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Fees & Funds

Chancellor's funds / Tennessee Excellence funds / top-off funds:
These go by many names, but what you need to know about them is that each year the funds are made available to the department and the department disperses the funds to the incoming 'class' of graduate students. There is a different amount of money available each year. Here's how Brian O'Meara describes it:
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"One year, we could give the funds to no more than two students; other years, we were limited to different fractions of students; whether they can be for research or stipend support has also varied. (The four year limit is set by university policy – if you were getting chancellor’s funds and then it drops in your fifth year, you’re dropping to what other members of your cohort were making all along). Grad admissions then decides how to award the funds given that year's restrictions. Some years it's the same for those receiving the awards, other years it's less even.
One thing to note with chancellor's funds and similar: your offer letter you signed is binding on you and the department. For example, one batch of letters misstated base pay and chancellor's fund pay in a way that obligated the department for more money than was intended, and the department made up the difference, at a cost to other potential uses."
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Basically, what this means, is that the amount of Chancellor's funds you get when you sign your offer letter is "locked-in" for the rest of your time in EEB (more or less).
 
Another thing to note is that your Chancellor's funds are taxed, don't forget that in April each year.
 
If you're interested in how much other graduate students have received in Chancellor's funds, we have data on this, just drop us a line and we can send you these data.
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Tuition & fees:
While you'll see tuition charged to your Bursar account a few weeks before classes start (~$13k), you DO NOT have to pay for your tuition. This is paid by the department in return for your work as a GTA/GRA/fellowship.
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What you DO have to pay is student fees. These fees are variable and change each semester based on how many credits you've signed up for, they typically range from ~ $600 - $1100. This is important because you MUST pay student fees before classes start, this is often something students don't plan for, and most people don't have that much money laying around. So make sure you keep this in the back of your mind.
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  • Fees pay for a number of UTK-based things, like facilities services, paying for the bus routes around campus to be free, library, gym, etc. For more information about what your fees pay for, check here: https://onestop.utk.edu/tuition-detail/ Because you're paying for it anyways, make sure to take advantage of all of these campus resources!
  • There are some OPTIONAL student fees, one of the most important of which is the Student Health fee. This is ~$110 each semester, but it allows you to go to the student health center for free (including student counseling) . Oftentimes, if you have to get a flu shot, see a doctor for a physical, and get a prescription during the semester, this fee ends up being worth it.
  • Some courses (for example, those in the college of engineering) have extra fees associated with them. The department should pay these for you, but make sure to check with Susan/Brian before you sign up.
  • Other mandatory fees include those associated with adding/dropping courses late, forgetting to take a course when you try to graduate, etc. Again, if you're interested in learning more about ALL the fees UTK can charge you with, check it out here: https://onestop.utk.edu/tuition-detail/
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