Half-time graduate assistants are employed to work 20 hours per week for the Department. They also receive a tuition waiver for 9 to 12 credits for each semester in which they are appointed. Further details about expectation and benefits are provided in the Graduate Assistants Fact Sheet (pdf version) and the Graduate Assistants Insurance Memo (pdf version) from the Grad School.

As a graduate teaching assistant (TA), graduate students work 20 hours per week grading papers, meeting with undergraduate students during office hours and conducting review sessions. Graduate research assistants (RA) work 20 hours per week on research. TA's and RA's also take classes toward their degrees but only 9 to 12 credits per semester. TA and RA appointments pay the same salary per semester and both provide the same tuition waiver.

M.S. students who are working half-time as a TA or RA typically require five semesters (Fall, Spring, Summer, Fall, Spring) to complete their degrees.

RA appointments typically cover a student's entire degree program and include support during summers (Fall, Spring, Summer semesters for the duration of the degree). Because the Department does not teach any large classes during the summer, TA appointments are only during the academic year (Fall and Spring semesters but not Summer).

Most students arrange a RA position with a faculty member before entering in the Fall semester. Ultimately, graduate students must write a thesis so they must at some time find a suitable research topic. If a student cannot find a suitable research project before entering in the Fall, the Department will typically make a TA appointment. TA appointments give students more time to arrange RA positions. If a student becomes a TA and arranges a research project during Fall, the student may convert to a RA for Spring semester. If a student is a TA during Fall and Spring semesters, the student may convert to a RA beginning in the Summer or following Fall semester.

The deadline for conversion from TA to RA for students assisting in lab classes is one week before the first day of class in the semester for which the student has been appointed as a TA. The deadline for conversion from TA to RA for students assisting in lecture classes is the first day of class in the semester for which the student has been appointed as a TA.