Texas Residency
To qualify for resident tuition, students must be a Texas resident. Students who are not residents of Texas when they begin graduate study are subject to nonresident tuition rates, but under certain circumstances, some may qualify for resident tuition. In those cases, although the student remains classified as a nonresident, the difference between the nonresident and the resident tuition rate is waived.
General Information Catalog
For complete details on residency, see the section on residency regulations in the General Information Catalog.
Eligibility on the Basis of a Competitive Scholarship
Nonresidents may be eligible for the waiver if they have been awarded competitive academic scholarships of $1,000 or more for the academic year or the summer session of enrollment. They must have competed with other students (including Texas residents) for the academic scholarship, and the scholarship must have been awarded by an officially recognized scholarship committee of The University of Texas at Austin.
Since the number of nonresident tuition exemptions allotted to each college and school was strictly limited by 1989 legislation, an award of a competitive academic scholarship does not automatically include such a waiver.
Eligibility on the Basis of Student Employment
Only students appointed to positions requiring student status will be eligible to be certified as satisfying the requirements for resident tuition entitlement. Students who work for a publicly supported Texas institution of higher education are eligible for the waiver under certain conditions:
The student must be employed at least one-half time (20 hours per week); and
The beginning and ending employment dates must be as follows; and
The beginning employment date must be on or before the 12th class day of a long semester or the fourth class day of a summer term. The ending employment date must be no earlier than the last official class day, or through the dissertation date (the date you submit your final graduation materials to the Graduate School).
The job must be related to the student’s degree program; and
Eligibility on the Basis of Spouse or Parent Employment
Students with a spouse or parent who works for a publicly supported Texas institution of higher education in a specified teaching or professorial position are eligible for the waiver under certain conditions:
The spouse or parent must be employed at least one-half time on a regular monthly basis (not hourly); and
The start date must be on or before the 12th class day of a long semester or the fourth class day of a summer term;
The ending employment date no earlier than the last official class day; and
Requesting the Entitlement by Reason of Employment
Entitlement by Reason of Employment request
A graduate student who seeks a resident tuition entitlement by reason of employment in a qualifying job title or by reason of the employment of a spouse or parent who holds a specified teaching or professorial position must submit the request online.
The information provided on the request form will be audited. If the audit reveals that the employment does not qualify a student for the resident tuition entitlement, the additional non-resident tuition must be paid within 10 days of the billing date. Nonpayment will result in cancellation of registration.
Exception for Doctoral Students (99-Hour Rule)
99-Hour Rule
Graduate students who accumulate more than 99 doctoral semester credit hours are subject to the 99-Hour Rule and may be charged the nonresident tuition rates irrespective of student residency status or any appointment, fellowship or other circumstance that would normally entitle them to resident tuition rates.