Financial Matters
Tuition and Payment
Fellowship Stipends will start to be disbursed on Monday, August 17, assuming you are registered in at least one unit, have no holds on your account, and have signed up for EFT. Tuition and fees will be paid automatically at this time as well. Payments to international students just arriving in the country will take a bit longer due to GLACIER paperwork processing times, which cannot begin until arrival in the U.S. Scroll down for further details about how to set up your GLACIER account.
Direct Deposit
All students currently in the US should sign up for Direct Deposit (also known as Electronic Funds Transfer or EFT) as soon as possible in order to be paid electronically. The sign-up feature is available through CalCentral. Please remember that in order to receive your funds, you must sign the Student Financial Agreements in CalCentral. The agreement will appear in the “holds” section.
Tuition Payment Deadline
Campus assesses student tuition in mid-July. In early August, you will start receiving notifications telling you that you must start making payments. Unless you are a self-funded student, you can ignore these notifications.
Tuition and Payment for International Students
Students living abroad should establish a US bank account as soon as they arrive in the US and then sign up for Direct Deposit. Here is a useful guide to opening a U.S. bank account. Once you have a bank account, please sign up for Direct Deposit (also known as Electronic Funds Transfer or EFT) in order to be paid electronically. The sign-up feature is available through CalCentral.
Questions about your funding status
If you have a question about your funding status, please contact Antoine Davis at verdelldavis@berkeley.edu and eecs-phd-funding@berkeley.edu.
California Residency
All US citizens and permanent residents who are not officially recognized as California residents for tuition purposes will need to establish California residency before the start of their second year of graduate studies. You’ll need to begin the process of establishing California residency as soon as you arrive. To establish residency, you’ll need to prove that you have lived and remained in California for at least one year. To do this, some things you’ll need to do are: open a bank account, use your credit and debit cards, collect documents, get a California driver’s license, update your local and permanent address in the UC system, and register to vote. For more details, please visit the Residency Office website. Remember that we expect all U.S. citizens and permanent residents to become legal residents of the State of California by the beginning of their second year. There will be a California Residency workshop as a part of Graduate Division’s New Graduate Student Orientation (NGSO).
GLACIER Online Tax System for International Students
If you are an international student in the US receiving a fellowship, you will need to set up a GLACIER Account once you arrive in the United States. GLACIER is an online tax system that helps manage tax information for U.S. nonresidents who are receiving taxable income from the University. You can find further details about this process on the Berkeley International Office’s Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) information page.
How to begin the process of setting up your GLACIER Account:
When you enter the U.S.
- Computer Sciences students should email ganton@berkeley.edu
- Electrical Engineering students should email hernan.patrick@berkeley.edu to begin the process of setting up their GLACIER account.
Once you submit your ITIN, you will receive an email from support@online-tax.net about your GLACIER form and proper tax withholding. Since you must respond within 10 days of receiving it, we encourage you to add the above e-mail address to your contacts and to check your spam folder.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
US citizens and permanent residents should submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to be eligible to receive certain fellowships (you can ignore the deadline on the website).
Graduate Student Instructors (GSI)
Any student who is a GSI and is teaching for the first time at Berkeley is required to take and pass either EE 375 or CS 375. These courses provide more information on being a GSI and should be taken during the semester in which you are first teaching. You register for your course through CalCentral. When you become a GSI, you must also go to 199M Cory Hall (on the mezzanine level) as soon as possible to complete GSI payroll paperwork. This paperwork triggers your GSI fee remission.
International GSIs
If you are an incoming student who stated on your application that English is not your native language and you do not have an undergraduate degree from a U.S. institution, please submit a language proficiency screening questionnaire. Language proficiency is a requirement for all GSIs. International GSIs are also encouraged to enroll in the Language Proficiency Program offered through the GSI Teaching and Resource Center in 301 Sproul Hall.