Duties of a Graduate Assistant (GA)

The duties of a GA may include:

Teaching
Instructing and supervising undergraduate level labs
Grading or evaluating performance of undergraduate students
Collecting and processing research data for faculty
Preparing presentation materials

In addition to tuition remission, they receive a monthly stipend and are eligible for subsidized health insurance.

GAs are selected by each department individually, so please contact your department's office to apply. Each graduate department/school or other departmental unit, as appropriate, shall establish its own procedure for graduate assistantships recruitment and selection in accordance with University policy on affirmative action/equal opportunity. Assistantships may be awarded on an academic-year basis, a calendar-year basis, or semester-by-semester basis.

Academic Standards for GAs

GAs must carry a minimum of six (6) graduate hours each semester.
Graduate assistants must be students in good standing in a degree or certificate program in the Graduate College.
Dismissal from a graduate program for any reason shall result in simultaneous dismissal from any graduate assistantship position.
The student will not be eligible for an assistantship thereafter until fully reinstated in a graduate degree or certificate program.

Assistantships are not automatically renewable and are dependent upon assessment of work and classroom performance.

Workload & Course Load

The workload for a graduate assistant should average 20 hours per week for the duration of the appointment and shall be construed to be the equivalent of .33 FTE. The department/school or unit in which the graduate assistant is employed should make arrangements with its assistants regarding vacation periods. The Graduate Faculty considers a student who is pursuing graduate study and holding a graduate assistantship to be carrying the equivalent of a full-time workload (see course load below) and therefore, discourages the practice of holding additional jobs which may interfere with satisfactory performance of assigned duties. The student is reminded that, whether or not outside work commitments are involved, graduate assistantships may not be renewed if either graduate class work or assistantship duties are not carried out in a satisfactory manner. Graduate Assistants are expected to carry a minimum of six graduate hours in each of the fall and spring semesters, however graduate assistants working in the summer semester are not required to be concurrently enrolled. Graduate assistants may not register for more than 12 semester hours without the approval of both their supervisor and the Graduate Dean. The graduate assistantship will not pay for more than 12 semester hours in a semester. The six-hour minimum may be waived if the student is in the last semester of graduate work and needs less than six hours of graduate credit in order to complete requirements for graduation. For doctoral candidates, the six-hour minimum enrollment also may be waived with the approval of their supervisor and Graduate Dean, if all required course hours except dissertation have been completed. In either case, students still must register for one course.

Connect with Your Program and Supervisor

Some programs and departments have additional orientation events or items to complete before the semester starts. When reaching out to your supervisor/advisor, you can ask about additional preparation requirements or resources to be aware of as a GA.

Finished here?
Select "Next" to go to the next page, or return to Modules to see an index of all pages.