Application Fee Waiver

**If you are a prospective or current graduate student experiencing impacts from the war in Ukraine, please contact The Graduate School via gradadmissions@unc.edu to discuss your situation.**

Application fee waiver requests are available for ten groups of domestic applicants. If you believe you qualify for an application fee waiver, please check the box on the Program of Study page in the online admissions application and then complete the Application Fee Waiver Request link that will be made available in the menu on the left side of the application page. You should then upload the required documentation listed below.

After you submit your application with the required fee waiver documentation, The Graduate School will review the fee waiver request. If your fee waiver request is approved, the application will be processed and no further action is needed. If denied, you will be notified by email and the application will not be processed until the application fee is received. Fee waiver requests must be received before the deadline for any application to be considered. After you have submitted your fee waiver request, please allow several days for your request to be reviewed by The Graduate School. We will send additional information, including status updates, via email.

  1. Full-time permanent employees of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who submit an application and upload a UNC-CH Employee Application Fee Waiverpdf iconapproved by a central UNC-CH Human Resources Benefits Representative.
  2. Active duty military personnel: To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a copy of orders.
  3. Participants in The Graduate School's Summer Undergraduate Pipeline (SUP) program in conjunction with specifically recognized UNC-Chapel Hill Summer Undergraduate Research Programs (examples include but are not limited to CPC, CSS, IDEA, MURAP, Partners, SMART, SOLAR, SPIRE, SURE, SUROC) applying for a graduate program to begin immediately following graduation. A verification letter signed by a SUP Coordinator and a verification letter signed by the specific Summer Undergraduate Research program director or coordinator will be required to be considered.
  4. Participants in the Gates Scholarship program: In order to qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a verification letter signed by a Gates Scholarship representative.
  5. Participants in the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program: To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a verification letter signed by an IMSD representative.
  6. Participants in the Líder: Carolina Leadership Institute program: To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a verification of participation letter signed by a Líder representative.
  7. Participants in the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program: To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a verification letter signed by an LSAMP representative.
  8. Participants in the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) program: To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a verification letter signed by a MARC representative.
  9. Participants in the McNair Scholars program: To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a verification letter signed by the current campus McNair representative.
  10. Participants in the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP): To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must upload a verification letter signed by a PREP representative.
  11. U.S. citizens who meet the following need-based eligibility:
    • are currently enrolled in a degree program. To qualify for this application fee waiver, applicants must be enrolled in a degree-seeking program in the semester immediately preceding the academic term for which they are applying
    • have received need-based financial aid in each term of enrollment
    Please provide a verification letter on letterhead signed by your current institution's financial aid office to be considered. If you are unable to obtain a letter from your current institution’s financial aid office, please upload official financial aid award statements from all academic years of enrollment.

We will be happy to consider your waiver request if you can satisfy these criteria upon receipt of the required documentation. While participation in select scholarship programs or payment waivers granted by other sources do not automatically grant fee waiver eligibility at this campus, we welcome fee waiver requests from participants who meet the above need-based eligibility criteria.

After you submit your application with the required fee waiver request documentation, the Admissions Office will review your materials and mark your application payment as "waived" or contact you for additional information/payment.

This is a fee waiver process and not a fee payment reimbursement process. Once the application fee is paid by either check or credit card, waiver or reimbursement is no longer an option.