<p>Dear CC,</p>
<p>Hope all is well. I was looking on [Find</a> the Graduate School That’s Right for You — PhDs.org Graduate School Guide](<a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org%5DFind”>http://graduate-school.phds.org) specifically at schools like Columbia for their M.S. in biomedical engineering, and although the tuition is high it says that 83% get tuition remission. What does that mean? how does one get tuition remission?</p>
<p>Tuition remission means that tuition is paid for you.</p>
<p>When a grad student receives a fellowship or an assistantship, it usually includes both tuition remission and a stipend. The amount of the annual stipend varies greatly by field, and a bit by location, and a bit by university, and a bit by cost of living in the area.</p>
<p>Even with tuition remission and a stipend, graduate students are sometimes still responsible for paying some additional fees. At my university, these various fees amount to about 700 per academic year.</p>
<p>The point that Professor X brings up is a good one. Tuition may be paid but university bursars have no shortage of fees and charges. You may pay 60.00 per month to park or have an omenous “technology” fee show up on your account. Further, you might find that though you have had nothing of the kind since you started grad school, you are still being charged for “recreation”. These are good questions to ask current grad students.</p>