Assistantships

The colleges, graduate programs, administrative offices, and research centers appoint graduate students as teaching (TA), research (RA), or graduate assistants (GA).

Students apply for and obtain most assistantships through their graduate programs.  The Human Resources Job Board has listings for assistantships that are open to the general graduate student population  (see listings towards bottom of the above link).

Descriptions:  At UIC, teaching assistantships, research assistantships and graduate assistantships are available.  For information on available assistantships, contact the Director of Graduate Studies in the academic program. 

Work Schedule: The weekly clock hours of service required of assistants are twenty for a half-time appointment and the proportional fraction of time for other appointments.

Stipend: The stipend for an appointment of 50 percent time for the nine-month academic year is at least $14,000; most departments offer a greater amount. This amount may change without notice. See also Salary for Graduate Assistantships (includes eligibility criteria for the appointment to be qualified for a waiver of tuition certain fess).

Application for Graduate Appointment

Waivers: Tuition and the service fee are waived for assistants if the appointment is between 25 and 67 percent for at least three-quarters of the term (91 calendar days in fall or spring semester, 41 calendar days during the summer session - see criteria). The waiver does not cover any tuition differential that may be assessed, except for students registered in the following programs - Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Earth & Environmental Sciences, Physics, and Psychology. See the tuition schedule for information on specific tuition rates.

Graduate students who hold academic appointments as assistants for the spring semester and for whom tuition and service fees were waived in the spring are entitled to a waiver for the summer term immediately following if they do not hold a summer assistantship, provided they are registered for at least three hours during that summer term. Graduate students holding a summer assistantship must satisfy eligibiliy requirements for a waiver as described in the previous paragraph.

Taxation of Graduate Assistant & Pre-Professional Graduate Assistant Tuition Waivers:  Please see Frequently Asked Questions.

Registration Requirements: At least eight (8) hours each semester. Registration in summer is not required to hold an assistantship.  Some programs may require registration for more than eight hours per term and/or summer registration. Although the Graduate College does not require summer registration to hold a summer assistantship, a minimum of three hours registration is required to receive a summer tuition and (selected) fee waiver. 

Students receiving an assistantship must maintain a minimum registration through the end of the term in order to retain the waiver. A minimum of eight (8) hours in fall and spring and three (3) hours in summer is required for the waiver (although summer registation for assistants is optional).

International Students may have additional registration requirements. Generally:

• assistantship appointments of 50% require 08 hours in Fall and Spring semesters
• assistantship appointments less than 50% require 09 hours in Fall and Spring semesters

Summer registration is not required (see above).  International students should confer with the Office of International Services for additional information.

Assistantship Offer Letter Templates:  Hiring units must follow the assistantship offer letter template on the offer letters sent to students (Teaching Assistant (TA); Research Assistant (RA); Graduate Assistant (GA).  Note that there are seperate templates within the Word document for TAs and GAs, and the templates are by academic year (must be followed, as the tuition differential listings change by academic year).

Dental and Vision Insurance:  Dental and vision benefits (also see here) are provided by the University for all assistantship recipients with at least a 25% appointment. See the UIC HR website for full details about eligibility and enrollment in these plans.

In addition, Assistants who utalize CampusCare have dental and vision benefits through CampusCare (see the Benefits tab on the top of the CampusCare site).

Teaching (TA) and Graduate (GA) Assistantship Labor Agreement:  Effective August 16, 2006, Teaching and Graduate Assistants at UIC have entered into an agreement by and between the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois and the Graduate Employees' Organization (GEO).  Administration of the agreement is handled by Office of Human Resources. 

Please refer to the current agreement (August 16, 2012 - August 15. 2015) to learn more about the rights and responsibilities contained therein.   Also, you may view the changes and highlights of this current agreement (coming soon).  Please refer to the Human Resources web site for contact information.

Assistantships and Student Loans:  An assistantship plus any loan or federal work-study eligibility cannot exceed the cost of attendance for the academic year. If applying for loans and/or work-study a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) must be completed.  See the Graduate Student Guide from the Office of Student Financial Aid for more information.