Need help understanding stipend

[waitinginvain?]

Hi everyone! I'm happy to say I've been accepted into an MFA program, and have been given a TA-ship. From what I can tell, my TA-ship will just about cover my tuition for the whole year. But, according to student accounts, I owe $2758 for the fall semster alone! I think they're confused because my funds haven't been disbursed yet. Nevertheless, the amount of money I'll receive seems to vary depending on the source. Maybe someone with a more logical mind can tell me what's going on? Specifically, why was my stipend reduced from $5850 to $5002? Thank you for your help.

Here's the information from the letter sent with the offer:

"The School of Theatre and Film is pleased to offer you a position as a teaching assistant (TA) for the

academic year 2012-13. This is a quartentime appointment with a compensatory stipend of $5,850. This

appointment begins August 6, 2012 and ends May 12, 2013. Classes begin on 8/23/2012 and end on

5/18/2013. Stipends are paid bi-weekly; your first pay date will be August 24, 2012.

The university covers a portionI of the tuition costs for TASIRAS with .25-.49 FTE appointrnents. The

estimated tuition oost for students enrolling in 7 or more hours is $2,127 per semester. Please note that this

value reflects the current tuition rate and is subject to change for 2012/13."

This is posted on my account online:

Award Summary Category Offered Accepted Disbursed RA/TA Remission

RA/TA Remission Waiver $5,002.00 N/A $0.00 Academic Year Total $5,002.00 $5,002.00

$0.00

[Eigen]

I'm guessing fees are also factoring in there.

That said, this is something you should ask your program, not us.

[waitinginvain?]

The person in my program sent me to student accounts, who suggested I talk to the person in my program. : (

[Eigen]

So go back to the person in your program.

[waitinginvain?]

Thanks for your kind response.

[comp12]

Seems tuition is waived for those employed at a .25 workload (meaning 25 percent of, usually full time meaning 40 hour work week)) or higher. The letter you pasted doesn't specify how much your workload is.

[Eigen]

I don't know what problem you had with my response, it was solid advice.

The runaround between administrative departments is common, the solution is to keep with it. If one person refers you to another, who refers you back, then go back to the original person and tell them you got sent back. The sooner the better, usually. It puts pressure on them to take care of it.

And usually, your department is the one who has more "ownership" of an issue with their students- if you go back to them, they'll either need to send you to someone else, or call and find out for you.

You're asking a question that is impossible for anyone here to answer- someone could have put the numbers on your account wrong, you could not be showing up as full time, there could be additional fees that aren't counted as part of a tuition waiver, there could be tax deducted from your stipend, etc. None of us can tell you that. The only people who can are the people on your campus who are actually dealing with it.

But my guess from looking over it, is that (a) tuition increased, meaning that you'll owe 2758 rather than the 2127 they estimated, and ( that the reduction from 5850 to 5002 is from tax deductions, which about fits for the 15% reduction in the form of withholdings.But again, no one other than someone in your school or program can tell you for sure.

Or, you're misreading the statement, and the 5002 isn't connected to your 5850 stipend at all, but is rather the portion of your tuition that the school is paying for the fall, leaving you with another 2758 to cover yourself. Rarely do stipends appear in online statements of account, they'll appear as paychecks over the semester. Which mean's it's just (a) from the options above- makes sense given the trends to increased tuition, coupled with the fact that they say 2172 was last years cost, but that it might increase for 2012-13.

[kaguyahime]

It seems as though we might not have enough info here, but I'll wade in anyways.

This is only from my own experience but:

In general, "compensatory stipend" and "fee remission" are two different things.

Stipend = your pay for being a TA.

Fee remission = the department is covering your fees.

So the total amount of aid you are getting according to the information you have provided is $5850 in stipend + $5002 in fee remission.

(Total aid from department = $10852)

Full cost for attendance is always tuition + fees (this can be health center fees, etc.)

They say that tuition alone is around $2127.

So it seems that tuition + fees comes out to $2758.

Out of this $2758, they are covering $2501 per semester (half of $5002).

You will be responsible for paying the additional $257 per semester.

If you are receiving a bill for $2728, this is because your department has not yet processed your paperwork and the billing department does not yet know that you are receiving a fee remission.

When they do know about it, your balance will be adjusted accordingly.

So don't worry about that too much, unless the tuition payment deadline is coming up soon.

Sometimes you are charged for paying late, so if it's soon, I'd talk to whoever it is in your department that processes the paperwork and find out when they will be getting it done.

(edited to add some figures I overlooked)

Edited July 30, 2012 by kaguyahime

[comp12]

I agree to just simply check back with the graduate administrator at the department. It shouldn't be difficult to clear up.

Also - yes, to partially reiterate what others have said: your stipend was not reduced from $5850 to $5002. The $5850 will be paid to you bi-weekly over the course of your engagement. (It is unclear from the wording whether the $5850 is per-quarter/semester or total.) The $5002 amount is the the tuition remission. kaguyahime's guestimates seem pretty good on how the numbers are stacking up. Again, your department should be the one to clear it up for you. As for why the $2728 is appearing in your account, yes many systems do post these bills onto the account first and then apply the credits, so most likely this is a paperwork processing time. But again, your department/school is the authorative source on this.

[waitinginvain?]

Sorry, Eigen. You were right about contacting the people in my program again. I went back to the university to student accounts (a second time), who sent me to the graduate college office, who sent me to a person in my department, who suggested I go back to the graduate college office! When I told her they sent me to her, she looked into the matter. It turns out college tution is more than $5500 per semester. My TA-ship will pay $2500 of that. So, with fees, I owe $2758. She couldn't explain why the letter said tuition was $2,127 per semester. So, based on that erroneous information, nobody on this forum could have helped me. But thank you all for trying! I appreciate the help.

[Eigen]

Glad it worked out!

But just to clarify, the letter didn't say tuition was 2127. It said last years tuition was 2127, but this year it might be higher.