Types of Assistantships for Graduate Students

Studying abroad is an expensive affair. However, there are several forms financial aids offered to international students, in order to cut down the heavy expenses. One such form is graduate assitantships, which is available exclusively for students applying for master's, PhD, or research courses. Let us discuss the types of assistantships for graduate students below:

Assistantships are an arrangement in which financial support is given by the university to a graduate student who engages in research and/or teaching in the continuance of the university’s academic mission, as well as their own graduate education. Students on full assistantships receive a stipend, full tuition fellowship, and individual student health insurance provided by the university.

Students pursuing full-time PhD and research masters may be awarded assistantships by the university into any of the four categories: Teaching Assistant (TA), Research Assistant (RA), Graduate Research Assistant (GRA), and Graduate Assistant (GA). These assistantships are administered by fields and departments.

International students are supposed to fulfil the language criteria set by the college in regards to qualifying for the assistantship jobs. Students from countries where English is not the first language and who will join the assistantship job in their first semester would be required to participate in the Teaching Assistant summer program of the university.

How to Apply

There is no separate application for assistantships at the most university. However, you might be required to submit a resume to a particular department, depending on case to case basis. Assistantships are awarded by Principal Investigators across departments and fields. The assignment is usually in the major field of the student or a closely-related field.

Teaching Assistants (TA)

A teaching assistant is an academic appointment for the upkeep of the teaching of a course. Teaching assistants assist in teaching a section, they may lead discussions, and lead laboratory sessions. Teaching assistants work for no more than 15 hours per week for the basic stipend as established by the university. 

For information about policies related to teaching assistants, you’ll have to see University Policy of each university.

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

GRA is an academic assistantship focused on thesis directly and other degree-related research that is required from all degree students. The research project for a GRA supports the student’s thesis or dissertation directly. Because a student devotes quite a lot of time to his thesis or dissertation research, the time spent in connection with the project is only going to help him with his dissertation.

Research Assistantships (RA)

RA is an academic assistantship for research that is not directly thesis-related. RA appointment might include data analysis on a research project not directly related to the student’s dissertation topic. The time-spent on RA is around 15 to 20 hours per week and doesn’t average more than that. Students are appointed by fields, departments, or individual faculty.

Graduate Assistantships (GA)

The GA appointment may include assisting a faculty member in developing and coordinating an academic conference. GA is an academic assistantship which requires 15 to 20 hours a week, for the base stipend established by the university.

Resident Assistants (RA)

The RA serves as peer advisors and referral agents to students. RAs are an extension of the provision of services and the sphere of influence of full-time university staff. The job might include working in residence dorms, which is either an on-campus job or off-campus at separate apartment residences in a large apartment complex, so the job responsibilities might differ.