Graduate Assistantships

Graduate assistantships provide financial assistance to graduate students as they pursue a degree. There are two kinds of assistantships: Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA) and Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA). GTAs share the faculty's responsibility for teaching, whereas GRAs do research under the supervision of a faculty member.

Graduate assistants must be registered for at least 9 semester hours of graduate credit courses in the Spring and Fall (6 hours in the Summer) in which they hold an appointment. In return, the university will pay for tuition and fees for up to 12 hours per semester.

Please note, assistantships are provided by the department and are highly competitive.

Graduate assistantship support is classified according to three educational levels:

• Level I: Pre-master's
• Level II: Post-master's and/or passed the Ph.D. preliminary/comprehensive
• Level III: Passed the Ph.D qualifying examination

Financial assistance is given according to educational level:

Stipend ranges for each assistantship are set by each department or program, subject to the ranges set by the Graduate School and reviewed by the Graduate Council each spring for the following academic year.

*Graduate Research and Administrative Assistantships

Fall & Spring Stipend Rates: (Amounts are per semester, based on 20-hour per week assistantships)

Level I = $4,500 - $12,500
Level II = $5,000 - $14,000
Level III = $6,000 - $18,500

Summer Stipend Rates:
Level I = $2,700 - $8,500
Level II = $3,200 - $9,500
Level III = $3,700 - $12,500

* Students supported on a research assistantship may receive a higher stipend at the discretion of the principal investigator/faculty supervisor.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships

Graduate Teaching Assistants (College of Science and College of Engineering)

Fall & Spring Stipend Rates: (Amounts are per semester, based on 20-hour per week assistantships)

Level I = $7,500 - $8,750
Level II = $8,750 - $9,750
Level III = $9,750 - $12,500

Summer Stipend Rates:
Level I = $5,000 - $5,800
Level II = $5,800 - $6,500
Level III = $6,500 - $8,300

Graduate Teaching Assistants (College of Nursing, College of Business, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and College of Education

Fall & Spring Stipend Rates: (Amounts are per semester, based on 20-hour per week assistantships)
Level I = $ 6,250 - $7,750
Level II = $7,750 - $8,750
Level III = $8,750 - $11,250

Summer Stipend Rates:
Level I = $4,200 - $5,100
Level II = $5,100 - $5,800
Level III = $5,800 - $7,500

Assistantship Application

Assistantship Application

Applicants should submit the Assistantship Application to the department of their program. Applicants will be notified by the department if they have received funding. Repeated inquiry is strongly discouraged.