Graduate Assistantships
Each semester, the university and the graduate programs award a limited number of assistantships to qualified students in their first and subsequent years of graduate study. Assistantships are first and foremost an educational tool, providing graduate students the opportunity to apply some of the skills and knowledge they have acquired.
Apply for an assistantship
D.Sc. IS (156Kb)
- Complete the application for assistantship form, applications for assistantships must be received by June 15th for awarding for the following fall semester, November 15th for the following spring semester and April 15th for the following summer semester.
- Submit the assistantship application to the Office of Graduate Studies and Research with your program application.
The award process is competitive, with the university striving to award graduate assistantships to those students whose skills and abilities most closely match the needs of the university. The appropriate program committee makes award decisions after students have been admitted to the program.
Recipients of an assistantship receive
- Reduced tuition rate (student pays 1/3 state-support tuition rate)
- A stipend as established by the Board of Regents. The stipend is awarded for work performed.
Assistantship responsibilities and requirements
- Work part-time (up to 20 hours per week dependent upon assistantship level) within the university, usually in a job related to their program of study. They may teach, support instruction, conduct research, or perform administrative tasks for the university.
- Maintain a 3.25 GPA in order to have their assistantship renewed in succeeding semesters.
- Be a regularly admitted, full-time student.
Assistantship categories
- Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)
- Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)
- Graduate Administrative Assistant (GAA)
Eligibility
To be eligible for an assistantship award, students must:
- Be regularly admitted graduate students (unconditional admission) who are able to devote their full attention to the graduate program. Students with conditional or special student status are not eligible for assistantships until their status changes to regular admit.
- Be registered for (or willing and able to register for) a normal course load concurrent with the appointment.
- Not be employed full-time outside the university. Graduate students with other full time employment normally will not be considered for Graduate Assistantships.
- International students must hold a F-1 visa and have (or be in the process of obtaining) a Social Security Number. Students with visas other than the student visa are not eligible for an assistantship until they have obtained the F-1 visa.
