Graduate Student Hints and Tips

Billing for Grads:

Each student has a financial statement of account with UC Santa Cruz. A statement of account is produced each month there is financial activity on an account and an unpaid balance of $5 or more.

Activities include items such as Registration and Housing fees, Health Insurance and Health Center charges, Library charges, Special Class fees, Financial Aid credits/adjustments, cash payments, or adjustments to charges.

Statements are posted to UCSC eBill/ePay and MyUCSC at the end of each month within 1-2 days of the date listed on the Billing Schedule with 2 notifications coming to your UCSC email. Payment is due in full, less any anticipated aid, upon receipt of the statement. Grad students have two sets of due dates to consider, one for Graduate Tuition and fees and one for Housing and Miscellaneous charges both dates can be found on the Billing Schedule.

University charges are considered delinquent after the due date at the top of each statement. Grad Students, while they may have Department Funding or Financial aid covering their Tuition and fees, may have other miscellaneous charges like those listed above that can appear on their account at any time. Unpaid account balances may lead to holds on enrollment and other University services. It is advised that students check their accounts regularly (MyUCSC >My Account$ >Charges Due) to be sure Miscellaneous charges outside Graduate Tuition and fees are paid in a timely manner as these follow a different billing schedule than the Graduate Tuition and fees. The Billing Schedule can be found here: Billing Schedule

UCGPC Fee Information:

Grad students who have been charged the UCGPC fee for the term (Fall/Winter/Spring) have the option of opting out of the fee.  Students must opt out by the deadline listed on the academic calendar in order to have the fee removed for that term.  If the deadline is missed, the Opt out will take effect the following term.

MyUCSC >> Graduate Student eForms tile >> UCGPC Registration Fee Opt-out link in the left navigation

For more information about the fee, the organization it is supporting, and how to opt out view Registrar/Fees/Student Fees

Grad Student Financial Aid:

Graduate Student Financial Aid issued by the Financial Aid Office includes student loans, tuition remissions, and fellowship stipends which are posted by the Graduate Division. Financial Aid should disburse to student accounts just before classes start as long as they have completed all the steps that lead up to disbursal. This means the student should:

1. Be aware of all the aid they have been offered and check in if it doesn’t disburse
2. Complete their entrance interview if required for a loan
3. Complete any Financial Aid checklist/ to-do list items
4. Be enrolled in at least 5 units
5. Be sure to have a current mailing or permanent address on their MyUCSC student portal
6. *BONUS* Sign up for Direct Deposit in AIS (Payroll has a different direct deposit set up)

Graduate Student Financial Aid refunds follow the general refunding guidelines for Campus. This means once a week, on Fridays, we initiate the refunding process for eligible aid. This gets turned into a check that will be sent to the mailing address on a student account on the following Tuesday for almost all refunds. If a student has signed up for Direct Deposit using their MyUCSC Student Center (My Account$>Sign up for Direct Deposit) we send eligible refunds on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Keep in mind, that if a student receives their pay via Direct Deposit, they will also need to sign up for refunding from their student account using the method described previously, the systems are not the same. If for some reason the mailing address or the direct deposit information isn’t correct, the refunds may be delayed or returned to us. Be sure to double-check this information! 

For more information on refunding please see our refunding page.

Many types of aid are available for Grad Students among them are:

Tuition Remissions - these are applied automatically and are not refundable

NR Tuition Remission/ Fellowships -these are applied automatically and are not refundable

Salary Based Aid:

Research Assistantships -which are paid via Payroll

Teaching Assistantship -which is paid via Payroll

Fellowships (including but not limited to):

Chancellor’s Fellowship (refunded via student account)

Cota-Robles Fellowship (refunded via student account)

Grad/EVC Fellowship (refunded via student account)

NSF GRFP Fellowship (refunded via student account)

Regent’s Fellowship (refunded via student account)

Department Specific Fellowship (refunded via student account)

More information about these awards can be found here:https://graduate.ucsc.edu/prospective-students/understanding-your-financial-support-offer/

Certain Grants, Fellowships, and Stipends paid to students on F or J visas are refunded through the Accounts Payable office in order to comply with IRS regulations. These awards require additional documentation and will be refunded via "Direct Pay" through the Accounts Payable office. Some department or faculty grant awards may also be paid through Accounting, and will not appear in MyUCSC. Student Business Services will be unable to help with refunding issues for these awards. Students will need to address this with their Department or Accounts Payable

The credit for these items is placed on the student account for tax reporting purposes. During the third week of the Quarter, the credits for the international Grants, Fellowships, and Stipends are “removed” from the account and are “returned” to the Grad Department as they have already been disbursed to the student via direct payment through the Accounts Payable Office.

Students may also notice a $0.30 charge with a description similar to “AIS Fee Offset LT$1” on their account after the third week of the quarter every quarter. This is because they received grad fee-only aid for the term, which disburses in whole dollar increments. The fees are not posted at an even dollar amount. This leaves small unapplied credits that cannot pay anything and cannot refund, so they are transferred back over to the grad department, this is done by posting this charge to the account.

Reference for Fees/ in Absentia etc- 

Reference for Registration fees- Reg-

https://registrar.ucsc.edu/fees/registration/index.html

Reference for Grad Aid-