Non-Resident Tuition Fee Waiver
What are Non-Resident Tuition Waivers?
At Idaho State University and all other Idaho universities your instruction fees are broken into tuition and fees.
Idaho students pay Resident Tuition of $2,580.00 per semester.
Students from other states in the U.S and International students pay Non-Resident Tuition of $6,922.00 per semester. The total tuition cost for one academic year(2 semester) is $13,844.00
Virtually all public universities and colleges in the United States have a two-tier fee structure -- resident and non-resident—whereby Non-Residents (visa holders) of the United States pay for the actual cost of instruction while residents of a particular state only pay for part of it and the rest is paid by a taxpayer subsidy.
If you receive a Non-Resident Tuition Waiver, you receive the same benefit as a state resident and pay a much reduced tuition fee thanks to the generosity of the Idaho taxpayer. This is a privilege and an honor! You are still responsible for paying the Resident Fees.
What types of Non-Resident Fee Waivers are there?
ISU offers two types of Non-Resident Fee Waivers.
- Technology/Science focused waivers (tech waivers)
- Non-technology/Science focused waivers (non-tech waivers, all programs not listed under tech waivers)
What is considered a Tech Waiver or a Non-Tech Waiver is determined by the State Board of Education, the governing body of the state, overseeing public education.
The State Board of Education (SBOE) also determines how many waivers in each category the university receives each year. The number is a percentage of total full-time enrollment.
There are many more Tech Waivers than Non-Tech Waivers.
International Student Non-Resident Tuition Waivers
Idaho State University wants to encourage the enrollment of international students and therefore has kindly set aside a number of Non-Resident Tuition Waivers in an international student pool.
Every year the International Student NRTW Committee can award approximately:
- 94 Tech Waivers
- 6 Non-Tech Waivers
As you can gather from the numbers above, competition for Non-Tech Waivers is much more intense than for tech waivers.
What are the award criteria?
All Non-Resident Tuition Waivers are awarded solely on academic merit based on cumulative GPA (Grade Point Average).
Tech Waivers
In order to be considered for a Tech Waiver, a student must major in a listed tech field and have a minimum cum GPA of at least 2.5.
If there are more applicants that meet minimum award criteria than waivers, the committee will award from highest to lowest GPA and some students may not get an award although they meet the minimum GPA requirement.
Generally students are awarded on an academic year basis and their waiver is renewable as long as the minimum GPA is maintained and other scholarship stipulations are met. Still, all continuing students must reapply for awards every year.
Students who are awarded for the first time in Spring Semester (January), only get a one-semester award but can apply for the yearly award by February 20 each year. All continuing students must reapply for awards every year.
Non-tech Waivers
In order to be considered for the Non-Tech Waiver, student must have at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
If there are more applicants that meet minimum award criteria than waivers, the committee will award from highest to lowest GPA and some students may not get an award although they meet the minimum GPA requirement.
The best students will be awarded on an academic year basis. The lesser qualified students may just receive a semester award. The awards are not renewable and must be applied for each year/semester.
Competition for these awards is very intense every year.
What about waivers for new students?
ISU will award NRTW tech waivers to new students if any are available based on the same criteria as outlined above. ISU will not award non-tech waivers to newly entering students.
Currently ISU awards on the following priority list:
- currently enrolled ISU students with an ISU GPA
- transfer students from within in the United States who are in good standing with immigration
- high school students from within the United States who are in good standing with immigration
- transfer students from outside the United States who already have a student visa
- transfer students from outside the United States who already have an I-20
- high school graduates from outside the United States who already have a student visa
- high school graduates from outside the United States who already have an I-20
- transfer students from outside the United States who are admitted
- high school graduates from outside the United States who are admitted
We will award as early as possible but at this time no earlier than mid May and mid December. Your Undergraduate Application for Admission to ISU doubles as your NRTW application if you are a new student. No separate application necessary.
Priority deadlines for NRTW scholarships are May 1 and November 1.
What about Graduate Students?
The Graduate School has its own NRTW pool and its own award criteria and processes. Please contact graddean@isu.edu or garneliz@its.wnet.isu.edu for more information.
Application deadlines for these NRTW are May 1 for fall semester, and December 1 for spring semester, and should be sent to the Graduate School. No NRTW are awarded for summer session. The NRTW application for graduate students can be completed online immediately following completion of the online Application for Graduate Studies at ISU, or can be submitted online at http://www.isu.edu/graduate/nonres_waiver_app.html