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Managing Graduate Assistantships
About Graduate Assistantships
Definitions Eligibility Students Not Eligible
Stipends, Tuition, and Fees
Graduate Stipend Table Requirement to Pay Tuition Out-of-state Fee Waivers • Capital Fee Late Fee Waivers
Creating Assistantship Agreements
Online Graduate Assistantship Agreement Completing the Online Form Start and End Dates Banner Appointment Entry
Deadline for Accepting an Assistantship Offer
Benefits for Graduate Assistants
Out-of-state Fee Waivers GTA Parking Tags Insurance Benefit Work/Life Grants for Graduate Students on Maternity Leave
Responsibilities of Graduate Assistants
GTA Workshop Requirement Tax Information Financial Aid and Assistantships
Summer Assistantships
About Student Health Services
Performance/Resignation/Termination
About Graduate Assistantships
Types of graduate assistants are defined by President's Policy Memorandum 129.Graduate Assistant (GA)
Graduate assistants are graduate students who provide academic and program support. GA responsibilities may be administrative in nature and consist of duties unrelated directly to teaching or research (such as academic advising, program planning, advising
student groups, and assisting with the administration of student services offices). GA responsibilities may also be academic in nature and include grading examinations, problem sets, and/or lab assignments, setting up displays for lectures or laboratory sections, and preparing or maintaining equipment used in laboratory sections.
Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)
Graduate research assistants are graduate students conducting academically significant research under the direction of a faculty member, who is generally a principal investigator on an external grant or contract.
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA)
Graduate teaching assistants may provide academic program support under the supervision of a faculty member. GTAs may assist faculty in the department in teaching undergraduate courses, including laboratory teaching assignments, or in providing other appropriate professional assistance, including grading examinations, problem sets, and/or lab assignments, setting up displays for lectures and laboratory sections, and preparing or maintaining equipment used in laboratory sections. GTAs must have 18 hours of graduate-level course work in their teaching discipline to be assigned full responsibility for teaching an undergraduate course. GTAs lacking this training will be assigned to work under the supervision of a faculty member who will be the instructor of record for the course.
Regular or provisional graduate students are eligible for an assistantship position if they meet the following criteria:
- Maintain at least a 3.0 grade point average (provisional students may be accepted with a GPA between 2.75 and 2.99).
- Satisfy enrollment requirements (12-18 hours per semester) during the academic year (fall and spring; summer enrollment is optional). Audit hours do not count toward the total number of hours. Research & Dissertation hours are counted.
- Make satisfactory progress toward degree as defined by academic department and Graduate School.
- Meet the requirements to be eligible for employment in the U.S.:
Either prior to or within the first three days of employment at Virginia Tech, students must present acceptable documentation of their identity to show that they are either a U.S. citizen or an alien who is authorized to work in the United States. Continued employment will be contingent upon meeting this requirement.
Undergraduate students in a Bachelor/Master program who are in their last semester of the undergraduate level can receive graduate assistantship appointments. Tuition is awarded at the undergraduate rate and out-of-state fees cannot be waived. While tuition for an undergraduate can be awarded using the tuition remission award screen in Banner (TZATRAW) departments must contact the Bursar's office when it is time for the award to be funded on TZATRAF. A manual process is required.
For all males: The Code of Virginia requires selective service compliance as a condition for employment. Newly hired male faculty, staff, and students must complete the Selective Service Registration Questionnaire before they can start work. Students will be asked to complete this form after they accept the assistantship offer. Prospective employees who indicate on the form that they were required to register but did not register, must present verification from the Selective Service System to Personnel Services indicating the requirement is terminated or inactive before they can be hired. Male students unaware of their status are strongly encouraged to contact Selective Service System at 1-847-688-6888 for a determination so that they may obtain the appropriate paperwork in advance of the effective hire date.
Students Not Eligible for Graduate Assistantships
Students in the following categories may not receive a graduate assistantship appointment:- Commonwealth students
- Non-degree or transient students
- Non-resident alien students whose immigration status does not allow employment in the United States
- Students in defending status (enrolled in 1 or 3 credit hours for defense). If a graduate assistant is enrolled full-time and defends during the semester, the student can continue the assistantship until the end of the semester if academic, research or teaching obligations need to be fulfilled.
- Students who hold a P14 type appointment which is considered professional employment
- Undergraduate students in BS/MS program if not in their last semester of undergraduate level
Stipends, Tuition, and Fees
The stipend pay scale for graduate assistants ranges from Step 1 to Step 50. The scale also reflects the minimum stipend levels authorized by the National Science Foundation. The pay steps are based on full-time, 20-hour assistantships. Individual departments determine which pay step to use based on the student's qualifications and experience, academic standing and availability of funds. Departments have a wide range of stipend options with which to match competitive offers to promising graduate program applicants. Departments are encouraged to develop and consistently apply internal policies to determine what stipend steps to use.
If necessary, departments can adjust the amount paid to fall between two steps. For example, if a funding agency provides a stipend of $20,000 for a 12-month appointment, the department can find the closest step and pay a student the percentage of that step. To continue the example, the closest step to $20,000 is Step 12 at $20,496. Divide the $20,000 into the $20,496. The result is 97.5% of Step 12. The department would need to adjust the FTE on the Banner PAF form to .975 in order to pay the student exactly $20,000. It is not encouraged to pay students between steps, however, in some cases it may be necessary.
2007-09
Full-Time Graduate Stipend Table [ 
11k]
Students who are paid at Step 20 or below (see Stipend Table ) will receive an in-state tuition and academic fee and engineering fee, if applicable, scholarship in an amount that is at least proportional to the assistantship appointment. Hiring departments are obligated to secure funds to cover the in-state tuition proportional to the appointment for these students. Students who are paid at Step 21 or above may need to pay their tuition from their assistantship stipends. Departments must specify on the assistantship agreement whether or not tuition will be paid by the department or the student.
Undergraduate students in a bachelor/master program who are in their last semester of the undergraduate level can receive a graduate assistantship appointment. Tuition is awarded at the undergraduate rate and out-of-state fees cannot be waived. While tuition for an undergraduate can be awarded using the tuition remission award screen in Banner (TZATRAW) departments must contact the Bursar's office when it is time for the award to be funded on TZATRAF. A manual process is required.
The out-of-state fee waiver is described as the UF (unfunded) Differential by the Bursar's Office and is the difference between in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition. The Code of Virginia allows out-of-state fees to be waived for graduate assistants who earn more than $4000 during the academic year, which consists of the Fall and Spring semesters. Earnings in wage positions or summer graduate assistantship appointments do not count toward meeting this requirement. The out-of-state waiver is awarded automatically as soon as: 1) the student registers for courses, and 2) the department enters the NOAEPAF for the assistantship. Out-of-state fees cannot be waived for undergraduate students.
One-semester out-of-state fee waivers
If a student receives a one-semester Fall or Spring graduate assistantship and earns at least $2000 on assistantship stipend, the student is entitled to have the out-of-state fee waived for that semester.
Retroactive Out-of-state Fee Waivers
If a student receives a one-semester graduate assistantship and earns over $4000, the student is entitled to have the out-of-state fee for the other term of the academic year waived provided the student is enrolled as a full-time student during the semester for which the waiver is requested. Retroactive waivers are not processed automatically — the student, or the department on the student's behalf, must notify the Graduate School of the student's entitlement and request that a waiver be processed.
If a student is on a P14 for a semester and on an assistantship the next semester, the student is not eligible for the retroactive waiver of out-of-state fees during the P14 appointment.
Summer Out-of-state Fee Waiver
Students who earn over $4000 as a graduate assistant during the academic year (Fall and Spring) receive the out-of-state fee waiver for summer tuition in the summer following the academic year.
All out-of-state students must pay the capital fee. The capital fee is not part of tuition and cannot be waived.
A Request for Late Fee Waiver form can be submitted by a department for a student who is not at fault for the late fee under these conditions: 1) the department was late in entering the tuition award, which caused a late fee penalty; 2) the automatic out-of-state waiver was applied late because the department was late in entering the NOAEPAF. All of the student's other financial obligations must have been met before a late fee waiver can be requested. For example, if the department was late in entering the tuition award but the student was late in paying the comprehensive fees, a late fee waiver cannot be requested. The Bursar's Office requires that the department head sign the form. A department head can also request waiver of a late fee by sending an email request to James Elliott in the Bursars's office.
Creating Assistantship Contracts
The Online Graduate Assistantship Contract
The graduate assistantship contract form is a legal document that has undergone an approval process by the University General Counsel, Personnel Services, the Graduate School, and the Commission on Graduate Studies and Policies. Previous versions of the graduate assistantship contract should not be used.
As of January 1, 2006 all agreements should be generated using the Graduate School 's online electronic assistantship agreement tool .
Data from the agreement form is automatically submitted to the Graduate School once the form is completed. The department should print a paper copy of the form for the student and department designee to sign. The signed, original document must be retained by the department for 5 years.
A copy of the paper form does not need to be sent to the Graduate School.
If significant corrections need to be made after an agreement is submitted, departments should generate a new form. Please advise the Graduate School to delete the earlier form by e-mailing the student's name and ID number to .
The online assistantship contract tool provides a fillable form that must be completed in order to create an assistantship contract. Once the fields are completed, the Submit button is clicked and a new screen opens that shows the completed two-page form, which can be printed and saved as a pdf file.
Fillable fields include the student's name, ID Number, and Hiring Department. A radio button allows you to select GA, GTA or GRA, and whether or not the student should attend the GTA workshop. Start and End dates can be selected by clicking on the Show Calendar button, or filling in mm/dd/yyyy.
Departments can choose to enter the number of hours per week or the percent of full-time employment (FTE). One field calculates the other field.
A drop-down menu allows selection of academic year for the appointment. A check box gives the option to select Summer Only appointment. For Summer appointments, tuition will not be calculated automatically, but it may be entered if the department chooses.
There is a check box option for Extended Campus. If this option is selected extended campus tuition will be the default rate.
Entering the Pay Step field automatically calculates the next field, Monthly Rate , based on the pay step and percentage of FTE (full-time employment).
Whether or not special conditions apply can be selected by a radio button, and special conditions can be specified in a fillable field that allows 350 characters. If more detailed information is required, it is suggested that a cover letter be attached that specifies the conditions.
A check box is available to show whether the department will pay tuition . The tuition field will default to calculate the current in-state tuition, based on the FTE. This field is over-writable. For example, a half-time GA is entitled to half tuition which will be automatically calculated on the form, however, the department may want to pay full tuition. The default will show half-tuition, but the department can overwrite the field to enter the full tuition amount. The Academic Fee and Engineering Fee field works the same way.
The date the student must return the agreement is entered.
If the student is a New International Student this box should be checked. This will notify International Graduate Student Services to review the agreement and generate immigration documents.
The Submit button is then clicked. The form will calculate and then appear with all fields completed for your review. If the data is correct, click the Confirm button. Once confirmed, the agreement will open in a new window as the completed 2-page assistantship contract form. The contract is generated as a PDF file which can be printed and saved.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 16:00 EDT
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