I received a letter about funding that describes a 25% TAship. What does this mean?
The percentages listed on funding letters are based on a 40-hour work week. Graduate students are only allowed to work at the University up to a maximum of 50% (20 hours per week), though that level is rare in our department. Most often, our graduate students receive teaching assistantships for 25% or less, which equates to roughly 10 hours per week or less. Because of the nature of graduate teaching assistant work, the actual hours are unlikely to be so regular, with some weeks being more than that amount and some less. Overall, though, a 25% teaching assistantship should average 10 hours per week over all 11 weeks of the academic quarter. This includes time spent attending the class itself.
