What is a graduate assistantship?
A. With a graduate assistantship, students generally teach one or two courses per semester in one of the languages offered by the department, at the elementary level. This involves a commitment of 20 hours per week. A full graduate assistantship position provides an $8,000 yearly stipend, in addition to a full tuition waiver and a partial health insurance stipend. (The cost in 2007-2008 for health insurance for a graduate assistant is $433.00.
In most research-oriented universities, the predominant means of support for graduate students comes from assistantships. An assistantship usually involves a reduction in tuition and fees and also stipend. The amount varies from department to department. Generally, a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) may grade tests, run a laboratory, review, or discussion section for a professor, or teach an introductory level course. A Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) participates in a faculty member’s research. The work will vary: it may be coding data, doing laboratory tests, designing computer programs to support the research, or doing library research. The research skills and knowledge a GRA develops often leads to the student’s own master’s or doctoral research.
A graduate assistantship is similar to part-time employment. The graduate assistant is hired, paid a salary (stipend), given a work schedule of no more than 20 hours, assigned responsibilities and receives graduate tuition remission. Graduate assistants are assigned responsibilities which provide supervised educational experiences at the graduate level. Frequently, this means assistants either teach or participate in research projects.
