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Application Fee Waivers

To be Considered for a Fee Waiver

In an effort to reduce financial barriers to attending graduate school, the Kenneth P. Dietrich Graduate School of Arts and Sciences offers application fee waivers. Please note that fee waivers are approved on a case-by-case basis and not all fee waiver requests will be granted. All requests received will be reviewed and responded to within 48 hours during normal business hours: Monday - Friday 8:30a.m. to 5:00p.m. EST.  To be considered for a fee waiver, please complete the following fee waiver survey for review: https://pitt.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cD38CmmjcOT3Tvw

Types of Fee Waivers

1. If the application fee represents a financial hardship for an applicant they may qualify for a fee waiver. Our admissions system provides further guidance.

2. We are pleased to offer application fee waivers on the basis of participation in the following programs, fellowships, and events:

  • American Geophysical Union Bridge Program (AGU Bridge)
  • American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) 
  • AmeriCorps (current participant or recent alum, within the last two years)
  • Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS) 
  • BTAA 
  • Cientifico Latino Graduate School Mentorship Program (GSMI)
  • Ecological Society of America Diversity Forum
  • Gates Millennium Scholars
  • HIS Pathways to the Professoriate
  • Hot Metal Bridge Program, University of Pittsburgh (HMB)
  • Institute of for Recruitment of Teachers (IRT)
  • Laureates & Leaders Program
  • Leadership Alliance
  • Lewis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LS-AMP) 
  • Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) 
  • Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) 
  • Moore Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (MURAP)
  • National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) 
  • National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE)
  • National Science Foundation - Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) 
  • National Society for Hispanic Physicists (NSHP)
  • National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) 
  • Peace Corps (current participant or recent alum, within the last two years)
  • Post-Baccalaureate Research and Education Program (PREP/NIH) 
  • Project 1000 
  • Ralph Bunche Summer Institute (RBSI) 
  • Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE/NIH) 
  • Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program
  • Society for Advancement of Chicanos & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
  • Teach for America (current participant or recent alum, within the last two years)

3. We are pleased to offer application fee waivers to the following applicants: 

  • applicants who have earned or are in the process of earning an undergraduate or graduate degree from a Minority Serving Institution (MSI)
  • Honorably Discharged Veterans and Active Duty members of the U.S. Armed Services
  • current University of Pittsburgh staff

4. International applicants: If you are applying through certain outside fellowship organizations, you may be eligible to have your application fee waived.

5. If an applicant does not meet the criteria for one of the types of waiver outlined above but they feel your current circumstances warrant a fee waiver for their graduate school application, the admissions platform provides a mechanism to request a fee waiver.