Paying Tuition Using Sponsored Award Funds

Source: https://finance.uw.edu/sfs/node/632 Parent: https://finance.uw.edu/sfs/uw-depts/departmental-scholarships-and-fellowships

Paying Tuition Using Sponsored Award Funds

Overview

Student Fiscal Services (SFS) has implemented changes to the student database (SDB) and the spend categories associated with tuition transactions.

SDB tracks all student account balances and adjustments. This includes transactions such as:

• Tuition reimbursement using grant funding
• Tuition remission for teaching/research assistantships
• Tuition reimbursement via scholarships

These changes help ensure sponsored award funding is applied consistently and in compliance with federal and sponsor guidelines.

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Default Setup for Sponsored Awards

When a sponsored award (grant) account setup request is submitted, the default spend category is:

• SC2789 – Tuition and Fees Paid by Grant

• Tuition is exempt from F&A for Base 18 – Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC).

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Options for Paying Tuition vs. Scholarships

Depending on award terms and sponsor guidelines, two spend categories may be used:

• SC2789 – Tuition and Fees Paid by Grant

• Exempt from F&A for Base 18 – MTDC

• Typically the correct setup for most federal and federal flow-through awards

• SC1534 – Disbursement of Financial Aid – Scholarships

• Subject to F&A for Base 23 – MTDC (commonly used for NIH Training Grants)

• Exempt from F&A for Base 18 – MTDC

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Key Guidance on Tuition vs. Scholarships

Federal and federal flow-through awards:

• Tuition is generally allowable.
• Scholarships are generally unallowable.

Non-federal awards:

• May be more flexible; both tuition and scholarships could be allowable depending on terms.

F&A treatment:Two common F&A bases, base 18 and base 23, are listed below to outline the impact of incorrect categorization.

• Tuition

• Exempt from F&A for Base 18 – MTDC

• Exempt from F&A for Base 23 – This is the standard F&A base used for NIH Training Grants.

• Scholarships

• Exempt from F&A for Base 18 – MTDC

• Subject to F&A for Base 23 – This is the standard F&A base used for NIH Training Grants. If tuition is misclassified as a scholarship, both the unallowable scholarship transaction and related unallowable F&A transaction will post to the grant worktag.

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Determining Setup in SDB

Setup depends on sponsor requirements, including:

• Award terms and conditions
• Request for Application (RFA) guidelines
• Request for Proposal (RFP) guidelines
• Program Announcement (PA) guidelines
• Uniform Guidance and Sponsor general award guidelines/terms.

Examples:

Unform Guidance – 200.466 Scholarships, student aid costs, and tuition remission\ NIH Grants Policy Statement – 7.9.1 Allowability of Costs/Activities

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Exceptions

While the general rule is to set up sponsored awards to receive tuition (SC2789), exceptions do occur. These must be supported by clear sponsor terms or guidance.

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If you are unsure whether to use tuition or scholarship categories for a sponsored award, please contact Grant and Contract Accounting via gcahelp@uw.edu or via Award Portal before initiating the account setup.