Tuition waiver programs and projected awards
Tuition waiver programs are a financial benefit that reduces out-of-state tuition for domestic non-resident students. K-State’s tuition waiver programs — the Wildcat Nonresident Award, Midwest Student Exchange Program, Founders Non-Resident Merit Award, Missouri Reciprocal Program, and Missouri Match Program, which can be viewed in scholarship/award finder — are offered to students based on merit and are a benefit that does not need to be repaid, similar to scholarships.
Tuition waiver programs are considered institutional aid in combination with other applicable scholarships and university grants. However, tuition waiver programs and scholarships do have some key differences.
How waiver programs differ from scholarships
Disbursement considerations
Scholarships are fixed awards, with a specific dollar amount being disbursed to a student’s account each applicable term. However, waiver programs discount the out-of-state tuition rate being applied to a student’s account. Therefore, with waiver programs, actual monies are not disbursed to a student’s account; a discount is simply applied.
Financial benefit over time: Projected total award
As noted above, scholarships are fixed awards with specific dollar amounts associated with them. However, tuition waiver programs have projected award totals . As tuition rates increase over time, the discount rate of waiver programs reflects any increases in out-of-state tuition. This means that tuition waiver programs carry the potential to save students more money over the course of their time at the university, as the financial benefit to a student increases alongside any annual tuition rate increases.
Given this, please note that projected award amounts are estimated and variable because:
- The amount of tuition savings will vary based on the number of credit hours you take each semester.
- The amount of tuition savings will vary if the resident or non-resident tuition rates change over the course of your time at K-State, as the projection is based on the current academic years' rates.
We estimate first-year award amounts for tuition waiver programs at 30 credit hours per year/15 credit hours per semester.
Program type considerations
Out-of-state tuition waivers can only be applied toward programs in which out-of-state tuition would otherwise be assessed in full to a student. For example, let’s say your program of study is a Manhattan campus-based program, but you choose to change your program of study to an online program. The online program is not charged an out-of-state tuition rate; therefore, the waiver would no longer be applied.