Assistantship - now what?

[behavgradwa09]

I received an assistantship by the skin of my teeth - phew! But this opens up a new list of questions. For those who have had assistantships before, or who are more familiar with how assts work w/fin aid...

* my understanding is that if the asst pays tuition and a modest stipend, but doesn't cover all cost of living expenses, loans via fafsa can compensate for this. But is the stipend considered to be "income," or is it considered to be student aid? E.g., if the cost of attendance is $30,000, and the asst. package is worth $20,000, do fafsa loans then cover the rest of the $10,000, or does it compensate more because the stipend is taxed?...

Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere. I'm just trying to figure out how funds are assessed, etc., and need to figure out how to budget until September for moving ,etc. As the asst stipend is taxed, I wasn't sure how it was classified. I've e-mailed my school's fin aid office and they haven't yet responded.

Thank you!

[whomi]

I too have an assistantship and I'm not sure of all the ins and outs, but from my understanding it works as you've said. Using your figures: 30k is total cost of attendance, assistant package is worth 20k. The aid office will then reduce your loan (or any other aid/award) by the amount of assistantship. So now instead of being eligible for 30k of loans, you are now eligible for 10k of loans.

The forms and sites that I've read say that we are to inform the aid office of any additional internal or external aid so that they may adjust your aid accordingly. And if they find out about aid at a later date that you have not reported, they can and will bill you for what they consider the additional amount they gave you/allowed you to borrow. And yes it's still taxed, so it's both aid and income - the school considers it aid, the government considers it income.

Again, I'm still trying to figure this all out myself, but that's how I'm interpreting what I'm reading.

[behavgradwa09]

Hi Whomi,

Thank you - that's been my understanding so far; I was just confused because a few sources had said that "tuition waiver" and "stipend" were classified differently, thus having different impacts on the amt. of other aid. Just don't want to eat Top Ramen every meal - LOL.

Thanks again!

[sunbean8]

To the best of my understanding (and I've been doing this 5 years now), the tuition waver is not considered income and is not taxed. At least, I've never payed taxes on it nor have any of my friends, and one of them was randomly audited and the auditor found nothing wrong. Your living stipend, however, IS considered income and is taxed. Your school should know what aid it has given you and adjust that accordingly; the dean's office for your school will have to fill out a form attesting to what aid/income the university is giving you. The financial aid office then decides how much you are eligible for in terms of loans to cover additional tuition costs AND cost of living. So unless that $30K cost of attendance includes reasonable cost of living estimates, you can expect to be offered more than $10K in loans, from a variety of sources (Stafford, subsidized and unsubsidized; and , in some cases, private loans although I would avoid those like the plague if you possibly can).

Also, I'd advise you to do a self-screening online for public assistance eligibility. It's not glamorous, but a lot of grad students actually do qualify for some forms of public assistance, depending on their stipend rate. I am fully funded for tuition and have a reasonable stipend (~$15,000 for the two semesters), and qualify for a low-income heating assitance grant every year, which allows me to keep my apartment at a reasonably warm temperature without worrying about the gas bill. A friend of mine who is married with one child qualified for the heating assistance and food stamps. Again, it's not glamours, but it takes the edge off.