NSF GRFP 2012-2013

[georgian]

This may be a bit off topic, but I'm a GRFP at Temple and this year they are refusing to pay for my student fees out of my COE. In the past they always have, as GRFPs are exempt for normal graduate fees. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what did you do about it?

[Eigen]

I would take the department administrator the page from the program guide that says they are required to pay or waive the fees. 

 

Have you asked *why* the policy is changing?

 

Are all the fees mandatory, or are any optional?

[georgian]

Unfortunately, that's who I've been dealing with.

 

She says that since they are paying for fellows health insurance this year out of the COE, they can't pay the fees. Except they have always paid for health insurance for any fellowships, they paid mine last year out of my COE, and even with health insurance and tuition, I'm not using my entire COE. 

 

The fees are mandatory for every student (basically a recreation fee, printing fee, etc). 

[georgian]

It's only $122, so I'm mostly just venting. Doesn't help that I just saw this page detailing how Oregon State treats their fellows. Looks like I went to the wrong school...

 

http://gradschool.oregonstate.edu/finance/nsf-fellows

[juilletmercredi]

The NSF requires the school to top up any additional mandatory fees.  I went through this with my school last year in a slightly different scenario; fortunately we have a great NSF administrator who laid the smack down on my department, lmao.

 

See here: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2011/nsf11050/nsf11050.jsp#a177

 

 

176. am on Tenure; is my GRFP Institution permitted to charge me the difference between the COE and the required tuition and fees?
     No. While on Tenure, Fellows are exempt from paying required tuition and fees normally charged to graduate students of similar academic standing.

177. I am on Tenure; do I pay student fees?
     While on Tenure, Fellows may be required to pay any fees or deposits that are refundable in whole or in part, that are optional (e.g., non-required coursework or tuition at other institutions not considered part of the Fellow's principal program of study), or that were incurred prior to the actual start of Fellowship (e.g., an admission application fee). Fellows are exempt from paying required tuition and fees normally charged to graduate students of similar academic standing.

If the health insurance is mandatory, your university is required to cover it for you.

 

Oh yeah - congratulations to all the Honorable Mention folks who got bumped up to Fellows!  That is AWESOME.  What a nice summer surprise!

Edited August 24, 2013 by juilletmercredi

[Eigen]

So it sounds like you need to go to the PI on your fellowship, who will likely be in the Provost's office or Office of Research- you can find their name on your fellows page. 

 

They're likely who needs to be the one to apply pressure. 

 

Also, in relation to Oregon State, part of that is due to their low tuition. May or may not be similar in your case. 

[whirledpeas13]

I made sure to deal with that fully before accepted my offer of admission (thankfully I was able to do that). That said, I have had an immensely stressful few weeks, and have had to remind my financial aid officer of the stipulations when I saw my "overdue" student bill, totally nearly $24,000, all required fees, mind you. I emailed a copy of the award letter, the change of institution approval, and I called the NSF contact at my institution (Harvard), to get everything sorted out. I have spent more time emailing and calling people and fighting just to receive the fellowship to which I am entitled. You should certainly do the same, tactfully, of course.

[Eigen]

Technically, the fellowship is the stipend, not the school paying for fees.

24,000 is amazingly high for just fees. Are those just fees, or some tuition and such mixed in?

Also, generally, insurance wouldn't be covered under the NSF COE, as it's not usually a required fee.

One other thing to consider is the time for payment- my school usually doesn't process their payments until midway through the semester.

[georgian]

Had to go up one more person in the bureaucracy, but they agreed to pay my fees!

 

On another note, has anyone received the $2,000 being retroactively applied for last year? My school (allegedly) hasn't heard anything about it from NSF.

 

On yet another note, anyone here doing GROW, and if so, did you receive the travel stipend from NSF yet? Not sure if they didn't send it along yet or if my university has lost that as well... 

[Eigen]

My school didn't hear about it, but I made sure I went and told them ahead of time. 

 

I got mine doled out over the 6 summer payments in equal quantities. 

[whirledpeas13]

Eigen, I'll clarify: the $24,000 included all required fees and tuition all of which is covered by NSF. At Harvard Health insurance is required, so that does include my health insurance payment. After I contacted the right people, my bill was waived. Clearly, we all have to be equally as informed as our contacts at our institutions. Of course universities are hoping to get paid despite this agreement, so they are just hoping they can drive someone to say, "oh, I'd rather just pay this than fight with an administrator over fine print" I don't know about the rest of you, but I simply can't pay for a graduate degree without this funding, so I choose to be informed.

[Eigen]

Your university caved, but your statements are still not correct.

Even if health insurance is required, it can be from any source, and would not be considered a required fee. It's great your university pays for it, but required health insurance /= a required fee.

Similarly, NSF isn't covering your tuition. Harvard is. NSF just requires that your tuition be covered, which Harvard is doing mostly out of pocket. Is is why MIT started capping the number of NSF Fellows they admit- they couldn't afford them.

The NSF gives the school $12k per year, paid to the institution in two $6k increment, for your cost of education, your school covers the other (in your case) 3/4ths of the bill.

So yes, your bill was covered, but it wasn't a case of Harvard trying to keep the money from you, but more likely a case of them trying to find the money to pay for you.

S yes, fight for yourself, but do be equally and properly informed.

Also, I think you're quite cynical if you think the school is trying to get double paid, rather than someone just not knowing how your fellowship is supposed to work.

[juilletmercredi]

Health insurance typically *is* required at most schools, and is considered a "required fee" because schools require you to either have comparable outside insurance or pay for their insurance.  I've never heard of a school telling NSF fellows to cover their own health insurance if they don't have it.  In my case, the school covered it in addition to the other fees.  Most schools will cover your required health insurance along with other required fees when you accept an NSF.  In this case, I don't think Harvard "caved"; I think it's probably standard procedure for them to cover the health insurance of students with outside fellowships like NSF and somebody made a mistake along the way.

 

Most schools welcome NSF fellows and encourage people to apply to NSF, and they don't intentionally try to make it difficult for you to use the fellowship.  Generally the NSF saves the school money, as they were going to fund you anyway and now they don't have to pay you a salary or find one-quarter of your bill.  It's just that administrative difficulties and changes in financial aid structure may introduce complications.  My university recently changed their financial structure and the processing of my fellowship was moved to the medical center campus, where I am technically a student (even though I am enrolled through the graduate school) and where they are less familiar with NSF fellowships because most of the biomedical students aren't eligible for them.  So that created some snafus that were easily solvable once I talked to people.

Edited August 28, 2013 by juilletmercredi

[Eigen]

My reading of the NSF admin guide would place health insurance as a non-required fee, and all the schools I know of have treated it as such. Not really worth arguing over, different schools do it differently, and I've never pushed for mine since the school plan is a lot worse than private insurance.

My school has been very helpful, but my department is completely confused by the way NSF handles the grant finances, as they are not straightforward at all.

[mrmalawi]

Like you said, not worth arguing over but I am pretty sure all the University of California schools require students to have their insurance or private insurance.  The UC insurance (at least at UC Davis) is pretty good but very expensive (~$1000/quarter) unless you get it paid for via fee waivers for research/teaching assistant positions.  Even if you opt-out and get your own insurance you still have to meet certain requirements and it ends up costing about the same amount. 

[Eigen]

It's required everywhere I'm aware of, I was suggesting that just because it's required to have doesn't make it a required fee. IE, you have to have health insurance, but it's not a university fee in the same way that, say, rec center fees, technology fees, library fees, etc. are. 

[fishasaurus]

Health insurance typically *is* required at most schools, and is considered a "required fee" because schools require you to either have comparable outside insurance or pay for their insurance.  I've never heard of a school telling NSF fellows to cover their own health insurance if they don't have it.  

 

UT Austin does not provide NSF Fellows with health insurance. In my department, all PhD students are enrolled in the staff insurance at no charge as a benefit. Unless you're an NSF Fellow, in which case you're on your own. I don't know if this is at all related to UT Austin not requiring health insurance, and I've actually never attended a university that required students to have it (I've been to three). Considering how large a school UT Austin is, I'd say that this isn't an unusual practice.

[anon11235]

Does anyone know if we are allowed to have a summer internship while being funded by an NSF GRFP? (Assuming it is research related)  I looked on the NSF website and did not see anything, my guess is that this is handled by institutional policies.

[gellert]

wrong thread

Edited October 1, 2013 by gellert

[Eigen]

Does anyone know if we are allowed to have a summer internship while being funded by an NSF GRFP? (Assuming it is research related)  I looked on the NSF website and did not see anything, my guess is that this is handled by institutional policies.

 

I think it's left up to the CO at your institution, if I recall properly. 

 

I met with mine when I had questions about extra pay from teaching a class, etc.