Graduate Assistantships
Program Description
Graduate assistantships provide students with training and valuable professional experience in higher education work environments. Graduate assistantships are employment-related appointments and may require teaching, research, and/or administrative service. The responsibilities may vary depending on the department’s needs and the experience and academic qualifications of the graduate assistant. A full-time assistantship requires approximately 20 hours of work per week (including during the summer semester); a half-time assistantship requires about 10 hours weekly.
Earnings from graduate assistantships are not counted as financial aid for purposes of qualifying for Guaranteed Student Loans. However, graduate assistant earnings are considered employment resources to apply against need for other financial aid programs.
In order to comply with federal healthcare reform requirements, work hours for non-benefit eligible employees are restricted to a maximum of 50 hours per pay period during the academic year. All assignments, including work for multiple departments or as a student employee, count as work toward the total workload. Research conducted by graduate research assistants as part of the graduate assistantship, shall not exceed 40 hours per pay period, except as it relates to the graduate student’s education, such as dissertation related research.
Responsibilities
The responsibilities of a graduate assistant are determined by the hiring department. The responsibilities must be commensurate with the time constraints of the assistantship appointment.
Graduate Assistant Benefits
Graduate assistantships provide graduate students with financial resources to pursue their degrees, in the form of a stipend and tuition waiver benefit. Stipends for individual graduate assistants are determined by the department/college, and are prorated for graduate assistants appointed less than full time or for less than an entire academic year.
The number of credit hours covered by the graduate assistant’s tuition waiver benefit is determined by appointment type and level. The tuition waiver may be applied to courses taken during the semester of the assistantship, and continues through the subsequent summer sessions. The tuition waiver benefit pays tuition at the on-campus rate only.
Graduate assistants are classified as Michigan residents for the purpose of determining tuition rates at CMU. This classification remains in effect for the duration of the student's stay at CMU if working on a doctoral program. For specialist's and master's degrees, and graduate certificates, this classification as a Michigan resident is in effect only during the academic year of the award (including the subsequent summer).
Graduate assistants are covered by travel accident insurance which provides $25,000 to a beneficiary in case of accidental death while traveling on university business.
Graduate assistants receive special library privileges, allowing them to check books out for a six month period.
Additional information on employment and the benefits provided to Graduate Assistants is available on the Faculty Personnel Services website at www.fps.cmich.edu.
Eligibility
To be eligible for an assistantship, a student must be admitted to Graduate Studies under regular admission, admission with stipulations, or non-degree admission. Students who have concurrent or accelerated admission status may be appointed as graduate assistants only if they have special permission from the Director of Graduate Studies. Other hiring criteria may be determined by the department or office responsible for the assistantship.
Graduate assistants must maintain a cumulative, graduate GPA of 3.0. The following credit hour loads are also required:
- Fall or spring semesters: 6 credit hours
- Summer semester: 1 credit hour
- Final semester of enrollment before degree completion: only the number of graduate credit hours needed to complete the degree requirements. This waiver is for only one semester. Requests for exemptions are evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Director of Graduate Studies.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulations are complex and may affect international students' eligibility for assistantships. Contact the Office of Global Engagement for information regarding current regulations.
Application Procedures
Applications for assistantships must be made directly to the department in which the applicant desires to study. Interested students should contact individual departments for assistantship availability, application requirements and application deadlines.