Students are awarded by individual colleges and departments at the university. The department will send Financial Aid & Scholarships a Notice of Award request to award students a stipend and/or pay for tuition and fees.

Each department submits the required paperwork for tuition and stipend payments. Typical processing time can range anywhere from one to four weeks. Financial Aid & Scholarships are not authorized to award you unless we have received a Notice of Award from the department. The scholarship team ensures awards are disbursed to students in accordance with federal, state and institutional regulations.

If awarded a tuition payment, the award amount will be applied to tuition and fees only (or one or the other depending on the award). Students do not receive a refund for tuition payments.

If you are awarded a stipend, payments are disbursed in monthly installments, or as a lump sum as directed by the department. Financial aid disburses stipend payments at the end of each month, usually around the 25th, so students will receive their stipend payment on the first of each month. Fiscal Services will generate refunds once payments have posted provided you do not have a balance.

To review your tuition or stipend award you will need to login to your myUTSA Account.

Only if the award is designated as a Competitive Scholarship. Students are eligible for in-state tuition rates if the scholarship awarded has been approved as competitive by the office of the UTSA Vice-Provost for Strategic Enrollment. Your department will notify you if the tuition or stipend award you are receiving is competitive. Financial Aid & Scholarships will inform Fiscal Services to waive the non-resident tuition for recipients receiving a competitive scholarship in the academic year.

A scholarship must meet strict criteria established by the State of Texas in order to be approved as competitive. As such, not all scholarships that award a stipend are approved as competitive.

Yes. The policy is to award students receiving stipends and fellowships the maximum amount based on regulations. Undergraduate students who are eligible for federal and/or state aid and are awarded stipends will be awarded the maximum they are eligible for plus the stipend funds not to exceed the cost of attendance determined by Financial Aid & Scholarships. The only fund awarded in combination with a stipend/fellowship scholarship that will be allowed to exceed the cost of attendance is the Pell Grant. Pell Grant will be stacked on top of stipend/scholarship amounts. All other federal and/or state aid in combination with the stipend/scholarship cannot exceed the total cost of attendance.

Graduate students receiving stipends/fellowships can receive other federal and state aid in combination with the stipend/fellowship provided the total amount awarded in federal/state aid and stipend/fellowship does not exceed the designated cost of attendance.

Students have the option to submit a Cost of Attendance (Budget) Adjustment Form to potentially increase their financial aid budget for additional educational expenses.

Here is an example below of a student receiving financial aid and a tuition or stipend award.

Scholarship Team receives notice of award indicating the student will receive tuition and fee reimbursement for $5500 and a stipend for $10,000. Since the student has already been awarded the maximum in federal aid, an adjustment must be made to the student’s total award. Revised award as follows:

Students may request a cost of attendance increase based on extenuating circumstances such as unusually high mortgage or rent rates, large medical expenses, dependent care, etc. If students submit a request to increase the cost of attendance, additional loan money can be awarded along with the tuition and fee reimbursement and the stipend.

Each individual department awarding the scholarship sets the enrollment and GPA requirements. Disbursements on stipends are prevented if the student does not meet the enrollment or GPA requirements at the time of disbursement. Departments are contacted regarding students not meeting the requirements for resolution. We cannot release the stipend until approval is given.