Application Fee Waivers

We offer two application fee waivers:

  1. To applicants who have participated in one or more of a list of programs designed to prepare students for graduate study
  2. To applicants with financial hardship

Details about both are below.

1. Fee Waiver to Applicants from Qualified Programs

Applicants who have participated in one or more of a list of programs designed to prepare students for graduate study can waive our application fee.

Process

The process for waiving the fee is simple: in our application for admission, simply check the program(s) you have participated in.  Once you have checked, the system will automatically waive your application fee. 

We receive confirmation of your participation from these organizations directly, and in order to process applications efficiently, we will confirm after your application is submitted.

List of Qualifying Programs

  • ABRCMS - Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists
  • AISES - American Indian Science and Engineering Society
  • American Political Science Association Minority Fellowship Program
  • California Diversity Forum
  • Científico Latino Graduate School Mentorship Program (GSMI)
  • ERN - Emerging Research Conference
  • Field of Dreams Conference
  • Fisk to Vanderbilt Bridge Program
  • Gates Millennium Scholars
  • GEM - National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Sciences
  • Grace Hopper Celebration
  • Graduate Horizon for Native American Students
  • HACU - Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
  • Hopps Research Scholars Program
  • HSI - Pathways to the Professoriate
  • IMSD - Initiative to Maximize Student Development
  • IRT - Institute for Recruitment of Teachers
  • Leadership Alliance
  • LGS-SOAR - Laney Graduate School, Summer Opportunities for Academic Research
  • LSAMP - Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation
  • MARC - Minority Access to Research Careers
  • McNair Scholars
  • MMUF - Mellon Mays Undergraduate Research Fellowship
  • MUCF - Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial Fellowship
  • NCUR - National Council on Undergraduate Research
  • NIH - BUILD
  • NIH Graduate and Professional School Fair
  • NIH PrEP Programs
  • NNE - National Name Exchange
  • ORISE/ORNL - Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education/Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • oSTEM - Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
  • Project 1000
  • Ralph Bunche Summer Institute
  • RISE - Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement
  • SACNAS - Society for Advancing Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science
  • SVA - Student Veterans of America
  • Tapia Conference
  • The PhD Project
  • Thurgood Marshall / UNCF-United Negro College Fund

2. Fee Waiver to Applicants with Financial Hardship

We offer a limited number of fee waivers for applicants on the grounds of financial hardship.

Qualify

To qualify for this waiver, we expect you to fit the U.S Department of Education definition of “low income."

VIEW FEDERAL LEVELS

International applicants are eligible for this fee waiver. 

Apply

You apply for the fee waiver for financial hardship from within the application. Start an application, or go to the application you have already started.  You will find a link to the fee waiver application form on the Signature page.

You will be asked to upload documentation to support your claim of financial hardship. This documentation could include:

  • A letter or memo from the financial aid office of your current school (or the one from which you graduated within the last year), confirming that you received need-based financial aid;
  • A letter from ETS showing that your received a GRE Fee Reduction; or
  • Documentation from a state unemployment agency verifying that you are currently unemployed.
  • International applicants might upload information about currency rates or other economic conditions that show the application fee is financially prohibitive in their circumstances.

Note: do not upload documentation that show sensitive or confidential personal information, such as social security numbers, your phone number, or other sensitive items.  

Don't Wait Until the Last Minute!

The review and approval process will take 5 business days, so apply in plenty of time before the application deadline of the program you intend to apply to.