PrintGraduate students are supported in a variety of ways: via stipends if they are on fellowships, or via salaried employment appointments as Research Assistants (RAs) or Teaching Fellows (TFs). The portion of tuition charged to grants ("tuition remission") is part of RA or TF compensation, while the portion paid from non-sponsored funds ("tuition support") is not. As of July 2007, graduation student tuition may not be bundled with salaries in object code 6140 and must be charged to grants in object code 6430. Grant budgets must include tuition as a separate, non-overhead-bearing, line item. Please see below for more information, and download the Harvard Tuition Policy .pdf by clicking here.
For students paid as Research Assistants in object code 6140:
- RA compensation is in exchange for work performed, and may take the form of salary and tuition remission.
- We are required by OMB A-21 to certify all RA compensation, including both salary and tuition remission. To avoid having to include tuition payments on salary certification forms, tuition remission percentages must match effort percentages calculated from salary distributions.
- If RA salary is paid from two or more sources of funds, any tuition remission charged to those funds must be paid in the same proportions as the salary.
For students paid as Teaching Fellows in object code 6140:
- Ideally, departments (as opposed to grants) will pay tuition for TFs while they are teaching.
- If a TF has a simultaneous RA appointment to supplement the TF salary AND if tuition remission is paid as part of RA compensation, tuition remission must be provided as part of the TF appointment in the same ratio as the RA and TF salaries. The remainder of tuition due may be paid by the department as "tuition support."
- If the TF appointment pays the entire salary, a faculty grant may not be used to pay tuition remission.
For students paid as Stipendees:
- Supplemental salary may be provided from a grant (but a federal grant cannot be used to supplement a federal stipend).
- Tuition remission may be paid from the grant as well, but only if some amount of RA salary is also paid from the same source. The salary amount may be nominal, down to a minimum of $1.00, but some salary must be paid in order for the salary to serve as a proxy for tuition remission on the salary certifications (effort will be 100%, even with the nominal salary).
Notes and definitions:
- "Tuition" means the tuition and fees appropriate to the graduate year of the student. Harvard does not report tuition to the government as taxable income.
- "Tuition remission" is tuition paid as part of compensation for work performed.
- "Tuition support" is tuition paid as part of a scholarship or fellowship, not in exchange for work performed.
- "Salary" is money paid to the student in exchange for work performed, either as a Research Assistant or as a Teaching Fellow.
- "Stipend" is money paid to the student for living expenses as part of a scholarship or fellowship, not in exchange for work performed.
