Student Aid

Tuition and Funding

A detailed list of current tuition and fees is available on the Budget and Planning website.  To get an idea of the average cost of tuition for an undergraduate student visit the Financial Aid and Scholarships website.  For information on the estimated costs for graduate students you can refer to the Cost CalculatorLSU offers tuition waivers for graduate students funded by assistantships. These waivers do not include fees, however, which cost upwards of $1900 per semester for full time graduate students.

Financial aid for undergraduate students includes grants, loans, work study and scholarships. Visit Financial Aid for more information.

G&A currently funds approximately 20 graduate students through departmental teaching assistantships. Additional graduate assistantships are funded through research grants funded by the NSF, NOAA, MMS, EDA, and others. For more information on financing your education visit the Graduate School's website.  

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the application for all federal and state aid programs. You will need to indicate Louisiana State University (school code #002010) in the school release section of the application so that the LSU financial aid office may receive your file.  Students apply for consideration for Federal Direct Loans and Federal Perkins Loans by completing the FAFSA.

Graduate Travel Award

The Graduate School offers a Graduate Student Travel Award which provides reimbursement of approved travel expenses to students who attend conferences and present their research. Conferences must be widely recognized; university-sponsored events do not qualify. The award will be a reimbursement after both travel and an Expense Report have been completed.  The GSA Travel Awards have strict deadlines. The Graduate School begins accepting applications three calendar months before the scheduled departure date, and no later than one calendar month before departure.

The current allotments for these awards are:

$100 for in-state travel
$200 for out-of-state travel
$450 for international travel

Students are eligible to apply for and potentially receive the following number of Graduate Student Travel Awards:

Master’s Degree students – one award during the student’s academic career.
Doctoral students – three awards for the student’s academic career. Students who transition from Master’s to Doctoral programs can receive no more than three awards during their academic career. This includes students involved in dual-enrollment and other related programs.

You will need to contact the Graduate Secretary to complete the Spend Authorization prior to making travel arrangements.  The Spend Authorization must be approved before travel starts.  Travel reimbursement requests must be filed immediately upon return from your trip so that your reimbursement can be submitted to the Travel Office within their 30-day deadline. Students are responsible for providing all required documents to the Graduate Secretary so that an Expense Report can be processed.  If the reimbursement is not filed by the deadline you will not be eligible to receive reimbursement.

You should contact the Graduate Secretary before you make travel arrangements to ensure that all procedures are followed.  You will not automatically be reimbursed for conference travel.  It is the student's responsibility to secure funding prior to making travel arrangements.