Budget and Finance Policy and Procedure Office
A Division of The Office of Budget and Finance
A Division of The Office of Budget and Finance
This procedure explains how application fees for The J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School are collected, processed, deposited, and recorded.
This procedure applies to all applicants of the Fox Graduate School, including:
Applicants seeking admission to a graduate degree, graduate certificate, or non-degree status must submit an online application and any required materials listed by their chosen program. Program requirements are available on individual program websites through the Fox Graduate School Bulletins page.
A non-refundable application fee is required to review and process all applications. All fees are approved according to Policy FN26 Institutional Rates and Fees*.
Applications will not be reviewed until the fee is paid or an approved fee waiver is applied.
NOTE: *Policy FN26 Institutional Rates and Fees is a new policy. When the policy has been published, a link will be added to this document.
Applicants may pay the application fee using one of the following methods:
Applicants submit applications through the Fox Graduate School online system. Application data is uploaded nightly into LionPATH.
Graduate Enrollment Services (GES) reviews submitted applications using reporting tools.
Applications paid by check or money order are not visible to academic programs in the Graduate Admissions Decision System (GRADS) until payment is received and recorded.
Once payment is received:
Application fees may be waived in approved cases.
Graduate programs must have signed Terms of Agreement on file with the Fox Graduate School before issuing waiver codes. All waiver use must be approved by the program.
All check and money order payments are endorsed according to Policy FN01 Processing Cash Revenues.
A Journal Entry for Incoming Funds is prepared and recorded as follows:
Journal entries are submitted through the Journal Entry Hub using ServiceNow and approved before posting. Supporting reports are retained for reference.
Due to the high volume and low dollar payments, checks are deposited within 48 hours. This is an approved exception to daily deposit requirements under Policy FN01 Cash Revenues and Procedure FN2005 Processing Cash Revenues.
Application fee refunds are issued only in limited cases, such as administrative errors.
GES collects required applicant information and documents the refund request in GRADS.
If a check is returned by the bank, the Controllership team notifies the Fox Graduate School Finance Office. The application status in GRADS is changed from "paid" to "billed" which prevents admission and course registration.
Once repayment is received and clears, the payment status is updated. See Procedure FN2002 Processing Returned Checks for additional details.
The Fox Graduate School Strategic Finance Partner and/or the Financial Planning, Analysis, and Coordination (FPAC) Hub ensures that all cash handling and recordkeeping follow University policy. These offices coordinate with Internal Audit and external auditors as required.
University Records must be retained and managed in accordance with Policy AD35 University Archives and Records Management and the University's Records Retention Schedules.
Additional questions may be directed to the Office of Records Management.
There are no exhibits associated with this procedure.
For questions or additional details, please contact the Fox Graduate School, at GSFIN@psu.edu.
To request changes to this procedure please contact the Budget and Finance Policy and Procedure Office by submitting a Technical Support Request Form.
February 23, 2026