Merit Tuition Waivers

Merit waivers are awarded to recruit and retain students and to help students graduate in a timely manner.

Colleges, schools and programs are allocated a limited number of merit University tuition waiver hours that they may award to competitively selected graduate students who are not supported by regular assistantships, fellowships or other waiver programs.

Students interested in seeking merit waivers should contact their program for information concerning application procedures.

The following guidelines apply to merit waivers:

• Merit waivers must be awarded only to students who have been admitted to a degree program and who are in good standing in their program.
• Academic programs may only award waivers to their own students. Exceptions require permission from the Office of Graduate Education and Life.
• Programs should generally not provide merit waivers to full-time students for more than 3 years for master’s degrees and 5 years for doctoral degrees.
• Merit waiver awards can range from 1 to 9 hours (full-time). University tuition is also waived for hours taken above the full-time limit if a full-time award is made.
• Students may register for more hours than their merit waiver award. They will be invoiced for the additional hours unless they have been granted a full-time waiver.
• Merit University tuition waivers cannot be used for students who are enrolled in certificate programs.

Submitting merit waiver forms

• A waiver form must be submitted for each student by the program that provides the waiver.