Understanding Graduate Student Funding

Graduate students can receive funding from various sources throughout their academic journey. The three most common types are:

• Graduate Assistantships
• Traineeships
• Fellowships

These funding types typically support one or more semesters of study, often by:

• Covering or waiving tuition and/or fees
• Providing a salary or stipend to the student

Although these funding types may appear similar at first glance, determining the correct category can be challenging. That’s why it’s essential to understand their distinctions and follow the appropriate administrative steps. Doing so ensures that payments are processed accurately, in alignment with the intent of the funding and through the correct university systems.

Whenever you encounter a new source of funding, it's important to determine whether the payment should be classified as employment income or a fellowship. To assist with this, we recommend using the Non-Service Job Aid form.

Each classification carries different tax implications and benefits, so accurately identifying the type of appointment in a timely manner is essential for compliance and proper processing.

Quick Overview of Funding Types

1. Graduate Assistantships

Graduate assistantships are employment-based positions where students work for the university. They include:

• Research Assistantships (RA)
• Teaching Assistantships (TA)
• Program Assistantships (PA)

Key Feature: Students are paid for their work in teaching, research, or administrative roles.

2. Traineeships

Traineeships are similar to fellowships but are funded by federal training grants awarded to the university.

Key Differences:

• Administered differently than fellowships
• May have specific reporting requirements

3. Fellowships

Fellowships are awards to individual students to support their academic work.

Key Features:

• No work obligations
• Do not need to be repaid
• Support the student’s own research or studies

Graduate students may receive funding from more than one source at the same time. However, please note the following:

• There are limits on total compensation from university sources in the course of a year.
• Always check the maximum levels of appointment rules and departmental stipend rates before proceeding with a concurrent appointment.
• Always consult the terms and conditions of any award to confirm whether multiple funding sources are permitted.

We also recommend consulting the Student Payment Guide for additional support in determining the purpose of a payment to a UW–Madison student and ensuring it is processed in compliance with applicable policies.

If still in doubt as to what type of funding you are dealing with, please contact the Graduate School at funding@grad.wisc.edu.

Funds for a single fellowship may come from one or more sources. We define internal funding as those pools of money that are controlled directly by academic departments/programs and offices at UW-Madison, or allocated to those departments by entities like the Graduate School (e.g., the Graduate Research Scholars (GRS) and Graduate Student Support Competition (GSSC) allocations).

The procedures for administering internal and external fellowships are outlined below. While the processes are generally similar, fellowships funded by external organizations require additional setup and coordination through the Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP) division.

External fellowships are funded by organizations outside UW-Madison and impose conditions on the use of their funds and reporting requirements beyond what is required by UW-Madison. (Some examples of external funders are US and foreign government agencies, private foundations, and corporate sponsors.) The fellowship administrator, department graduate coordinator, and recipient should meet prior to the beginning of the fellowship’s term to review the requirements set by the funder. Questions about those requirements should generally be directed to the funder, but the Graduate School (funding@grad.wisc.edu) may be able to assist if there are potential conflicts between funder rules and UW-Madison procedures.

The Graduate School administers the following graduate fellowships directly:

External Fellowships

• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP)

Internal Fellowships

• Kemper Knapp University Fellowship 
• Straka Fellowship 
• Dickie Fellowship

Academic departments are responsible for administering any fellowships paid from funding strings under their control, external fellowships supplemented with departmental funds, external fellowships supplemented by the Graduate School (except those listed above), fellowships funded by their annual GSSC allocation, and 2^nd Year University Fellowships. 

The Graduate Research Scholars (GRS) communities on campus have various approaches in administering Advanced Opportunity Fellowships (AOFs), which are funded from separate allocations from the Graduate School. Please consult specific school/college GRS programs for additional  information. 

Certain fellowships for international study by graduate students are administered by the Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS), including the Fulbright-Hays, Fulbright U.S. Student, and Boren Fellowships. Applicants and recipients of these awards should work closely with IRIS to ensure that their enrollment and benefits are handled correctly during their time abroad.

*The administering department is responsible for the award setup and management of stipend and tuition payments. For fellowships administered by the Graduate School, the Graduate School will payroll the fellowship recipient and process their tuition payments during the fellowship period. For internal and external fellowships with stipend rates below the graduate program level, departments are expected to supplement the stipend to match the rate to the program's approved RA rate.

There are several components of a fellowship that need to be considered when setting up and administering the award:

Graduate School fellowship stipends for 2025-26 are:

At UW-Madison, there are three parts to graduate tuition and fees (Figure 1): 1) resident tuition that is charged to all enrolled graduate students, 2) non-resident tuition that is an additional charge to enrolled students who are not WI residents, and 3) segregated fees. Although the term “tuition remission” is used for graduate assistants and fellows alike, tuition remission for graduate assistants (those with appointments of 33% or higher) indicates remission of the resident and non-resident portions of tuition. Graduate assistants are responsible for paying the segregated fees themselves. Tuition remission for fellows is quite different. Fellows receive remission only of the non-resident portion of tuition. The resident tuition and segregated fees are not remitted (waived) for fellows, but paid by the funding source.

To ensure proper tuition processing for fellows, two forms must be submitted to the Bursar:

1. Tuition Remission Form

• Reduces non-resident tuition to the in-state rate (no surcharge).
• Submit at the start of each fall and spring term covered by the fellowship.
• Do not submit a fellowship remission request if the student holds a concurrent RA, TA, or PA appointment that fully overlaps the fellowship—those roles already provide full tuition remission.
• For details and the latest form, visit: Tuition Remission – Division of Business Services

2. Internal Third Party Authorization (Non-Employee) Form

• Instructs the Bursar to bill your department for tuition and/or fees.
• Most fellowships cover Resident/MN Tuition or Resident/MN Tuition & Seg Fees.
• Internal fellowships typically cover segregated fees; external fellowships may not.
• Confirm allowable costs with program administrators.
• For details and the latest form, visit: Third Party Deferral – Division of Business Services

Segregated Fees

• Charged to all students for shared campus services and facilities that support the mission of the University of Wisconsin System.
• Many fellowships do not cover these fees—check the award or allocation letter.
• Indicate on the TPA form whether the department is responsible for the fees.
• Fee rates are updated each summer on the Bursar’s tuition rates page.

The guide below is a brief, step-by-step explanation of how to begin the administration of a graduate fellowship at UW-Madison. The process described below is for fellowships paid for entirely from funds controlled by the administrating department, hereafter “internal fellowships.” The section following this one explains the process for administering fellowships drawing on funds provided by external funders (“external fellowships”). Both processes are fairly similar, but external fellowships can be a bit more complicated.

Offering Funding – During the Admissions Process

As you are reviewing student applications for admission and deciding how to employ various sources of funding administered by your department, you should provide students to whom you are making offers with an offer letter detailing the amount, period, and rules of the fellowship.

University Housing priority: Students receiving AOF or GSSC-funded fellowships can be added to the Graduate School housing priority list. Please note that this does not guarantee the student will receive housing through University Housing as it is based on housing availability. Administrators of AOF or GSSC-funded fellowships should ask incoming fellows whether they plan to live in university housing and send a list of incoming students requesting priority housing to funding@grad.wisc.edu in late April or early May of each year. Please include the name, CampusID, and email address for each student.

Review Fellowship Information – 3 Months Before Start of Term

Before you begin administration of the fellowship, you will need to collect all of the necessary information to process the paperwork:

• • Student Information: Who is going to receive this fellowship? You will need their first and last name, CampusID, email, and (if available) HRS EmplID. 
  • Pay Basis: Is this fellowship meant to be paid out over the course of an academic year or semester (C-basis) or the full annual cycle (A-basis)?
  • Period: The period of an A-basis fellowship will nearly always be from September 1 of one year to August 31 of the following year for a fall start, or January 1 through December 31 for a spring start. Rarely, summer-start A-basis fellowships will run from June 1 through May 31. A C-basis fellowship running for a full academic year or a single semester will, in most years, start on a date a bit before the first of the month in order to match the biweekly pay calendar. Please consult with your department’s HR specialist or the payroll toolkit to determine the correct start and end dates for a C-basis appointment.
  • Funding Source: What will be the source of the funding for the fellowship?
    More information on funding codes and strings can be found here. Your department’s accountants and administrators will be able to help you research these numbers. Don’t guess! Correcting funding strings later can be quite difficult
  • Covered Expenses: Fellowships almost always cover tuition at or above the standard university rate, and typically include fringe benefits at the university rate (with limited exceptions). To determine whether segregated fees are also covered, refer to the award letter for the specific fellowship or the allocation letter for the funding source.

Confirm Student Appointments – 2 Months Before Start of Term

Check with the students receiving fellowships to make sure that they intend to maintain the level of enrollment required by the fellowship.

You should also ask them whether they intend to take on any additional university jobs or appointments during the period of the fellowship. If they intend to do so, please consult maximum appointment rules and the departmental stipend rates before proceeding with a concurrent appointment.

Process the Fellowship Paperwork - 1 to 2 Months Before Start of Term

In order to start on-time payment of a fellowship, the administrating department will need to complete all of the processes below:

• Set Up the Appointment in Workday: To start payroll of the stipend, which is usually disbursed as a biweekly salary of the period of the fellowship, you will need to work with an HR specialist to set up the appointment in the Workday tenant. This will initiate the creation of an Employee ID (often abbreviated EmplID) and begin the onboarding process for the fellows.
• Request Tuition Remission: The tuition remission form will reduce a fellow’s tuition to the in-state rate if they are charged non-resident tuition. There is no surcharge for remission of a fellow’s non-resident tuition. The Division of Business Services maintains a page explaining the rules and processes for tuition remission. If you know that the student has a concurrent RA, TA, or PA appointment of at least 33% that overlaps the fellowship, then you do not need to file a separate tuition remission request for the fellowship. 
• File Third-Party Authorization: The third-party authorization (TPA) form instructs the Bursar to invoice your department for a fellow’s tuition and/or fees. The tuition charges should be at the in-state rate if the student has received tuition remission from their fellowship; they should be $0 if the student has received full tuition remission from a 33% or greater concurrent RA, TA, or PA appointment.
• Distribute Award Letters: Each student should receive an award offer letter with the amount, period, and rules of the fellowship. Here is a template offer letter designed for GSSC-funded awards. You may adapt this as necessary based on departmental policies. These can be customized manually or by using the mail merge function in Microsoft Word – just be careful to review the individual letters for accuracy before distributing them! The completed response form at the bottom of the letter should be returned to the department/program. The Graduate School may request a copy of the response form.

Paying Invoices – Mid-Semester, Each Semester

One or two months into the semester, the Bursar’s office will begin sending invoices for tuition and fees to departments who filed TPA forms. The first tabs of these invoices will list the names, CampusIDs, and account balances for the students listed on your TPAs. On the second tab, you will need list the applicable funding string for each award, and the amount from the total on the first tab that should be charged to that funding string.

The Bursar’s emails with the invoices will include additional instructions. If you have questions about the process or content of these invoices, please contact thirdparty@bussvc.wisc.edu or 608-262-3612.

Mid-Fellowship Paperwork – 1 to 2 Months Before Start of Each Semester

Although much of the paperwork described above will only need to be filled out once, the tuition remission and TPA forms will need to filed again for fellowships that last more than one semester:

• Tuition remission forms need to be filed for the fall and spring semesters. If a fellowship from the spring continues into the summer term, tuition remission will carry over automatically. However, if the fellowship starts in the summer, you will need to submit a tuition remission form for the summer term.
  
  
• TPA forms need to be filed at the beginning of every covered term – fall, spring, and summer.