To be eligible to graduate, you must defend and submit exam results no later than the published deadline for the semester of graduation. If you are using the end-of-semester deadline, which allows you to receive your degree the following semester without having to pay fees, you must have all degree requirements completed by the last business day before classes start the following semester.

Financial Aid sends students a form when they complete their application for federal aid asking if they will receive a graduate fee authorization. If you did not return the form or know the status of your fellowship at the time you completed the form, Financial Aid will be able to include the fellowship in your award summary when it posts to your statement of account (i.e., once you enroll for the required credit hours).

The Graduate School distributes college-level awards to colleges based on the average number of awards won by their graduate programs during the last 5 years. Each college then distributes these among its graduate programs. Contact your dean’s office for your program’s allotment.

Yes. There is a place on the form to indicate that you wish to upgrade an existing fellowship.

Access to the Graduate School’s Nomination System is limited to graduate studies committee chairs and graduate program coordinators. If your access is not automatic or if neither the GSCC or coordinator is available to process nominations, contact Fellowship Services with the name of the graduate program, person needing access, and his/her Ohio State name.#.

Fellowships are provided so that students are able to focus full-time on their academic work. On occasion, the Graduate School has approved a concurrent appointment or job. To make this request, the Graduate Studies Chair must send a written appeal to Fellowship Services confirming that the following conditions are met: + The student’s graduate studies chair approves of the concurrent appointment and affirms the student’s ability to handle the additional workload, and + The appeal describes how the concurrent appointment will benefit the student’s academic studies, and + The appeal confirms that the work involves no more than 10 hours per week.

Waivers are posted in the Graduate School’s Nomination System by inserting a “Y” in the appropriate waiver box(es) in the same row as the student’s name.

Students who have already been admitted to a graduate program at Ohio State and who have paid fees may request to transfer from their current graduate program into another Ohio State graduate program. Transfer of graduate program

Yes, these are two separate processes. You will need to accept your fellowship as outlined in the previous question and you will need to accept your admission in the online Graduate Admissions portal.

No. Students who are admitted conditionally cannot be nominated for a fellowship.

Request forms are on the Graduate School website (Option 1, Option 2).

No. Students whose fellowship included a dissertation year are not eligible.

For leaves two weeks or less, you need to contact your graduate program and fill out a Request for Leave form. Your graduate program should contact the fellowship office. For leaves greater than two weeks, you need to contact your graduate program AND the fellowship office. You will complete a Request for Leave form along with any supporting documentation. A copy of this information will be given to your graduate program and the fellowship office. The fellowship office should be notified when you return to your graduate program or if you decide not to return. Depending on the nature of the request for leave, you may forfeit the remainder of your fellowship.

This information can be found in the Fellowship Guidelines.

Ohio State requires all international graduate students from non-English speaking countries to acquire proficiency in written and spoken English to a level at which they can successfully compete with domestic and other English-speaking students.  ESL requirement

Your OSU Employee ID (Emplid) number is the same eight- or nine-digit number that you were assigned when you applied. This number will also appear on your Ohio State Buck ID. What should I do if I don’t have a local Columbus address for my HR paperwork? Students without a Columbus address at the time of completing their HR paperwork should list a temporary Columbus address, such as their graduate department or friend (with their permission), where they can receive mail until they have established a Columbus residence. As soon as students have a Columbus residence, they should make that change online in Employee Self Service.

No. Nominations are limited to students who will be entering their first year as an Ohio State graduate student. Students who received a graduate degree at another institution, but will be a first time Ohio State graduate student, are eligible to be nominated.

Reallocation requests may be submitted up until 5 p.m. on April 16.

All nomination materials must be submitted as one PDF in the order listed on the Presidential Fellowship Guidelines.

The Graduate School cannot offer tax advice. We encourage fellows to consult a tax professional. You may also direct tax questions to the Ohio State Tax Office at 614-292-2311. Information about fellowships and taxes can be found at the IRS website.

Yes, upload the AME Summary Sheet in EDWARD.

An undergraduate may petition to take courses for graduate credit provided that the student meets certain criteria and procedures. Senior petition

Students do not apply for Graduate School fellowships. Graduate programs select students to nominate from among those who have applied to their programs by the program’s required deadline. The Graduate School’s fellowship program is a competitive process for students who will be new graduate students to Ohio State. Contact the department you are interested in and let them know of your intention to apply and your interest in being nominated for a Graduate School fellowship.

You will not receive a W-2 form because your fellowship stipend is an award and no taxes are withheld from your stipend. Students should keep track of their stipend amounts to use in filing taxes.

No. In fairness to all nominees, all deadlines are firm.

Graduate students may request transfer credit for courses taken at other universities that may fulfill degree requirements in the program at Ohio State. Transfer credit

Your tax responsibilities will depend on whether or not your country is a signatory to the U.S. Tax Treaty. If you are a nonresident alien, you must complete the GLACIER Online Tax Compliance System. Email your complete name, email address, and pay frequency (monthly) to GLACIER. Once your email has been received, you will be notified by an email from GLACIER of your password and login. Additional information regarding taxation can be found at Ohio State's Office of the Controller or by calling the Ohio State Tax Office at 614/292-2521.

There is no NOMINATE button in the GE competition because programs may submit unlimited nominations in the GE competition. If you have nominated someone for a GE fellowship that you wish to remove from the Nomination System, please contact Fellowship Services.

Students who apply to graduate in a given semester and find that they cannot complete degree requirements by the posted deadlines can opt to utilize an option at Ohio State called End-of-Semester.

Students who take this option have until the last business day before the start of the next semester to complete all degree requirements, including defending a dissertation or thesis, submitting the final approved document, and taking care of all related paperwork and fees.

Meeting the End-of-Semester deadline means that a student will officially graduate the following semester and will not have to be enrolled in that semester, nor re-apply to graduate. The student's degree is conferred at the next commencement ceremony, and this is the date of graduation that will appear on the student’s official transcript.

Graduate programs typically send their Graduate School Fellowship awardees a congratulations letter. This letter may also add to the Graduate School’s offer by supplementing the student’s fellowship stipend and/or adding years of funding (e.g., as a GTA or GRA). These awards are combined; students do not need to choose between the two.

If eligible, foreign nationals receiving pay or a stipend from Ohio State should apply for a permanent social security number or ITIN. Please see the Social Security Administration  and IRS for more information. After receipt, please provide your Social Security number or ITIN to Payroll Services by completing the OSU Change of Record form at http://www.controller.osu.edu/forms/payroll/ChangeRecord.pdf.

CAFs are submitted to the Graduate School through its online Nomination System. Instructions are posted on the Nomination System. The only exception to online submission is when a CAF is used to upgrade an awarded fellowship (see next question).

If the date, time, or place of your exam must be changed after you have submitted the notification form, notify Graduation Services immediately. Notification of the change must come in writing from your advisor or the chair of your graduate studies committee. Written notification may take the form of a note or letter, a fax (614-292-3656), or an e-mail. A telephone call is not sufficient to approve the change, but a call can help prevent assignment of a graduate faculty representative for the incorrect date or time.

Students who received a multi-year fellowship, but are in a Master’s degree program, will receive continuous funding for the number of years indicated in their letter.

Requests to activate the dissertation year fellowship must be made by the fellow’s Graduate Studies Committee Chair via email to Fellowship Services and provide assurance that the student has:

• a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.6;
• passed the Candidacy Examination and is within the five-year candidacy time period;
• completed all doctoral coursework; and

Note: Dissertation year enrollment should be limited to research and departmental seminars. Fellows may register for other degree-related courses with advisor approval. The Dissertation Year Fellowships may not be used to support courses taken for another degree program.

• received continuous departmental support during the intervening years between the first and dissertation years.

Yes, however, you will not submit a CAF upgrade request online. Instead, you must submit an email request to the fellowship office with the name and EMPLID of the student and the number of years to be added. Include CAF Upgrade Request in the subject line.

You must be registered for at least three graduate credit hours in order to be eligible to take any part of a Candidacy Examination, a Final Oral Examination, or to graduate with either a master’s degree or doctoral degree. Audit hours do not count. International students on a visa should consult with the Office of International Affairs about enrollment criteria.

In general, graduate administrative associates, graduate research associates, and graduate teaching associates are required to register for eight credit hours (except during summer semester, when the number is reduced to four credit hours). GAAs, GRAs, or GTAs who are post-candidacy are required to register for 3 graduate hours. Learn more about course load requirements.

Students should receive communication from the Student Health Insurance (SHI) office in early summer letting them know the process for opting out of the SHI. You may also contact SHI directly.

The dissertation year can be activated at the start of any semester. Once activated, the fellowship runs for 3 consecutive semesters.

If the nominee doesn’t need a waiver, we don’t require any extra materials. If the nominee needs a waiver, the graduate studies chair must submit a written request to the Graduate School’s associate dean prior to submission that 1) identifies the waiver category, 2) confirms college dean approval, and 3) provides a detailed justification for granting the waiver.

Yes, by special petition. The Committee and Examination Petition must describe the reasons for the request. You must attach a copy of the proposed committee member's c.v. to the petition, which must be signed by you, your adviser, and the chair of your graduate studies committee. All materials must be submitted to the Graduate School for review. Approvals or denials are made on a case-by-case basis.

In general, only those students whose academic program begins in the summer may begin their fellowship in the summer. All other students must receive approval from their graduate program and the Graduate School to begin in the summer. If your program begins in the summer, regardless of your program’s start date, you will receive three consecutive terms of fellowship support. Your tenure will run from May–May.

The request from the Graduate Studies Chair should be received at least four weeks before the beginning of the semester in which the student would like to begin his/her Dissertation Year Fellowship.

CAFs will show in the Nomination System the day after approval of the submission.

Yes, but not as advisor. Your graduate studies committee chair must write a letter to the Graduate School explaining the circumstances and indicating that the committee has no reservations about the former faculty member continuing on the committee. If more than one student is involved, the graduate studies committee chair may include a list of affected students in one letter. If your advisor leaves the university, he or she may be a co-advisor, along with a co-advisor from the graduate faculty at Ohio State. This change must be approved by the graduate studies committee in the student's degree program and the Graduate School.

A person who is no longer a member of the graduate faculty at Ohio State may only be on a committee  in addition to the required number of current Ohio State graduate faculty members that constitute a valid committee.

In general, fellowships must begin in the year in which they are awarded. Exceptions to this policy are rare and only granted for extraordinary circumstances. To request an exception, the Graduate Studies Chair must send a written petition to the Fellowship Office explaining the reason for the request.

Access to the Graduate School’s Nomination System is limited to graduate studies committee chairs and graduate program coordinators. If your access is not automatic, contact Fellowship Services with the name of the graduate program, chair or coordinator needing access, and his/her Ohio State email.

Any change in a CAF award requires approval of the fellowship services director and may be made only if the student has not been notified of the award. If approved, another request needs to be submitted online and the fellowship director needs to manually remove the other award.

No, with one exception. All exams or defenses must take place on the Columbus campus during normal business hours. The only exception is the Ohio State campus in Wooster, which is an authorized location. Normal business hours mean that the exam can begin as early as 7:30 a.m. and must end no later than 5:30 p.m.

Fellows must be enrolled for 12 credit hours during the autumn and spring terms, and 6 credit hours during the summer term to maintain their fellowship.

Graduate programs may set earlier or later dates by which materials must be received. Keep in mind that only officially admitted students may be nominated for a fellowship and nominations must be made in SIS by 5 p.m. on the day of the deadline.

Yes. Offers may be made as early as the start of spring semester if they have approval of the college and the Graduate School and have been submitted and approved online. To ensure accurate award information, the fellowship services director must approve early offer letters prior to being sent.

Videoconferencing requires prior approval from the Graduate School. Learn more

Fellows must be enrolled for 6 credit hours during the summer to maintain their fellowship. Credit hours completed during May session count towards the six-hour requirement.

Nomination caps by program are in Appendix E of the Fellowship Guidelines.

Yes. Our official award letter, which contains important links and information about a student’s award, will be sent to all fellowship awardees on or after the early March deadline. What is the deadline for submitting a college-allocated fellowship? College-allocated fellowships must be entered in the Nomination System by 5 p.m. on April 16.

Examination and document submission deadlines have to be firm for the Graduate School to meet the deadlines imposed by the university's Office of the Registrar to provide an accurate graduation list. However, if you applied to graduate but find yourself unable to meet the posted deadlines, you do have the option of using the end-of-semester deadline. If you complete all of your degree requirements by the last business day before the start of the following semester, you may graduate that following semesterr but are not required to register or pay fees for that semester. This is the end-of-semester deadline.

The financial aid office informs all students of their eligibility (authorization) to receive a student loan should they wish to apply for one. This does not mean that you have received a loan or must accept one, only that you have the ability to apply for one up to the amount listed.

Graduate programs may submit unlimited Graduate Enrichment nominations.

No. Reallocations can be made only to students nominated in the competition.