The academy is funded from a Legislative Special Appropriation, and from the Foundation School Fund. The academy pays for all tuition, fees, and books.
The following are the responsibility of the student’s family: (Financial Aid is available – see below)
Parent Program Charge
In response to significant statewide education cuts, TAMS is requiring a yearly $1,300 parent program charge (this is a non-refundable program charge) per student. This fee is to preserve the structure and integrity of the TAMS program. The fee will be due September 1, 2016. Payment is to be made by logging onto my.unt.edu.
REMINDER – TAMS pays all tuition and fees.
If you feel you will need financial assistance in paying this fee, a student must have a completed FAFSA (fafsa.gov) with the University of North Texas. This process can take up to 3 months so please start filling the FAFSA out early (example: start filling out January 2017 for fall 2017 classes).
To be eligible for federal loans a student must complete the FAFSA. Loans come in the form of student and parent loans. Dependent students can receive an unsubsidized loan up to $2000. With a Parent loan the amounts are different and these are credit based.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact Rose Preston at rpreston@unt.edu or at 940.565.2437.
Room and Board (Housing)
The TAMS Dean's Office should always be your first point of contact if you have any Housing questions. Please contact Rose Preston at 940.565.2437 or rpreston@unt.edu.
Students must fill out a Housing application online each year at the Housing site.
First year students to TAMS may begin filling out their Housing Application after they have been admitted to TAMS. TAMS Admissions will notify them and send their "EUID." On "ehousing," click on "Create my Account"" in the green column on the left.
Second year (returning students to TAMS) may begin their Housing Application in January for the following year (For example, January 2016 for Fall 2016/Spring 2017). In "ehousing," click on "Apply Now" in the green column on the left. The application must be filled out before room assignments are made in the summer.
Prepayment of $400 is due within ten days of completion of the application (no later than July 1, 2016). $350 will go towards the first room and board payment in the fall and the remaining $50 is an administrative processing fee for Housing and non-refundable. Otherwise a new application will have to be completed.
Applications should be complete before room assignments can be made.
Housing does not send out reminders for payments due. Students are expected to pay online and on time. Please mark your calendar.
Housing payments can be made by logging into the student's account at my.unt.edu.
Housing will send any balances at the end of each semester to student accounting which will block student records. If the balance is sent to student accounting for collection it will no longer show on the housing web site and will need to be paid at studentaccounting.unt.edu/payments.
Do not pay the Tuition and Fees that may appear on the my.unt.edu website and/or if you receive notice of UNT dropping your classes. TAMS will pay these after the twelfth day of class. If you pay Tuition and Fees by mistake, the funds may not be returned until after the twelfth day of class.
Housing will post the Fall 2017 charges a few weeks before school begins in the fall semester (August), and the Spring 2018 charges a few weeks before school begins in the spring semester (January).
For current housing rate information please see the UNT rate guide.
Student Activities Charge
Each student is required to pay a charge of $100 per year. This accumulation of charges is used for the funding of all the organizations and activities sponsored by Student Activities. For example: portions of the charge are used to subsidize fall and spring orientation, Homecoming, Family Weekend, Prom and AfterProm, Rosecutting and Student Life Awards, weekend trips, student conferences and the countless number of dances.
On Move-in days, a table will be set up in McConnell to receive the funds however families are encouraged to send in the funds before move-in.
Personal Expenses, including Travel
Price: $2,550
Pencils, notebooks, pizza, music, movies, club dues, prom tickets, travel home on Closed Weekends, holidays, etc. This is highly variable and very similar to typical expenses for any high school student. Most academy students require very little spending money. The figure above is based on the average for a UNT student. The prospective academy family is urged to contact the families of current students for further information on personal expenses.
BankMobile
In order to more efficiently process refunds, scholarship disbursements, etc., UNT has contracted with BankMobile to provide a debit card that can be credited with the funds, a direct deposit to your bank account, or by mailing a check. Please see the BankMobile information from Student Accounting. For more information log onto studentaccounting.unt.edu.
Financial Aid is available
The TAMS Dean’s Office should always be your first point of contact if you have any financial aid questions. Call Rose Preston at 940.565.2437 or email at rpreston@unt.edu.
Each student must fill out a FAFSA to be considered for Federal, State and Local grants. The FAFSA must be filled out each year. The best time to apply is the fall (one year ahead) before the student comes to attend TAMS (ex. October 2016 to attend fall 2017). The FAFSA will be available as early as October 1st annually.
FAFSA Website: www.fafsa.ed.gov/.
It takes about 2 - 3 months to process, so you need to fill out the application ASAP.
The Federal Processing Center will send your information electronically to UNT Student Financial Aid and Scholarships (SFAS) and a file will be created. You will be able to check the student's file at my.unt.edu. It will let you know where you are in processing, what step to take next, and accept the awards once they are awarded.
UNT Financial Aid Website: financialaid.unt.edu
Financial Aid PowerPoint Presentation – This presentation is shown at Interview Day also.
financialaid.unt.edu/texas-academy-mathematics-and-science
This PowerPoint presentation has been developed to assist you with some of the basic information that is unique to how TAMS scholarship and financial aid works here at UNT. Please utilize this link so you will have access to the most current information that relates specifically to the TAMS program.
FAFSA is the only form that UNT uses to consider students for all Federal, State and Local grants. TAMS will also consider the student for the TAMS Room and Board Scholarship from the FAFSA. If the students still need funds at that point then they can be considered for Student/Parent Loans.
Students are invited to attend TAMS because of their academic status and receive Tuition and Fees Scholarships and Book Scholarships each year.
Students that do research can be considered for Research Scholarships during the summer.
Finding outside sources for Scholarships & Grants
Locating scholarships can be tricky if you don't know where to look. Here are a few places to start searching:
- Ask businesses, professional groups, radio stations, rotary clubs, etc., in your own community. You might find a small company with a scholarship that's gone unawarded for years.
- Tell family, friends, co-workers, parents’ employers, teachers, and neighbors that you're looking for scholarships - and that no scholarship is too small. Someone might come back with a little-known award through his or her employer or some other avenue that you never would have known about otherwise.
- Fastweb.com
- UNT financial aid for General Academic Scholarship (note deadline on website).
Books
Bookstores and libraries have many scholarship directories available. The reference section of your local library can be helpful finding these resources.
- How to Go to College Almost for Free, by Ben Kaplan
- The Scholarship Book
- Peterson College Money Handbook
- Grants Register
You may be able to find these at the Willis Library (UNT Campus) or at your local library
Online
Search the web for "scholarship search engines" and you'll find many great sites. Your student can input scholarship criteria, and the engine will come up with applicable scholarships.
Here are a few you can try:
Warning: No reputable organization or website will ever ask you to pay for providing scholarship information. Do not pay a person or website to hunt for you. Chances are you won't get enough funding to pay for their fees, let alone to pay for school.
Contact Admissions: tamsadmissions@unt.edu