Coterm Tuition, Assistantships and Funding
Approaching Coterminal Funding
It is important that you understand coterm tuition assessment, as it has implications on academic policy and assistantship funding.
While it is possible for coterms to matriculate directly into the graduate tuition group, while you remain in the undergraduate tuition group, any units applicable to the graduate career are not assessed any additional fees.
In general, coterm students in Undergraduate Billing Group may enroll in 12-20 units total. These units may be allocated across both careers or only one career. You are not required to enroll in units on the graduate career once the graduate transcript opens, though individual programs may have their own enrollment requirements.
Students in the Graduate Billing Group have two full-time enrollment options. If both the undergraduate and graduate careers are open, you may also distribute these units across both careers or put all units on one or the other.
It is easy to check your tuition group on your transcript.
See the FAQs for more billing/tuition information.
Funding Opportunities for Coterminal Graduate Students
Graduate programs rarely fund coterminal students via merit based scholarships or fellowships. Unlike for undergraduates, there are no need based scholarships via graduate financial aid. Graduate financial aid for coterms is loans. Most coterms with “funding” are working as graduate assistants.
Assistantship Information
There are three types of graduate assistantships: course assistantships, teaching assistantships, and research assistantship. Coterms with graduate assistantships are typically working for their academic departments, though not all programs have graduate assistantship opportunities available for coterms. It is possible to be hired for a position outside your program, but this is less common, as most do not have a surplus number of position. Please note that graduate assistants need to be in the graduate tuition group. Graduate Assistants work a set number of hours weekly and are paid both a salary (can be used for housing) and also receive a tuition allowance. Assistantships can be full (referred to as 50%) or partial. A full, 50% graduate assistantship is when you work for the maximum 20 hours per week and enroll in 8-10 units maximum per term. The 50% assistantship will cover all tuition for 8-10 units in addition to the salary. More details can be found in graduate academic policies and procedures.
Dean’s Office Financial Support for Engineering Coterms
Priority consideration for need-based applications. Students apply for partial fellowship funding for the next academic year.
Coterm funding opportunity database
This is a database of funding opportunities applicable to support graduate study for coterm students. Opportunities are listed by criteria related to field, individual background and field, and individual background. There is also a tab for potential funding sources for individual graduate research. This is a resource to get you started when looking for external funding and is by no means comprehensive or exhaustive.
Graduate Student Support Programs
There are largely available to coterms no longer eligible for any kind of undergraduate aid, including undergraduate loans. These programs offer financial support for needs beyond tuition and include the graduate housing loan which is interest free while enrolled and for a time after enrollment ends, the graduate student aid fund, the graduate family grant program, and other opportunities available by application.