Important Information for New 4-Year Fellows
In addition to the information below, please see this information for Doctoral students in Ed Psych/ADS and Ed Policy who are entering Fall 2012.
Courses
Each fall and spring, all two-year and four-year Fellows enroll in the Proseminar course: EDLF 5500 Selected Topics: Issues in Applied Developmental Science and Education Policy (1 credit), Fridays 11:00-1:00. Includes attendance at the Curry Education Research Lectureship Series, dates TBA. Details about speakers and dates of course meetings will be provided in the syllabus.
Two-year Fellows will enroll in an additional 2 to 4 courses during their Fellowship. Please contact Jim Wyckoff or Sara Rimm-Kaufman to discuss course selection.
Program Monitoring Timeline
All of the documents mentioned below are available here. Please submit them via email to the VEST Program Coordinator by the due date and copy your advisor and, if applicable, co-mentor.
Summer - Continuing Fellows:
- Submit a recently updated competency matrix, using track changes to make updates, and a new research plan table for the next program year (September through August).
- Submit to Denise Strickland prior to 7/27/12, copying your advisor and co-mentor (if applicable).
Fall - All Fellows:
- Submit travel plans for approval to Denise Strickland for approval.
Fall - New Fellows:
- Please meet with your advisor by late August or early September to discuss the VEST Initial Plans document and the Competency Matrix. Email them to VEST Program Coordinator Denise Strickland by 9/10/12.
- When your initial plans are approved, meet with your advisor to complete your research plan table. Submit by 10/8/11.
Spring - All Fellows:
- Information for our annual report to IES must be submitted to the VEST Program Coordinator by 3/1. Reporting requirements have changed slightly so you will not complete the same form as in past years. A new shorter form will be available early spring semester. (Examples of APA-style references are available with other program monitoring documents.)
- Update to research plan table also due 3/1. (Insert "Update" column on the right and use track changes.)
Other:
- EP-ADS and Ed Policy students will have an Annual Review Meeting with their advisor, co-mentor, and another faculty from their program in May (to be scheduled by advisor between the end of classes and end of May). Documents are available here.
- In January after you complete your Fellowship (two-year Fellows) or graduate (four-year Fellows), we will ask you to reflect on your experience in the program and provide comments via an online survey.
Tuition and Health Insurance
Tuition:
Incoming 4-Year Fellows:
Because your tuition funding comes from a variety of sources, please contact Denise for information about your specific tuition situation.
Fellows who receive 10,500 from IES-VEST per year toward the cost of tuition and health insurance:
For fall 2012, you will be set up to receive the amount for full-time in-state tuition and fees and health insurance ($7841 for in-state tuition and activity fee ($12,503 out-of-state); health insurance is $2407). Your tuition bill should reflect that you have a credit toward your tuition and that you have the graduate student health insurance subsidy. You are responsible for paying any remaining tuition owed.
For any tuition that you will be paying yourself, please see information about billing and setting up monthly tuition payments on the Student Accounts website and contact Student Financial Services to discuss your payment options. Also see the Tuition and Fee Schedules.
In the spring, the difference between $10,500 and your fall charges will be put towards your spring tuition. You are responsible for paying any remaining tuition owed. It will be due in January before the semester begins.
Health Insurance: To enroll in Aetna Student Health Insurance, please go to this website and scroll down to the “enroll” link. After enrolling, please make sure that you receive and save proof of coverage. Your graduate student subsidy should show up on SIS to cover the cost of your health insurance. (New students: you'll be able to enroll later this summer, probably late July or early August, but we will let you know when.) Coverage will begin 8/15/11.
Stipends
The program year runs from September 1 to August 31. You will receive a stipend payment each month, with the first one in early October. Each payment is for $2500 and is direct deposited into your bank account. Please note that taxes are not taken out and you will not receive a W-2 form for your stipend, but you must declare this as income when doing your taxes. We recommended reviewing federal tax form 1040-ES and Virginia tax form 760ES to see if you need to pay estimated taxes on your fellowship income. These forms and first installments are due April 15 and May 1, respectively. This is most relevant to those whose fellowship income is a large portion of total income.
See these IRS websites for more details about fellowship support:
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc421.html
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch01.html#d0e1012
Research and Travel Funds
Each predoctoral fellow is allowed up to $1750 in travel funds and $1000 in research funds each program year. The program year runs from September 1 to August 31.
Travel Funds
Travel funds may be used to attend professional workshops and national conferences on topics associated with education science pertaining to your research, and should include conferences such as the fall SREE conference where you will have the opportunity to network with other IES training programs. Please submit your proposed travel plans to Denise in the fall for approval.
Please note:
- Per diems and lodging limits for the city you are visiting are available at UVA’s Procurement webpage. You will receive the per diem listed for meals and incidentals, less any meals you have deducted. The amount listed for lodging is the maximum allowable for reimbursement.
- You can be reimbursed for taxi rides as long as you have receipts.
- You must submit all receipts except receipts for meals. If you are flying, also save your boarding pass stub.
- If you share a hotel room, please pay the hotel directly for your share so that you can submit a receipt for that amount.
- Conference registration fees (which may include membership fees and journals included as part of membership fees) can be paid out of your travel funds or your research funds.
- If you are flying and the entire cost of the flight is being paid by the grant, you can book your flight through Covington Travel and have it charged directly to the grant. Please contact Patsy for more information about this. Note: there will be an agent fee of $30 that will come out of your travel funds too.
- You can submit receipts for reimbursement for registration fees anytime; other expenses (mileage, flights that you are paying part of, per diems, etc.) cannot be reimbursed until after your trip.
*Important info for AERA 2012: In order to have your flight covered to Vancouver, you must book it within the guidelines of the Fly America Act.
If you have any questions about the limits for lodging, etc., please contact DCStrickland@virginia.edu. You are not required to submit any forms prior to travel. After September 1, 2012, research and travel fund balances will be available for viewing via Collab.
After traveling, please submit the signed Travel Reimbursement Form, receipts, and boarding pass stub to Denise Strickland (Ruffner 264) within 30 days. The only signature you need to include is your own; Denise will sign as your supervisor.
Research Funds
Research money may be used to purchase equipment such as books specifically related to your research, testing materials, copy fees, etc.
Before making purchases, please email the Research Funds Approval form to Denise Strickland with as much information as you know about your intended purchase.
Please note:
- Please see Using Research Funds which lists examples of allowable and unallowable items.
- If you are paying for conference registration or a membership to an organization, please send Denise Strickland an email with the form or with a link to the website.
- If you are making purchases from the bookstore, please indicate that in your email and you will receive a PTAO in order to charge directly to the grant.
After making purchases, please submit receipts to Denise Strickland (Ruffner 264) within 30 days.
Extension of Fellowships
Generally it is expected that your fellowship will end on the date of your defense. However, you can make a request for an extension of your fellowship past this date by submitting the information below. The faculty will consider this information as well as your past record of productivity in their decision. In the past, extensions of a few weeks, up to 16 weeks have been allowed. Please note that your fellowship cannot be extended beyond your graduation date.
Please write one page, including:
(1) the date of your defense and desired end date for the fellowship,
(2) the reasons for requesting an extension, and
(3) a description of what you will accomplish during that time, including details about specific products.
Please submit this to Denise at least two months before your date of defense.
Policy about Other Sources of Funding
On rare occasions, Fellows apply for additional grants from sources besides IES. If you are considering applying, please contact Denise to discuss the specifics of the grant you are applying for and how that would work with your IES funding.
