Note: The policies and procedures on this page are referenced from the School of Graduate Studies Catalog Section 2. The catalog is the official text. While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of this page, the catalog is the authoritative source of information.
Graduate Assistantships
A variety of assistantship opportunities are available to graduate students, and all are offered through individual colleges and departments. Students should check with their department to see what assistantships are available. All graduate assistantships entail a stipend and typically includes tuition support, and they are classified as P03 positions within the university employment system. However, different types of assistantships have differing elements, detailed below. Minimum stipend and compensation requirements are determined by the School of Graduate Studies.
Graduate Assistantship Position Overview
Graduate Assistantships are broken down into a few different positions:
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Graduate Trainee (Clinical, Library)
- Graduate Teaching Assistant
- Graduate Instructor
These positions are defined as follows:
Graduate Research Assistant
A graduate research assistant is a graduate student assigned to work under faculty guidance on one or more research projects. Research assistantships are granted through departments. Payment is a living stipend for the period of training. It is not an hourly rate or compensation for work.
Responsibilities:
- Work on research projects under faculty guidance.
- Responsibilities cannot include clinical work or those expected of a teaching assistant, instructor, or grader.
Payment Structure and Performance:
- Lump sum stipend disbursed according to the university pay schedule.
- RAs demonstrating poor performance may be evaluated negatively. Supervisors must provide clear feedback on problematic performance and provide guidance for performance improvement. RAs cannot have their stipend or tuition support rescinded, cancelled, or modified, regardless of absences or performance quality. Further, work associated with a research assistantship cannot be required past the semester of assistantship. However, a research assistantship does not need to be renewed following a semester of poor performance.
- If a GRA resigns or otherwise voluntarily initiates termination of their assistantship prior to the scheduled date of position completion for the semester, disbursement of stipend will stop on the date that the resignation or student-initiated termination takes effect. Beginning on the effective date, the student will no longer be considered a trainee, so their total stipend awarded to support living expenses during the training period will be recalibrated to reflect their proportionate participation.
Absence Policy:
- Excused absences mirror university hourly employee leave standards. A 0.5 FTE GRA is entitled to 12 hours of excused absences per semester. A 0.25 FTE GRA is entitled to 6 hours of excused absences per semester.
- Additional absences may be excused at the discretion of the supervisor provided that such decisions are made equitably for all assistants reporting to the supervisor.
Stipulations:
- Complete required trainings, including Responsible Conduct of Research.
- Health insurance (auto-enrolled in subsidized plan).
- Limited to 20 work hours per week during the academic year, unless granted a waiver by SGS up to 10 additional hours per week.
Required Terms:
- Semester-based appointments only (Fall, Spring, Summer).
- First day of work = first day of semester; last day of work = last day of semester.
- NOT obligated to work during non-academic periods or university holidays.
- May choose to work more than required hours at own volition but cannot be negatively evaluated for choosing not to do so.
- Assistantship time and effort are separate from activities for which academic credit is received.
- Time and effort allocated to writing for publication may or may not be considered part of the assistantship. This should be determined in advance by the supervisor and the student.
Graduate Trainee
A Graduate Traineeship (GTR) is for a student to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world practice and gain hands-on experience. Work is done under the direction of an experienced faculty member. Payment is a living stipend for the period of training. It is not an hourly rate or compensation for work.
Responsibilities:
- Work is done under the direction of an experienced faculty member in a clinical setting for which supervised professional experience is a foundational component of training in the profession.
- Responsibilities cannot include research or the duties of a teaching assistant, instructor, or grader.
Payment Structure and Performance:
- Lump sum stipend disbursed according to the university pay schedule.
- Trainees demonstrating poor performance may be evaluated negatively. Supervisors must provide clear feedback on problematic performance and provide guidance for performance improvement. In consultation with the department head, trainees with extremely poor performance or poor performance that persists after good faith efforts at feedback and remediation by the supervisor are complete may not have their assistantship renewed for the following semester. Students do not need to repay either tuition or stipend.
- If a GTR resigns or otherwise voluntarily initiates termination of their traineeship prior to the scheduled date of position completion for the semester, disbursement of stipend will stop on the date that the resignation or student-initiated termination takes effect. Beginning on the effective date, the student will no longer be considered a trainee, so their total stipend awarded to support living expenses during the training period will be recalibrated to reflect their proportionate participation.
Absence Policy:
- Excused absences mirror university hourly employee leave standards. A 0.5 FTE GTR is entitled to 12 hours of excused absences per semester. A 0.25 FTE GTR is entitled to 6 hours of excused absences per semester.
- Additional absences may be excused at the discretion of the supervisor provided that such decisions are made equitably for all assistants reporting to the supervisor.
Stipulations:
- Complete required trainings.
- Health insurance (auto-enrolled in subsidized plan).
- Limited to 20 work hours per week during the academic year, unless granted a waiver by SGS up to 10 additional hours per week.
Terms:
- Department has discretion over start and end dates. May be required to start before semester and/or continue work after the semester.
- Start dates for a semester may be no earlier than the day following the last day of the prior semester, and end dates may be no later than the day prior to the first day of the following semester (e.g., a GTR for Fall semester can encompass, at maximum, dates from the day after the close of the preceding Summer semester to the day before first day of the Spring semester).
- Must report during assigned employment period.
- All university holidays apply.
Graduate Teaching Assistant
A graduate teaching assistant (GTA) is a graduate student assigned to assist one or more faculty with instruction. A GTA may lecture in a course occasionally, tutor students, or assist in some other teaching capacity, such as teaching a lab or recitation session under faculty supervision. A position that entails only grading without instructional responsibilities (i.e., grader) is not eligible to be a GTA.
Responsibilities:
- Assist faculty with instruction.
- Lectures occasionally, tutor students.
- Leads lab/recitation sessions under faculty supervision.
- Helps to prepare courses before semester begins.
- Responsibilities cannot include those of a research assistant or trainee.
Payment Structure and Performance:
- Paid according to the university pay schedule as an employee.
- TAs demonstrating poor performance may be evaluated negatively. Supervisors must provide clear feedback on problematic performance and provide guidance for performance improvement. In consultation with the department head, TAs with extremely poor performance or poor performance that persists after good faith efforts at feedback and remediation by the supervisor are complete may be removed from their position. Removal will entail a stop in pay, but tuition support cannot be rescinded. Students do not need to repay either compensation already received or tuition in the event of termination
Absence Policy:
- Excused absences mirror university hourly employee leave standards. A 0.5 FTE GTA is entitled to 12 hours of excused absences per semester. A 0.25 FTE GTA is entitled to 6 hours of excused absences per semester.
- Additional absences may be excused at the discretion of the supervisor provided that such decisions are made equitably for all assistants reporting to the supervisor.
- If absences are able to be anticipated (i.e., not used for illness or emergent medical issue), then they must be scheduled in advance with the supervisor and coordinated to ensure TAs’ responsibilities are met to the greatest extent possible.
- If absences are not able to be anticipated (e.g., due to illness or other emergency), TAs will communicate with their supervisor as soon as possible to inform them of the absence and anticipated return.
Assistantship Stipulations:
- Complete required trainings, including CEUS 7901 and 7902.
- Health insurance (auto-enrolled in subsidized plan).
- Limited to 20 work hours per week during the academic year, unless granted a waiver by SGS up to 10 additional hours per week.
Terms:
- Department has discretion over start and end dates. May be required to start before semester (e.g., for class preparation).
- Start dates for a semester must be after the last day of the prior semester, and end dates must be no later than the deadline for submitting course grades.
- Must report during assigned employment period.
- Teaching Assistant Consensual Relationship Policy applies (see section 3.3).
- All university holidays apply.
- Can be suspended or terminated.
Graduate Instructor
A graduate instructor (GI) is a graduate student who is the instructor of record for one or more courses for an entire semester.
Responsibilities:
- Teaches a course (1) at the undergraduate level; or (2) at the master’s level if, and only if, the instructor holds a master’s degree at the time of instruction.
- Responsibilities cannot include those of a research assistant or graduate trainee.
Payment Structure and Performance:
- Paid according to the university pay schedule as an employee.
- Graduate instructors demonstrating poor performance may be evaluated negatively. Supervisors must provide clear feedback on problematic performance and provide guidance for performance improvement. In consultation with the department head, graduate instructors with extremely poor performance or poor performance that persists after good faith efforts at feedback and remediation by the supervisor are complete may be removed from their position. Removal will entail a stop in pay, but tuition support cannot be rescinded. Students do not need to repay either compensation already received or tuition in the event of termination.
Absence Policy:
- Excused absences mirror university hourly employee leave standards. A 0.5 FTE GI is entitled to 12 hours of excused absences per semester. A 0.25 FTE GI is entitled to 6 hours of excused absences per semester.
- Additional absences may be excused at the discretion of the supervisor provided that such decisions are made equitably for all assistants reporting to the supervisor.
- If absences are able to be anticipated (i.e., not used for illness or emergent medical issue), then they must be scheduled in advance with the supervisor and coordinated to ensure GIs’ responsibilities are met to the greatest extent possible.
- If absences are not able to be anticipated (e.g., due to illness or other emergency), GIs will communicate with their supervisor as soon as possible to inform them of the absence and anticipated return.
Assistantship Stipulations:
- Complete required training, including CEUS 7901, 7902, and 7903.
- Health insurance (auto-enrolled in subsidized plan).
- Limited to 20 work hours per week during the academic year, unless granted a waiver by SGS up to 10 additional hours per week.
Terms:
- Department has discretion over start and end dates. May be required to start before semester (e.g., for class preparation).
- Start dates for a semester must be after the last day of the prior semester, and end dates must be no later than the deadline for submitting course grades.
- Must report during assigned employment period.
- Teaching Assistant Consensual Relationship Policy applies (see section 3.3).
- All university holidays apply.
- Can be suspended or terminated.
Eligibility
- To be eligible for a 20 hour/week (0.5 FTE) assistantship, full-time enrollment is required (6+ credits during coursework; 3+ after coursework with Full Time at 3 Credits form).
- To be eligible for a 10 hour/week (0.25 FTE) assistantship, full-time enrollment is not required.
Conditions & Stipulations
Students with Multiple Assistantships
Students may hold multiple assistantships at once as long as the total hours per week across all positions does not exceed 20 (or 30 with a waiver from the School of Graduate Studies). Each assistantship must be processed separately with its own Electronic Personnel Action Form (EPAF). For example, a student with both 0.25 FTE (10 hours weekly) of GRA and 0.25 FTE (10 hours weekly) of GTA would have two separate EPAFs submitted by the supervising department(s)—one for the GRA and one for the GTA.
Graduate Student Health Insurance
All graduate students on a 0.5 FTE assistantship are required to have health insurance. Utah State University automatically enrolls students on a 0.5 FTE assistantship in a subsidized health insurance plan. Students may request to waive out of the subsidized graduate insurance if they have their own insurance coverage that has been approved by the Student Health Insurance Coordinator.
Students who do not opt out by the deadline will be required to pay the premiums for the duration of the plan. Please contact the Student Health Insurance Coordinator at ship@usu.edu for more information.
All Graduate Research Assistants, Graduate Trainees, Graduate Teaching Assistants, and Graduate Instructors must work at least one month during the semester to qualify for the graduate health insurance plan. If a student’s assistantship or traineeship ends before the completion of one month, the student does not qualify for the plan, and no premium is assessed to either the student or the department. Once a student meets the 1‑month minimum, they are eligible for coverage for the entire semester, and both the student and the hiring department are responsible for the full semester premium. If a department terminates a GTA or graduate instructor before the end of the semester, the department remains responsible for its full portion of the premium. If a student resigns or self-terminates before the end of the term, the department is still obligated to pay the full departmental share for that semester. Departments that require students to sign a Subsidized Graduate Insurance Agreement may recover the departmental portion directly from the student; however, the School of Graduate Studies does not collect these funds on behalf of departments.
Credit Limit
Graduate students with assistantships cannot register for more than 12 credits per semester.
Teaching Assistant Consensual Relationship Policy
- Based on USU Policy 4006.9.1, the university’s educational mission is promoted by professionalism. Professionalism is fostered by an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. Actions that harm this atmosphere undermine professionalism and hinder fulfillment of the university’s educational mission. Trust and respect are diminished when those in positions of authority abuse or appear to abuse their power. Those who abuse or appear to abuse their power in such a context violate their duty to the university community.
- Graders, graduate teaching assistants, and graduate instructors exercise power over students, whether in giving them praise or criticism, evaluating them, making recommendations for their further studies or their future employment or conferring any other benefits on them. Amorous relationships between graders, graduate teaching assistants, or graduate instructors and other students are not acceptable to the university when the grader, graduate teaching assistant, or graduate instructor has professional responsibility for the student. Such situations greatly increase the chances that the grader, graduate teaching assistant, or graduate instructor will abuse their power and sexually exploit the student. Voluntary consent by the student in such a relationship is suspect, given the fundamentally asymmetric nature of the relationship. Moreover, other students and faculty may be affected by such unprofessional behavior because it places the grader, graduate teaching assistant, or graduate instructor in a position to favor or advance one student’s interest at the expense of others and implicitly makes obtaining benefits contingent on amorous or sexual favors. Therefore, the university will view it as unprofessional conduct if graders, graduate teaching assistants, or graduate instructors engage in amorous relations with students in certain situations, even when both parties appear to have consented to the relationship.
- No grader, graduate teaching assistant, or graduate instructor shall have an amorous relationship (consensual or otherwise) with a student who is enrolled in a course in which the grader, graduate teaching assistant, or graduate instructor has responsibilities related to any of those roles.
Note: The policies and procedures on this page are referenced from the School of Graduate Studies Catalog Section 2. The catalog is the official text. While we make every effort to ensure the accuracy of this page, the catalog is the authoritative source of information.