Financial aid in Sustainable Communities

We offer tuition waivers and graduate assistantships on a competitive basis to students who:

• are admitted to the Sustainable Communities program
• are enrolled as full-time graduate students (taking a minimum of 9 hours per semester)
• maintain a 3.0 GPA (with no grades below B and no grades of “incomplete”)

New and current students are encouraged to apply. However, preference is given to those students in their first two years of study.

Academic merit, your ability to perform specific services, and financial need are all taken into account when awarding financial aid.

Note that while the program tries to help as many students as possible, we are unable to support all students who are admitted in the program.

Tuition waivers

Each year, the program is awarded a limited number of tuition waivers by the Graduate College.

If you’re an Arizona resident, you may be able to receive a waiver of resident tuition; these waivers cover the cost of in-state tuition. Students receiving tuition waivers are still responsible for paying fees.

If you are not an Arizona resident, you may be eligible for a non-resident waiver; these waivers cover the out-of-state portion of University tuition. If you are awarded a non-resident waiver, you will still be responsible for paying the in-state portion of tuition.

Graduate assistantships

Graduate assistantships are offered as part of an employment contract. Graduate assistants normally work 10-20 hours per week, and must be enrolled in at least nine, but not more than 12 credit hours per semester.

All assistantships require at least 10 hours of work per week and include a waiver of the nonresident portion of tuition.

Graduate assistants who work 20 hours per week receive a waiver of 100 percent of resident tuition and a waiver of the student health insurance premium.

Graduate assistants who work 10-19 per week receive a waiver of 50 percent of resident tuition.

All graduate assistants are expected to pay other applicable fees.

You may be interested in applying for graduate assistantships that are not attached to an academic department. These opportunities are available at the Graduate College’s website.

How to apply

Continuing and admitted students are invited to apply for waiver support, Sustainable Communities GAships, and student work positions in March; you’ll receive an e-mail listing opportunities.

Other resources

Northern Arizona University’s Graduate College is your best guide to finding other financial resources, graduate assistantships, and tuition waivers through the university. There, students can find information about:

• national scholarships and fellowships
• employment programs, loans, and scholarships
• veterans’ educational benefits
• current graduate assistantship openings in departments across campus
• support services units that offer graduate assistantships
• Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP), a program designed for certain out-of-state students to earn their degree at the cost of in-state tuition

Looking for more? FastWeb is an excellent independent scholarship guide. Register and use the interactive form to match you with a variety of possible funding sources.