Business Forms

Student Funding System Guide

Access the Student Funding System

Guide for Awarding Fellowships and Scholarships

To offer students fellowships and scholarships, JSIS faculty and staff should first enter awardees in the JSIS student funding system. This should be done prior to sending awardee offer letters.  The system will generate emails to the Business Office with the information necessary to administer the award.

Important Note: Before you award funds: Please be sure that if the student to whom you are planning to award funds is a financial aid recipient, that you disclose the proposed award to the Office of Student Financial Aid (osfa@uw.edu) to avoid any unintended reduction in the student’s other aid funds. 

Step 1: Check the budget

  • Are the funds available in the budget?
  • Is the budget set up to pay stipends, tuition and/or installments?
  • Is there a credit minimum to receive the award? (This can be a problem for students who are only enrolled part-time)
  • Students must be enrolled during the award period (this can be a problem for students studying/doing research abroad)

If you have questions on the budget, please contact Tony English at antengli@uw.edu

Step 2: Write the offer letter

  • Use the offer letter vetted by the Business Office during previous competitions.  Include in the offer letter the website address where students will respond to the offer.
  • If you make any changes to the letter, are unsure if the letter is correct, or don’t have a previous offer letter to reference, please contact Tony English at antengli@uw.edu.
  • Be sure the letter meets the criteria outlined below in the “Tips on Non-Resident Tuition & Insurance” section.

Step 3: Enter the award and offer letter in the JSIS student funding system using the link available on this page

You will need:

  • Student’s full name and email address
  • Student’s NetID if they are a current UW student. If the student does not have a NetID, assign a username and password to the student and include that information in the letter.
  • Student’s department and status during award period (study abroad? full-time enrolled?)
  • Budget number
  • Award amount and distribution quarter
  • Award distribution method (stipend, tuition and/or installment)

Please note that incoming students will not have a UW Net ID and will need to create an account using their email address. Be sure to indicate when students must accept the offer in the award letter. If a student declines the offer, repeat the process above for the next student on the selection list.

Step 4: Send offer letter and await response

Each program determines how to send offer letters to its awardees. The Student Funding System allows offer letters to be sent through the system. This approach is recommended, as it presents a streamlined workflow for the JSIS Business Office. Program staff should send students a PDF of the offer letter so that the text cannot be edited or changed in any way. Students respond to award offers by signing in to the system through this link.  Students complete a form which provides the information needed to administer the award. Upon their response, an email notification is sent to the Program Contact and JSIS Business Office.

If a student misses the deadline date for responding to an award offer, and if a program wishes to extend a new deadline date to the student, the program may e-mail a request to Don Craig (rhomboid@uw.edu) to set a new deadline date. Don will then enter the new deadline date in the Student Funding System.

Step 5: Monitor the fellowship

Once a students accepts a fellowship offer in the system, the Business Office will be notified and will begin processing the payment (note that both the program contact and the Business Office are notified at the same time once the student accepts the award).

  • Check your budget to ensure the payment was disbursed to the student. The payment should be disbursed in accordance with the timeline of the award.
  • Periodically check in with the recipient throughout the fellowship period to verify that he or she is making satisfactory academic progress. If the student’s enrollment status at the university changes, be prepared to notify the Business Office to stop fellowship payments.

Guide for Awarding Small Awards

This guide refers to awards which are disbursed in one payment and are less than $3,000.  If you are unsure if the award is a ‘small award’ or ‘fellowship/scholarship,’ please ask Tony English at antengli@uw.edu.

Step 1: Check the budget (are the funds available?)

If this is a new budget or you haven’t used it for this purpose before, please check the budget properties with Tony English at antengli@uw.edu.

Step 2: Enter the award in the JSIS funding system

Use the link available on this page. The system will generate an email to the Business Office staff prompting them to administer the award. You will need:

  1. Student’s full name and email address
  2. Student’s NetID if they are a current UW student
  3. Student’s UW student number
  4. Budget number
  5. Award amount and distribution quarter

Step 3: Advise student to sign up for direct deposit

Use the ‘Student Finances’ tab of the MyUW page. The student cannot be paid unless they are signed up for direct deposit. Please note that this process only applies to students receiving small awards. Once the student has signed up for direct deposit, the small award will be disbursed to the student through the UW Student Database; the student does not need to take any other action to receive the small award.

Tips on Non-Resident Tuition and Insurance

Awarding Varied Amounts

  1. Graduate students who receive a stipend of at least $500/month for each month in a given quarter qualify for a waiver of non-resident tuition (NRD waiver) for that quarter. This must be processed through the payroll system. The student will receive biweekly stipend payments on UW paydays.
  2. Graduate students who receive a stipend of at least $800/month for each month in a given quarter AND are registered for at least 10 credits per quarter qualify for a waiver of non-resident tuition (NRD waiver) and also qualify for the Graduate Appointee Insurance Program (GAIP) if your program pays the benefit rate on the stipend. The 2024-2025 rate is 22.5%, but rates change on July 1 of each year. This must be processed through the payroll system. The student will receive biweekly stipend payments on UW paydays.
  3. In order to receive the NRD waiver or the GAIP insurance, the stipend needs to be paid in equal, biweekly payments through the UW payroll system (as opposed to one full payment at the beginning of the quarter).