Assistantship includes tuition waiver, but not out-of-state fees

[Bennet]

I received an assistantship from my #1 school, which I'm very excited about, except that now I've discovered that their tuition waiver does not cover the out-of-state fee of $755 per credit hour. This is a huge obstacle because I have another in-state school that has a tuition waiver that would cover everything, so I wouldn't be thousands of dollars in debt if I chose to attend that school. However, the in-state school is my last choice, and the out-of-state is my first.

I know that if you get a better offer from one school over another, you can try to negotiate, but is it possible to negotiate out-of-state fees? I don't want to reply to my assistantship offer with humble thanks and then throw in there a request to waive or diminish the out-of-state cost when there's nothing they can do, and therefore seem ungrateful for my assistantship offer.

Advice/suggestions?

[see_bella]

As far as I know (including personal experience, friends' experience, and from working at different universities) university fees can't be waived. Its all these fees that the entire student body carries like technology fee, library fee, transportation fee, etc to cover the cost of student services. Its not something you can negotiate. Its either you get tuition and fee waiver like at your last choice school or a tuition waver only (and pay university fees) which is most common in grad school. When I did my masters I had the tuition waiver and had to pay the university fees, per credit hour as you said.

So you may have to decide whats most important to you: going to your first choice and carrying a loan to pay the fees OR going to your last choice.

[ImGrumpy]

Please call and check this out unless your acceptance letter specifically said those won't be covered. Many Universities give instate tuition for TA and RA as well specific fellowships.

[turkeyteacher]

I agree with ImGrumpy. You can often take a look at the policies written out in the Registrar. They usually have broader reaching rules for Assistantships and out-of-state funding, especially if you are working 20 hours (for most schools, this is the magic # for out-of-state). I would look on the Registrar's/Financial Aid's websites and see if the school has a policy on TA hours and residency waivers.

Hope that helps.