Meaning of an Offer

[m.giugno]

Hi guys!

I received an offer, I'm a non-resident applicant and in the letter it is stated:

"This offer is considered a 12 month, half time appointment, and makes you eligible for medical insurance; plus, resident tuition will be paid for you. The assistantship saves you from paying the nonresident tuition ($6600 or more per year). Instead you are charged resident tuition and your advisor pays this for you (up to 9 hrs each fall/spring semester or 6 hrs Summer."

What does this phrase mean?

Do I need to pay some kind/partial tuition or not? It's unclear!

Please help

[theatrehippie]

They are only charging resident tuition on your behalf, and your advisor pays for the resident tuition. You don't need to pay any tuition.

[runonsentence]

Hi guys!

I received an offer, I'm a non-resident applicant and in the letter it is stated:

"This offer is considered a 12 month, half time appointment, and makes you eligible for medical insurance; plus, resident tuition will be paid for you. The assistantship saves you from paying the nonresident tuition ($6600 or more per year). Instead you are charged resident tuition and your advisor pays this for you (up to 9 hrs each fall/spring semester or 6 hrs Summer."

What does this phrase mean?

Do I need to pay some kind/partial tuition or not? It's unclear!

Please help

Congratulations on your offer!

Like theatrehippie said, it looks like the department is covering the difference between the in-state tuition rate (covered by the university/grad school) and the out-of-state rate. Most states let you apply for residency after having lived there for a year (maybe sometimes less?), so just be sure to look into making yourself officially a resident when you get there, in case they don't continue covering the difference year to year. This is something that I was asked to do by my department.

Also, not sure if it was part of your original question, but "half time appointment" means that you'll be working 20 hours a week—standard for a grad assistantship.

[m.giugno]

They are only charging resident tuition on your behalf, and your advisor pays for the resident tuition. You don't need to pay any tuition.

I hope so! Is that a normal way of offer assistantship? It sound strange to me that they split my coverage..

[mistborn]

I hope so! Is that a normal way of offer assistantship? It sound strange to me that they split my coverage..

first of all congratulations! on your admission as well as your assistantship. it is pretty standard. they reduced your tuition to resident-status level tuition and then your prof pays it for you, provided you still work for 20 hrs a week (1/2 time, full time would be 40 hrs/week) and you're also kind of limited to the amount of courses you can take each semester, no more than 9 hrs during fall/spring and no more than 6 during summer.

good luck, hope you enjoy graduate school!

[newms]

Sounds like a great offer actually, congratulations! As others have said you'll be assessed tuition at the residential rate - which you won't be paying since your advisor's funds will pay it. The half-time appointments usually means that the assistantship is equivalent to a 20 hour/week job (although the amount of time you work per week will probably vary). A full-time appointment would have been equivalent to a full time 40 hour/week job. Good luck!