Graduate Student University Funding

What to Expect

Students Receiving Scholarships/Fellowships

Scholarships/Fellowships are merit-based awards to recognize academic achievement or to support the conduct of scholarly work. The mode of distribution to the recipient varies depending on the source of the award.
Scholarship/Fellowships are typically awarded through the University's Scholarship Tracking System and will be available to view in your Raiderlink portal.
Yearly award amounts are typically split ½ in the fall and ½ in the spring semesters. Please refer to your award notification for specific disbursement amounts.
The semester amount will be applied to your university bill as a scholarship paying tuition and fees first, with any remaining balance issued to you by Student Business Services.
Competitive scholarships/fellowships of at least $1,000 are expected to waive any out-of-state tuition charges for the academic award years (the University's academic calendar is September 1st – August 31st and includes fall, spring, and summer semester).
It is imperative that students enroll as early as possible so that financial aid packages can be reviewed/awarded. We encourage all eligible domestic students to fill out the FAFSA to be considered for need-based aid, grants and loans. The Financial Aid office website also has many resources and information regarding funding your education.
All financial aid and scholarships/fellowships/assistantship waivers begin posting to student bills about 10 days prior to the beginning of any semester.
- All students are highly encouraged to enroll in the emergency payment plan each semester until all waivers, scholarships and financial aid have posted. Students not enrolled in a payment plan that still have a bill after the payment due date are subject to cancellation and additional re-enrollment fees.

Students Receiving Assistantships

Teaching Assistantship (TA), Research Assistantship (RA), and Graduate Part-time Instructor appointments (GPTI) all employ students in a half-time position requiring 20 hours/week of work.
Appointments may be 9 or 12 months depending on your employing department. Please refer to your award notification and employing department for specific details.
GPTI/TA/RA Enrollment requirements: Students must be enrolled full time (at least 9 graduate hours) in each regular semester [fall or spring]. Students employed for the entire summer must enroll in at least six (6) credits during the summer; those employed just summer 1 or summer 2 must enroll in at least three (3) credits during the summer (either session). Failure to enroll as required will result in termination of appointment.
TA/RA/GPTI appointments will waive out-of-state tuition charges for the terms that students are employed (therefore, if a student is enrolled in summer, but not employed, they will not receive in-state tuition unless they have a competitive scholarship of at least $1,000).
These assistantships qualify students to receive partial tuition and fee waivers each semester of employment. During the fall/spring semester, doctoral assistantship students will also receive a $304 scholarship applied to their bill. For 9 full-time hours of enrollment, doctoral students can expect to pay about $650 in out-of-pocket expenses and master's students can expect to pay approximately $1,200 in out-of-pocket expenses. International students must also factor in mandatory international student insurance charges each fall/spring semester (more details below).
All financial aid, scholarships/fellowships, and assistantship waivers begin posting to student bills about 10 days prior to the beginning of any semester (please note that assistantship waivers may not post until after the beginning of the semester during the summer and students need to enroll in the emergency payment plan to avoid cancellation). Please click here for Student Business Services (SBS) payment dates and deadlines. Note: during summer semesters, assistantship waivers may not post until after June 1st.
We encourage all eligible domestic students to fill out the FAFSA to be considered for need-based aid, grants and loans. The Financial Aid office website also has many resources and information regarding funding your education.
Assistantship students are highly encouraged to enroll in the emergency payment plan each semester until all waivers, scholarships and financial aid have posted. The payment plan fee will be credited back to student accounts once waivers have posted. Students not enrolled in a payment plan that still have a bill after the payment due date are subject to cancellation and additional re-enrollment fees.
Students should contact their department as soon as possible for employment paperwork to be processed. Assistantship approvals have to be processed by a specified date each semester in order for waivers to post to student accounts. International students must have a social security number in order for employment paperwork to be processed (please follow the steps on how to apply listed here: Getting Social Security Card/Number)
- Please note that new fall assistantship positions cannot begin until September 1st, with the first paycheck being distributed on October 1st.
- The start date can be prior to Sept 1st but that is typically determined by faculty research and teaching needs and/or the funding source.
- Departments should be contacted for additional information/questions.
Student insurance options:
- Domestic students may enroll in: 1) Employee insurance offered/administered by the Employees Retirement System of Texas (ERS). Please click here for the Texas Tech 2023 Employee Benefits Guide, or 2) Academic Health Plan offered by Student Health Services. Although the plans have comparable coverage, students who enroll in the ERS plan must pay 50% of the premium out of pocket (the other 50% is covered by the university), which, at present, is more expensive than the total out-of-pocket cost for the student health plan. The preferred option for all graduate students is the SHIP because of the lower out-of-pocket costs.
- International students must enroll in the Academic Health Plan offered by Student Health Services.
- Below are out-of-pocket costs for the student health insurance plan for upcoming year.

2 Term Payment, Current Method	International	Voluntary-Domestic
Fall 8/1/23 - 12/31/23	$1,357.00	$1,863.00
Spring/Summer (1/1/23 - 7/31/24)	$1,889.00	$2,593.00
Summer (Newly enrolled students) 6/1/24 - 7/31/24	$541.00	$743.00

- Central funds will be allocated to help defray cost of SHIP for graduate students on TTU-paid assistantships. All TA/RA/GPTI assistantship students will receive a $250 allowance for health insurance in the fall and $250 for the spring semesters. This funding will be paid out through their paycheck.