Tuition Waiver vs. "Supplement"

[karamazov]

Is anyone here familiar with how exactly a tuition "supplement" differs from a tuition waiver? While I understand a graduate program's guarantee of a tuition waiver to mean that the student does not pay the university's tuition, I'm not sure if a "supplement" equates to this or not. The program (University of SC - Columbia) does note that they offer stipends, which suggests that tuition would be covered*, but they also say students receive in-state tuition status, which doesn't seem relevant unless that cost actually needs to be paid out of pocket. Does anyone have experience with this? I know that funding packages offered by public schools, especially those with lower rankings, can be lackluster compared to those of shiny, upper-tier private schools, but the lack of even a tuition waiver seems a bit much. I would also think they wouldn't advertise the want of such basic funding on the program's FAQ. But, then again, their mention of in-state tuition status suggests tuition might be at least partially covered by the student. Should I contact the department about this or should I not concern myself too much about it until I actually have an acceptance (with, presumably, a more explicit funding package) in hand? 

Thanks in advance. 

*If the department offers money to the grad student in the form of a stipend, I would assume that the tuition payment is covered. If a student gets a stipend but not a tuition waiver, their stipend money would just go toward paying tuition, anyway, so why would the university give them money that will just be returned in the form of tuition?

Edited August 9, 2019 by karamazov

[Glasperlenspieler]

14 hours ago, karamazov said:

but they also say students receive in-state tuition status, which doesn't seem relevant unless that cost actually needs to be paid out of pocket.

It may not matter to you, but it does matter to the department. Typically when someone gets a tuition waiver, that doesn't mean the tuition is written off by the university. Rather, it means the tuition is counted as an expense for the department rather than for the student (but then the university will often fund the department in accordance with how many grad students they have, among other things. It's a very strange system). So, if you fail to obtain in-state residency in a timely manner, it will cost the department extra money/mean that they have less expendable income to admit more students or spend on other things. I obviously can't speak for every department, but in my department, your tuition will still be waived if you don't obtain residency (foreign nationals, for instance, typically aren't eligible for in-state residency) but if you could obtain it and haven't, the departmental administrator will certainly be on you ass about it.

You should certainly get clarification on the funding package, but it's probably not super necessary until you've been accepted. In this case though, I guess it wouldn't hurt to shoot them a quick email asking them to clarify whether tuition is waived since it doesn't explicitly say so on the website. 

[karamazov]

On 8/9/2019 at 2:05 PM, Glasperlenspieler said:

It may not matter to you, but it does matter to the department. Typically when someone gets a tuition waiver, that doesn't mean the tuition is written off by the university. Rather, it means the tuition is counted as an expense for the department rather than for the student (but then the university will often fund the department in accordance with how many grad students they have, among other things. It's a very strange system). So, if you fail to obtain in-state residency in a timely manner, it will cost the department extra money/mean that they have less expendable income to admit more students or spend on other things.

That makes a lot of sense. I hadn't thought about that before. Thank you! 

I'll probably wait to see if I'm accepted before contacting them. Thanks again for the response.