Termination and Amendments

Graduate student support (assistantships/fellowships) may be terminated or amended using the procedure provided below. 

• Termination of support will end stipend and/or tuition and require a termination EPAF
• Amendment of support will change the type of assistantship, stipend amount, or dates

Termination of Support

Support may be terminated for one of the following reasons:

• Student has not fulfilled terms of funding contract
• Student is withdrawing or no longer able to attend
• Student has accepted another offer

Prior to requesting termination of support, please follow the appropriate steps below based on the reason for the termination.

Steps Prior to Termination

Termination Procedure

After following the steps above, use the steps below to terminate support.

1. An authorized representative from the department should submit a Termination of Support Request Form , including the following:
   1. 1. A termination of support memo signed from the chair* or college dean* detailing the reason for the request and whether it is a termination of stipend, tuition, or both.
      2. Written correspondence between the program and the student and any other relevant documentation.
      3. The student's offer letter.
2. The Graduate School will review the form and all documentation and render a decision, normally within five business days.
3. Upon receiving approval from the Graduate School, support may be terminated as follows:
   
   1. 1. Stipend support: the program may submit a termination EPAF (to terminate the stipend payment through payroll) using Payroll's Bi-Weekly Pay Period Calendar for deadline dates
      2. Tuition support: the Graduate School will remove tuition support, according to the table below. 
4. The student will receive an official notification from the Graduate School (unless noted differently above). The student has five business days to appeal the decision in writing to the dean of the Graduate School.

*In the event a student requests termination of funding because they are unable to attend, will be withdrawing from the University, or has a new offer of support from another department, the Graduate Program Director may sign the memo.

Timeline for Terminating Support

Stipend support

Please consult with the department coordinator or graduate program assistant for payroll (EPAF) deadline dates. Termination EPAF dates must follow Payroll's Bi-Weekly Pay Period Calendar. Requests for termination of stipend support must be sent with sufficient time to consider them before the desired termination date.

Tuition support

Requests to terminate tuition will be prorated using the following timeline. The date of the program’s termination request will be used to determine the proration.

Amending Support

If a student is going to be supported and there is already an approved EPAF and a signed offer letter, but the support is changing, the department needs to follow this procedure:

• Notify the Graduate School
• Amend the original letter with the changes
• Notify the signees and collect the signatures before submitting the amended letter and EPAF

The instances when assistantship offer letters can be amended are the following: 

• When the type of assistantship changes, for instance, from GTA to GRA or vice-versa, as long as everything else stays the same (stipend and appointment length). The student needs to be aware of the implications of the change since the scope of the duties will change.
• When the stipend increases and everything else stays the same.
• When the dates of the appointment change, as long as the stipend amount did not decrease. 

In any of these cases, the letter of support should be amended and signed by everyone who signed the original letter. The amended letter should be part of the student record and submitted as an EPAF (please insert a comment in both EPAFs).

Reminder: Please insert a comment in the EPAFs stating the change and please update the rate code in TZAGRSP.

If you have questions, please contact the Graduate School.