Tuition Costs and the Graduate Tuition Offset (GTO) should be included in all proposals that plan to hire graduate research assistantships if Principal Investigator's (PI) college subscribes to the GTO program. Please check with your college research office to see if they subscribe to the GTO program. The costs for tuition and GTO should show up in your budget as a separate line item under Other Direct Costs (ODC). Remember when calculating F&A based on Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), Tuition Costs including the GTO is excluded from the F&A calculation.
Although fees are required of all graduate students, they are not a budget item that Sponsors are required to pay for like tuition. You can include fees in your requests for external funding and if you do they should be included in the other direct cost category. Fees should also be deducted from the MTDC base when calculating F&A. Remember that tuition is on a per semester basis and you should include the costs for both academic semesters if the student is expected to enroll in an entire academic year.
Tuition is an allowable cost under OMB A-21, J.45, Scholarships and student aid costs. Tuition rates and increases are first set by the UNC Board of Governors and then it must be approved by formal passage of an appropriate bill in the NC General Assembly. Current and estimated future tuition rates are available from the Cashier's Office. The inflation factor for tuition and fees should be proposed at 6.5% per year. This is the rate authorized and capped by the Board of Governors.
The Graduate Student Support Plan (GSSP) is a highly competitive support package developed by the Graduate School as a way to attract high caliber students to NC State. Under the GSSP, graduate students supported on a teaching, research assistantship or a fellowship of at least $666.67 per month and who meet the minimum registration requirements, receive (at no cost to the student) health insurance and tuition (for a limited number of semesters). GSSP tuition benefits are available for the spring and fall semesters only, summer session tuition is not covered. Further information can be found on the Graduate School Website.
The GTO refers only to the tuition costs that are paid by a sponsor under a sponsored project. Since most Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA) are not hired until after the project is awarded, the residency of the student to be recruited is unknown. The GTO allows the University to budget the in-state student tuition rate, plus $1,500 per GRA per semester. Under the GTO the University and the Sponsor share the additional cost of tuition if a non-resident GRA is hired. Without the GTO, the Sponsor would have to pay tuition costs at the full out-of-state rate. If an out-of-state student is hired under the GTO, the Sponsor only pays the in-state tuition and GTO contribution, while the University pays the remainder of the out-of-state tuition rate. This cost difference between the in-state rate and GTO versus an out-of-state rate provides a savings to the sponsor because if an in-state student is chosen, it will not be billed for the GTO cost.
For specific guidance on this matter call SPARCS at 515.2444 or email sps@ncsu.edu.