Web Grad Aid Quick Reference

Program Access & Authorization

Web Grad Aid is located at

To access WGA, you need a valid Kerberos and MITID, a web certificate, and appropriate authorization. To get authorization, your department’s Primary Financial Authorizer must submit a request to , providing the following for whoever needs access:

  • Name
  • Department
  • Email address
  • Office location
  • Type of authorization needed:

View Only

Create & Update

ODGE (specifically for staff in the Office of the Dean of Graduate Education)

Help / Questions?

Business policy questions can be directed to , or to Janet Sahlstrom, at 617-258-6486.

Terms & Concepts

Web Grad Aid / The web-based interface for entering graduate student awards and appointments into MITSIS.
MITSIS / The MIT Student Information System, the system of record for all MIT student information.
Mnemonic / Shorthand form for advisors, used in Web Grad Aid for both entering and searching. Comprised of the first letter of the advisor’s first name, the first four letters of the last name, and the course number. For example, rcohe10
Standard Distribution
vs.
Non-Standard Distribution / A Standard distribution is one where the salary is distributed to just one cost object across the entire period of the appointment. With a Non-Standard Distribution, either the salary is distributed to more than one cost object, OR different cost objects cover different time periods during the appointment.
Award / Appointment / Often used interchangeably, but award is usually used for Fellowships, while appointment is the more correct term for Research or Teaching Assistantships
Cancel vs. Terminate / Two different actions in Web Grad Aid. Cancel refers to cancelling an award completely from the system. Terminate is used when the end date of an award needs to be changed, for example due to early completion of a thesis.
Partial Term / An appointment period that is less than a full standard term. Start and end dates for partial term appointments MUST fall within start and end dates of a standard term.
Elements of an Award / Depending on the type of award or appointment, funding can include: Tuition, Salary or Stipend, and Student Extended Insurance Plan (SEIP). Current salary, tuition, and insurance amounts can be found from the Useful Links section on the home page of Web Grad Aid.

Rules & Conditions

  • When tuition is included as part of a TA or RA appointment, it is always provided in correspondence to the level of effort of the appointment, e.g., a 50% level of effort TA will receive 50% tuition.
  • Each year, standard salary and stipend rates are set for TA, RA and Fellowships. Salary amounts up to 15% above or 10% below the standard rate can be given, but outside of those parameters, special approval from the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education must be obtained.
  • The IRS requires that RA and TA appointments include a salary component. If a student needs only tuitionthen the RA or TA appointment must be apportioned between tuition and salary, keeping to a specific ratio. Refer to the Reasonable Compensation Guidelines(link on home page of WGA) to determine how to apportion the award.
  • Fellowships can be a tuition-only award.
  • Awards cannot be made to special students or students not eligible to register.
  • Graduate Students with full-time (100%) appointments cannot take on additional work; exception made for US citizens, who can take on 10 hours a week of hourly paid work.
  • Non-Resident Doctoral Candidates: fellowship funding allowed for 3 academic terms, but total award cannot exceed 5% of regular tuition rate.

Creating New Awards & Appointments

  1. Locate the student by searching for their nameor MIT ID#, their Program, or by Research Advisor. From the search results select the student.
  2. Create an appointment or award by selecting the aid year, appointment type, period, and distribution type, then clicking Create Appointment.
  3. On the next screen, enter the applicable information for the appointment type in the appropriate fields, including:
  4. Level of Effort percentage
  5. Status: Actual or Estimated
  6. Off-Campus: Yes or No
  7. Salary and cost object(s)
  8. Tuition and cost object(s)
  9. Advisor Mnemonic
  10. Comments about the appointment or award
  11. Click Preview before Saving.
  12. On the Appointment Summary screen, review the information for accuracy and completeness. If you need to change something, click Return to Update If the information is correct, click Save Appointment and Send Email.

Processing Changes to Awards & Appointments

Scenario / Best Practices for Making the Change
Cancellations / Student withdraws from MIT retroactive to beginning of term / Change the status of the appointment from Actual to Cancel Completely. Enter a comment explaining why you are canceling.
Student never attended or never registered / Change the status of the appointment from Actual to Cancel Completely. Enter a comment explaining why you are canceling.
Award or appointment is being replaced by another award or appointment type for the entire term / Change the status of the appointment from Actual to Cancel Completely. Enter a comment explaining why you are canceling. Create the new appointment, also entering comments to explain the replacement.
Terminations / Student completes final degree (e.g. defends thesis) in the middle of a term / Change the status of the appointment from Actual to Terminate. Supply a new end date (format: dd-mmm-yy). Salary will be automatically adjusted when you hit the “calculate” button. Locate the tuition for the new end date on the Registrar’s tuition proration table, insert in the Total Tuition box, and click calculate to distribute. The insurance should stay, unless the student has waived it.
One appointment type takes over for another in the middle of a term / Change the status from Actual to Terminate. Supply a new end date (format: dd-mmm-yy). Salary will be automatically adjusted when you hit “calculate”, but tuition for both appointments (new and old) should be calculated across the entire term. A monthly or daily tuition calculation should be made, and the appropriate amount entered as Total Tuition. Click “calculate” to distribute. If the terminated appointment is the larger of the two it should retain the insurance subsidy.
Create the second appointment as a Partial Term appointment. Enter comments for both the Termination and the new Partial Term appointments to explain that one appointment follows upon the other.
Salary rate changes in middle of term / Change the status from Actual to Terminate on the existing appointment as of the date before the new salary rate date, and enter comments clearly explaining as to why the appointment is being terminated.
Create a Partial Term appointment for the new salary rate. Click the calculate button to distribute the cost. In this case, where the combined appointments will cover the total tuition for the term, calculate the monthly tuition rate, and enter the appropriate amount of Total Tuition for each appointment. Click “calculate” to distribute the costs. The appointment that is the larger amount of the two should retain the insurance subsidy.
Estimated to Actual / Estimated status is used pending the receipt of certain information (for example, cost object or the student’s I-9). / Select the appointment and change the status from Estimated to Actual. Supply any missing salary, tuition, insurance amounts, and cost object(s).
Scenario / Best Practices for Making the Change
Salary Rate & Cost Distribution Changes / Cost distributions for the student’s salary change mid-term. / Review and adjust the salary cost distribution and the associated start and end dates for the existing appointment. Enter the new cost object, percent distribution and start and end dates for the new distribution. Click the “Calculate” button to distribute the cost.
Cost distributions for the tuition component of a student’s TA appointment or Fellowship award change mid-term, e.g. March 1. / For Fellowship tuition cost distribution changes: Calculate the total tuition amount for the period before the change (in this example, Jan 16 - Feb 28), and enter that amount in the data field for spring for the existing cost object. Enter the new cost object to which the remaining tuition is to be charged, calculate the total tuition amount for the remainder of the term(Mar 1 - May 31), and enter that in the field for spring for the new cost object. Click the calculate button to distribute the cost.
For TA tuition cost distribution changes: At the data entry area for Tuition, adjust the end date for the current cost object distribution to February 28. Enter the new cost object, the percent distribution, and the start date of March 1 and the end date of May 31. Click the “Calculate” button to distribute the cost.
Incorrect cost object was entered for the Insurance component. / In the data entry section for Insurance, the data field for the cost object originally entered will be grayed out. Change the distribution for this cost object from 100% to 0%. Then proceed to enter the new cost object, 100% distribution and the start and end date. Click the “Calculate” button to distribute the costs.
Salary rate needs to be changed for entire term / Enter the new monthly salary rate. Click the “Calculate” button. Enter comments explaining the change and that it is for the entire term.
Salary rate changes in middle of term / See section under Terminations.
Changes to a non-salary component / Student has received additional funding for tuition fellowship / If the student has an existing fellowship, go to the data entry section for Tuition. Enter the cost object and the total amount for the appropriate term. Click the “Calculate” button to distribute the cost.
If the student has an RA or TA appointment that is less than 100%, and the fellowship tuition is to be a supplement, create a new fellowship award. In the tuition data entry section, enter the cost object and the total amount for the appropriate term. Click “Calculate.”
Student has waived the MIT medical insurance, and the insurance portion of the award needs to be cancelled. / In the data entry section for Insurance, enter “0” in the “Total Insurance” data field, and change the distribution for this cost object from 100% to 0%. Click the “Calculate” button