of six semesters.
  • Certain categories of doctoral students can receive a two semester extension for having taught full-time (0.5 FTE) as a TA for four semesters.

No, if you terminate your PhD program, your eligibility reverts to 4 semesters total. If you have already used those 4, you are not eligible for additional tuition benefit.

Last Updated: 8/17/21