Financial Aid for Graduate Students

Graduate (master's and doctoral) are offered aid in the form of Texas Public Education Grant (TPEG), UTSA Grant, Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans, Graduate PLUS loans, TEACH grant, and in some cases, stipends and fellowships. Due to legislative changes, effective July 1, 2012, Direct subsidized Stafford loans are no longer available to graduate students.

During the fall and spring, graduate students' cost of attendance is based on part-time enrollment (4-8 hours). Those hours must be at the graduate level (5000 or higher). If your actual enrollment does not match your cost of attendance as listed on your award letter, you will need to submit an Enrollment Change Form for the applicable aid year for us to increase your cost of attendance if you enroll full time (9+ hours).

Please note that students must be actively seeking a degree or in an approved 2-year teacher's certification program to be eligible for financial aid. Non-degree seeking students do not qualify for aid. If you will be graduating and plan on taking classes in the future, you must be aware of this.

Please review the following links regarding financial aid for graduate students:

Applying for Financial Aid
Enrollment Requirements
Enrolled in Undergraduate Classes
Undergrad to Graduate During the Academic Year at UTSA
Special Graduate Student Status (taking prerequisites)
Certificate Programs
Payment Options
Importance of Checking ASAP and Email
Stipends and Fellowships
Notification of Awards
Disbursement of Financial Aid
Graduating as Graduate and Financial Aid

Graduate Students Enrolled in Undergraduate Courses

Graduate students must be enrolled in at least part-time graduate courses (4+ hours of 5000 and higher level courses in Fall/Spring) to be eligible for federal financial aid. If you enrolled in a combination of graduate and undergraduate courses, at least 4 hours has to be graduate level courses in order to receive financial aid.* See examples below.

*NOTE: During the summer sessions, graduate students may enroll in a minimum of 3 credit hours for part-time enrollment status.

Example 1: If enrolled in 6 hours of graduate courses and 3 hours of undergraduate course which is a total of 9, you will only be awarded based on the graduate hours enrolled, so in this scenario, you would be considered enrolled as a part-time graduate student.

Example 2: If enrolled in 3 hours of graduate courses and 3 hours of undergraduate course which is a total of 6, you will not be eligible for financial aid because you are not enrolled in at least 4 hours of graduate level courses. Even if you received an award letter, keep in mind we are awarding you at the time assuming you will be enrolled in at least the minimum graduate hours. Aid will not disburse unless you enroll in a minimum of 4 graduate level hours.

Undergraduate to Graduate during the Academic Year at UTSA

If you are graduating from UTSA as an undergraduate and will enter the Graduate School the immediate semester following, please note that you must submit an Enrollment Change Form so that we can change your aid from undergraduate to graduate level. In addition, due to federal regulation, we are unable to disburse your financial aid to your student account until your degree is officially awarded by the University. Verification of degree earned is typically 30-45 days after commencement. At that time, we can then disburse your financial aid.

Special Graduate Student Status

Students taking classes as prerequisites for enrollment in graduate school, who have been approved by the Graduate Admissions Office as a Special Graduate student (not fully admitted to the program), will only receive financial aid as a Special Graduate for one academic year and need to provide documentation from the Graduate School to our office. Special Graduate students cannot receive graduate level grants but can receive Federal Stafford loans at the senior undergraduate limits. Undergraduate aggregate limits for Stafford loans apply in this situation. You must complete the Request for Financial Aid as a Special Graduate form.

Financial Aid and Certificate Programs

Any graduate student enrolled in a certificate program cannot receive aid unless also enrolled in a degree program at the graduate level. The only exception is K-12 teaching certification, which is an approved program for financial aid. Certification programs such as principal certification, urban and regional planning, higher education, etc. are not approved programs for financial aid.

Any graduate student wishing to receive funding for teacher certification courses taken at the undergraduate level cannot count those toward graduate student enrollment (see the examples listed above in the section Graduate Students Enrolled in Undergraduate Courses).

Graduating as a Graduate Student and Financial Aid

All graduating students will be required to undergo Stafford Loan Exit Counseling if they borrowed Stafford loans at anytime during their undergraduate career. Per federal regulations, once students earn a degree, they are no longer entitled to receive aid (grants, loans, work-study) unless they are enrolled as a degree-seeking student. Once our office is notified that you have applied for graduation, we will place a hold that will prevent aid in future semesters. If your degree is awarded and you plan to pursue another graduate degree, we cannot remove your graduation hold or award you future aid until we can see that a new major has been declared. Once this is done, you can submit a Enrollment Change Form for the next semester and you will be awarded your Stafford loans up to your loan limits. You will not be eligbile for grants if seeking a second Master's degree. Until your new degree or major is reflecting in the system, we cannot pay out or award you any aid.

If you applied for graduation and will not graduate, you must withdraw your graduation application and submit an Enrollment Change Form for the subsequent semester so that we will award you aid for the spring.

Graduating in the Fall Semester:

If you plan on graduating at the end of the fall term, you will be placed on a fall-only budget. The same is true for your grants.

The importance of checking ASAP and Email

All correspondence from our office is sent to student's preferred email account as indicated on ASAP. This includes information on awards, outstanding requirements, holds, Satisfactory Academic Progress and responses to inquiries sent to us over email. It is importance you routinely check your email (and update your email address if necessary) to stay informed with what's going on with your student account.

In addition to checking your email you may also check your financial aid status on ASAP. This includes information on holds, outstanding requirments, award offers, status of submitted documents and checking if financial aid is disbursed to your student account. View our tutorials for guidance on how to navigate ASAP for financial aid.