All ASEs are entitled to receive a remission (or refund) of a portion of their fees to offset the cost of attending college. Fee remission is governed by Article 11 — Fee Remission and Article 35 — Workspace and Instructional Support of our union contract and Section I — Fee Remission of the EECS/DS local agreement.
Fee remission has been an important priority of ASEs since unionization. ASEs won remission in our first contract in 2000. Since then, the university has quadrupled the cost of attendance, but our guaranteed fee remission has insulated ASEs from the rising cost of higher education.
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Readers and Tutors/UCS1s
Under Article 35 — Workspace and Instructional Support of our union contract, tutors/UCS1s are entitled to receive a partial fee remission of the instructional resilience and enhancement fee (IREF) each semester they are appointed. 100% of the IREF is remitted when working 10+ hours per week, and $35 is remitted when working <10 hours per week.
| Hours appointed | Fees remitted |
|---|---|
| 12 | $130 |
| 10 | $130 |
| 8 | $35.00 |
| 6 | $35.00 |
If you are appointed below 10 hours but end up working, on average, more than 10 hours per week, your appointment should be adjusted upward and you should receive a higher amount of fee remission.
TAs/UCS2s
Fee remission for undergraduate TAs/UCS2s includes in-state tuition, the student services fee, the Berkeley Campus Fee, and the Class Pass fee, in addition to the instructional resilience and enhancement fee. Fee remission for undergraduate TAs/UCS2s excludes non-resident supplemental tuition and SHIP healthcare premiums.
The percentage of these fees that is remitted is based on the total appointed hours across all TA/UCS2 positions:
| Appointed hours | Fee remission percentage |
|---|---|
| >12 | 100% |
| 12 | 60% |
| 10 | 50% |
| 8 | 40% |
If you have two 8-hour TAships, you are appointed at 16 hours and should receive 100% fee remission. The exact dollar amount of fee remission you receive is dependent on how much you pay in fees according to your tuition cohort (that is, the first year you entered Berkeley). For example, an 8-hour UCS2 who entered Berkeley in Fall 2021 is in the 2021-22 cohort and should receive a refund of $2,948.20 in fees.
| Hours appointed | 21-22 Cohort | 22-23 Cohort | 23-24 Cohort | 24-25 Cohort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| >12 | $7,370.50 | $7,637.50 | $7,961.50 | $8,303.50 |
| 12 | $4,474.30 | $4,634.50 | $4,828.90 | $5,034.10 |
| 10 | $3,750.25 | $3,883.75 | $4,045.75 | $4,216.75 |
| 8 | $2,948.20 | $3,055.00 | $3,184.60 | $3,321.40 |
How fee remission is calculated
Fee remission for UCS2s is calculated via the following method:
- Add together the Resident UG tuition, Student services fee, Berkeley campus fee, and Class Pass fee – transit. These are core fees. Multiply these core fees by the applicable fee remission percentage (see above table) to get the core fee remission.
- Determine the amount of the instructional resilience and enhancement fee (IREF). For UCS2s at 10+ hours per week, the IREF remission is equal to 100% of IREF, currently $130. For UCS2s at 8 hours per week, the IREF remission is the greater of a) 40% of IREF or b) $35.
- The total fee remission is the core fee remission plus the IREF remission.
Explanation:
The vast majority of fee remission for TAs/UCS2s exists under the Fee Remission article of our union contract as modified by the Fee Remission section of the EECS/DS local agreement. This guarantees a percentage remission of in-state tuition, the student services fee, the Berkeley Campus Fee, and the Class Pass fee.
However, IREF is a campus fee that was created to fund various classroom technologies, such as email, bCourses, and Google Drive. Since these services are necessary to perform our jobs, the Workspace and Instructional Support article of our union contract also says that the university must provide (no cost) access to these services. Due to enforcement action in 2023, the university agreed to remit a portion of the IREF to all workers, not just those who are typically eligible for remission under the Fee Remission article of our contract. The settlement was that, under the Workplace and Instructional Support article, 100% of IREF would be remitted to workers at 10+ hours per week, and $35 to workers at <10 hours per week.
Since IREF is covered by the Workplace and Instructional Support article and the Fee Remission article, the university must provide the maximum amount of fee remission under the applicable articles to each UCS2. For UCS2s at 12 and 10 hours, this means that they get 100% of IREF remitted. For UCS2s at 8 hours, 40% of IREF is remitted.
Logistics
Fee remissions for undergrads are processed manually by the department. In the past, fee remissions have been remitted as late as the day before tuition is due—that’s the Thursday before the start of instruction. Fees for undergraduates are remitted as a departmental award in your financial aid portal in CalCentral.
You can see the fees that your fee remission has paid by viewing the transaction in My Finances > Transactions > Charges Paid. Fee remission is applied before any other form of financial aid—this means that if you have other financial aid, or if you have already paid your tuition and fees, the fee remission will be used “first.” If your financial aid, payments, fee remission, and other awards exceed your tuition and fees, the overpayment/extra financial aid is said to be “unapplied” and will be refunded to you within several days, or perhaps a week. It should be noted that the funds will likely appear in your bank account several days after CalCentral says the refund has been “Paid.” You should make sure that your CalCentral direct deposit is set up so that your unapplied aid/payments are refunded to your bank account.
Note that if your fee remission and other financial aid exceeds your total cost of attendance, the overpayment/extra aid may not be refunded to you. If this applies to you, you should make sure your cost of attendance is accurate so that you receive the full benefits of your fee remission. You should also note that receiving fee remission may affect your eligibility for some forms of need-based financial aid.
Note also that some forms of financial aid are not refundable. For example, Cal Grant A can only be used to pay tuition and fees; therefore, if your fee remission together with Cal Grant A cover all of your tuition and fees, any “extra” money that is left over will not be refunded to you.
It should not be necessary to pay tuition and fees that are covered by fee remission. If you want to avoid paying fees and then getting a refund for those fees, use the above tables to determine the amount of fees that will be refunded to you and simply pay the balance of your account less your owed remission.
You do not have to pay the fees covered by remission. While there is no set date for fees to be remitted by, fees must remitted before they would cause you hardship (i.e. before it goes to collections, or you are canceled for nonpayment, or a hold is put on your account).