Tuition & Fees

You can find graduate tuition rates on the Tuition and Fees page. Prices for the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program can be found under the "Graduate" dropdown and are broken down into credit-hour chunks. Full-time students must take a minimum of 9 credits per fall and spring semester, and half-time is generally considered to be 4.5 credits and above*. You can also find a summary of what your required student fees go toward on the Fees Explanation page.

After you enroll in courses, the NCSU Cashier's Office will email you your first billing notice for the semester. You can also check your balance via the "Student Accounts" tile in MyPack Portal. There are a variety of payment options for your tuition and fees; visit the Pay Your Bill page to learn more. I also recommend bookmarking the Billing Calendar to help keep track of when things are due.

If you have any questions about your account, please reach out to the Cashier's Office: student_accounts@ncsu.edu or 919.515.2986.

During your graduate studies, you may also incur expenses outside of tuition and student fees (e.g., pharmacy fees, library fines, late enrollment fees, etc.). These fees are your responsibility and should be paid in a timely manner to avoid schedule cancellation or diploma withholding.

*Students are not required to take courses in the summer, though we do offer a small number of courses during the summer I and II terms. Summer courses can be priced differently than fall/spring courses, and those rates can be found here.

Financial aid

FAFSA, Fellowships, and Grants

The Financial Aid page is helpful for students who plan on filing for FAFSA or using other types of aid to cover their expenses. Each student is also assigned a financial aid counselor upon admission; you can find your financial aid counselor here.

Outside of the Financial Aid Office resources, the Graduate School also provides a list of NC State funding options, including assistantships, fellowships, and grants as well as other funding opportunities, which can be found on their Funding page. If you have a specific fellowship in mind, the Graduate School has a Graduate Fellowship Specialist that can help advise you on your application.

International Student Aid

The Graduate School has a specific page for International Student Financial Resources.

Departmental Aid

The Department of Public Administration and the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) offer a small number of scholarships throughout the year:

• Graduate Assistantship (annual - fall) - Full-time fall applicants can apply to be considered for one of our graduate assistantship positions. Those decisions are made after the Feb. 1 deadline, and more information can be found in the Graduate Assistantship tab.

• The Public Administration Alumni Society Scholarship (annual - fall) - The Alumni Society selects one in-service and one pre-service MPA student to receive a one-time ~ $1,400 scholarship. The in-service scholarship is designed to recognize the contributions in-service students make to the MPA program and to reward the various challenges faced by students seeking to balance work obligations with their studies. The pre-service scholarship is designed to recognize the financial burden that graduate school places on many students and the challenges faced by students often maintaining a part-time job to avoid incurring additional debt.  

• Latta Scholarship for Federal Government Internships (ongoing) - Undergraduate and graduate SPIA students who are interested in interning with the Federal Government (Congress, Executive and Judicial Branches) can receive a scholarship of up to $1,500 to help cover the cost of living in Washington, D.C.

• Paula Cothren Global Scholarship (annual - spring) - Offered to graduate students in SPIA for study abroad, international research, international internships, and service learning experiences abroad; award amounts vary.

A call will go out via the MPA Google Group to notify students of applications deadlines.