In May 2022, Chancellor Plowman and Provost Zomchick announced that beginning in fall 2022, graduate assistants at UTK will no longer be responsible for paying their own mandatory fees and differential tuition. This change is a major benefit to graduate assistants and will save the average full-time graduate assistant around $1000 per semester. With this new benefit, UTK sets itself apart from many other institutions in its commitment to support graduate assistants.

When does this change take effect?

Beginning in fall 2022, graduate assistants will no longer be responsible for paying their own mandatory fees and differential tuition.

What are mandatory fees?

Mandatory fees are fees assessed to all graduate students. These include: student program and services fee (parts A and B), library fee, law library fee, law enhancement fee, technology fee, facilities fee, and transportation fee. Beginning in fall 2022, graduate assistants will no longer be responsible for paying these fees. For more information on tuition and fees, visit the One Stop website.

Why does UTK charge mandatory fees?

Mandatory fees have been approved by the Board of Trustees to pay for services that are not covered by tuition.

What is differential tuition?

Differential tuition is a per-credit-hour fee charged by some colleges to cover the additional cost of instruction in those disciplines. Graduate differential tuition is charged in the following colleges: Tickle College of Engineering and Architecture and Design.

Does this benefit cover course fees?

No. Graduate assistants taking classes that have specific course fees to cover costs associated with those classes will still be responsible for paying those fees.

Does this change the tuition support provided to graduate assistants?

No. As before, UTK will still cover all costs related to tuition for graduate assistants.

Does this apply to program fees?

No. Program fees assessed by the colleges must still be paid by graduate students in that college.

If graduate assistants no longer have to pay mandatory fees and differential tuition, who will pay these fees?

These costs will be charged to the units that hire the graduate assistants. For academic year 2022-23 only, the university will reimburse these costs to campus units, excluding auxiliary units.

Does this change apply to all graduate assistants?

Yes. At UTK, all graduate assistants are on appointments ranging from 25% (10 h of work per week) to 50% (20 h of work per week). Anyone who is in a graduate assistantship will receive this benefit.

Does this benefit apply to graduate research assistants who are funded by external grants?

Yes. Principal Investigators will need to work with funding agencies and/or their colleges to cover these fees beginning in fall 2023.

Does this benefit apply to graduate assistants in appointments in all Vice Chancellor Divisions?

Yes. This applies to all UTK graduate assistants regardless of their assignment or location.

How does this change effect college budgets?

Beginning in fall 2023, colleges will need to include these costs in their budgets.

How does this change effect budgets in units other than colleges?

All support units, auxiliary units, and Vice Chancellor divisions will need to include these costs in their budgets beginning in fall 2023.

How does this change impact program fees for graduate assistants?

In programs for which fees are in excess of the prevailing graduate fee schedule, the waiver is equivalent to the graduate maintenance fee, SPSF, library fee, technology fee, facilities fee and the transportation fee per the graduate student fee schedule for the applicable term.

Are mandatory fees and differential tuition allowable on sponsored projects?

The tuition differential and mandatory fees are generally allowable costs on a sponsored project.  Please refer to the award document for your project to see if there are any restrictions from the funding agency.

How will mandatory fees and differential tuition impact active sponsored project budgets?

Budget revisions may be required if the line item budget will exceed the variance allowed by the funding agency.

When should sponsored project budgets begin including mandatory fees and differential tuition?

In order to allow a transitionary time for proposals in development, any proposals that will be submitted prior to June 4, 2022 are not required to include the mandatory fees and differential tuition in their budgets. Faculty and departments can certainly opt to revise budgets for these proposals if they choose to do so.

Will this change impact payroll taxes?

Graduate fee waivers provided to University of Tennessee graduate student employees not classified as a GTA or GRA (primary position) must be recognized and treated as a taxable fringe benefit. All university employees are allowed tax free graduate tuition benefits of $5,250 per calendar year under the university’s Section 127 Educational Assistance plan. Once the $5,250 limit has been exceeded for non GTA‐GRA employees (tracked by IRIS), the taxable portion of the graduate fee waiver will be added to taxable income and all applicable employment taxes will be withheld.

When will these payroll taxes post to my paycheck?

To help relieve the tax burden on the employee, the taxable value of the waiver will be allocated to employee checks based on the following schedule:

• Spring – Feb(1/3), March(1/3), April(1/3)
• Mini – May (100%)
• Summer – June(1/2), July(1/2)
• Fall – Sept(1/3), Oct(1/3), Nov(1/3)

Additional information regarding fee waiver taxation can be found at Fee Waiver Taxation – Payroll (tennessee.edu).

Who can I contact for additional information?

For graduate students with questions about their specific payment requirements, contact One Stop. For departmental personnel with questions about the administration of this change, contact gradschool@utk.edu.