Financial Aid Frequently Asked Questions

In order to receive a graduate assistantship, a student must be enrolled as a full-time student in full standing status and must maintain a 3.0 grade-point average.

Graduate instructors must have completed 18 previous hours of graduate course work in the teaching area.

Graduate assistants who receive a 0.5 time assistantship appointment (determined as an assistantship of $6000 or more per semester) for a fall or spring semester and who register for 9 hours or more of graduate courses are also given a full tuition scholarship, including a nonresident fee scholarship.

Graduate assistants who receive a 0.25 time appointment (determined as an assistantship of $3000 per semester) for a fall or spring semester and who register for 9 or more hours of graduate courses are also given a 75 percent tuition scholarship and a full nonresident fee scholarship.

Yes, graduate assistants pay a small fee each term (in addition to costs of health insurance if the student does not already have coverage with an equal or superior plan).

• The fees are $55 per term.

These fees are substantially less than those required by many peer institutions. The University of Mississippi intentionally keeps the fees low to avoid sticker-shock that can occur when graduate assistants discover a good deal of their monthly stipend must go to paying the costs of fees the first month of every term.

These are complicated, and you should contact the Graduate School for explanations.

• A key rule is that if a tuition scholarship requires a student to be enrolled as full-time, then the action of dropping below full-time will trigger a payback of the tuition scholarship.

If a student expects a student loan that has not been awarded, the student should contact the Office of Financial Aid or call their help hine 1-800-891-4596.

• If a student has been awarded a departmental assistantship, he/she should first contact the academic department awarding the assistantship to verify that the paperwork has been submitted to the Graduate School.
• If the paperwork has been submitted, the student should contact the Graduate School.
• If a student has been awarded a fellowship that has not been posted, he/she should contact the Graduate School.

Yes, the Graduate School has some funds to support graduate student travel to professional meetings when the student is presenting.

These funds generally require a match from the academic department.

Yes, graduate assistants with appointments of 1/4 time or higher are required to participate in a health insurance program.

• Enrollment and payroll deduction of premiums will be automatic upon appointment for each fall and spring term. Premiums will be subsidized by the university. 

Insurance is also available on a voluntary basis to full time students not on an assistantship.

• Students interested in the voluntary plan should contact the Student Health Center for more information, or visit Well Fleet Portal to view plan details and enroll.

• The University of Mississippi
  Office of the Graduate School
  P.O. Box 1848
  University, MS 38677-1848

• The University of Mississippi
  Office of the Graduate School
  54 Galtney-Lott Plaza
  University, MS 38677