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Graduate Student Assistantships and Fellowships

 

Research Assistantships

Research Assistantships employ graduate students to assist professors with their research. Duties could include data collection and analysis, grant writing, or general research support. Research may involve either a sponsored project or on a non-sponsored project, such as writing a book in the student’s academic area.  In either case, graduate research assistants’ work should produce generalizable knowledge.

GRAs should be under the direction of a faculty mentor and research training for them is on a one-on-one basis with the mentor.  The research conducted should be at a high level with the research resulting in generalizable knowledge with the student a likely contributing author of a published paper, report, book, etc.

 

Research Assistantship Role

  • Graduate Research Assistant (GRA): This is the typical role for a graduate student helping faculty in a long-term research project. A GRA is a master’s or doctoral student who helps faculty members on a specific project and performs research-related duties.
    • Compensation: All GRAs receive a monthly salary. Doctoral GRAs receive full tuition coverage to support their doctoral study. Master’s GRAs may receive tuition coverage at the department’s discretion.

 

Minimum Compensation Level 

Full Time Equivalent (FTE):

  • FTE 0.5 = 20 hours per week

  • FTE 0.375 = 15 hours per week

  • FTE 0.25 = 10 hours per week

  • FTE 0.125 = 5 hours per week

Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)

Compensation: All GRAs receive a monthly salary. Doctoral GRAs receive full tuition coverage to support their doctoral study. Master’s GRAs may receive tuition coverage at the department’s discretion.

Please note: For all appointments, the total pay listed below is divided into even monthly payments. Fall semester has four payments (September, October, November, and December). Spring semester has five payments (January, February, March, April, and May). Summer semester has three payments (June, July and August). Any irregular assistantship terms (e.g. six months) will have a salary prorated based on the number of months.

Minimum Master's Student Salaries: 

Effort (FTE) Hours per Week Semester Appointment Academic Year Appointment Summer Appointment 12-month Appointment
0.5 20 $8,550 $17,100 $5,700 $22,800
0.375 15 $6,413 $12,825 $4,275 $17,100
0.25 10 $4,275 $8,550 $2,850 $11,400
0.125 5 $2,138 $4,275 $1,425 $5,700

 

Minimum Doctoral Student Salaries: 

Effort (FTE) Hours per Week Semester Appointment Academic Year Appointment Summer Appointment 12-month Appointment
0.5 20 $13,050 $26,100 $8,700 $34,800
0.375 15 $9,788 $19,575 $6,525 $26,100
0.25 10 $6,525 $13,050 $4,350 $17,400
0.125 5 $3,263 $6,525 $2,175 $8,700

How Can I Become a Graduate Research Assistant?

Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs) are appointed at the time of admission or selected by a faculty member. GRAs are limited and not available in all departments. If you are interested in a GRA, please reach out to your department to inquire about current availability. The Office of Graduate Student Assistantships and Fellowships does not offer graduate research assistantships and cannot provide students with information about a department's current availability.