Graduate Teaching Assistant
Full-time graduate assistants will work a maximum of twenty (20) clock hours per week and whenever possible, fulfill duties that are in alignment with their education and/or career aspirations. Duties and responsibilities for graduate assistants tend to differ between academic departments and non-academic, University areas. It is expected that graduate assistant supervisors will follow national best practices for their areas and whenever possible, align the duties and responsibilities with the academic mission of the chosen field of study of the graduate student. It is the responsibility of each academic department to determine the best practices used to support student success of graduate assistants. In general,graduate assistantships fall into three categories:
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- Graduate Administrative Assistant, GAA - Responsibilities tend to be non-academic in nature.
- Graduate Research Assistant, GRA* - Responsibilities are research-based and aligned to a degree.
- Graduate Teaching Assistant, GTA* - Responsibilities include direct impacts on student
learning.
*GTA and GRA are defined by IRS tax code and as such, the tuition waivers are considered
tax-exempt; IRS/ IRC 117(d).
As defined by Federal tax-code, graduate teaching assistants, GTAs, and graduate research assistants, GRAs, must adhere to specific duties and responsibilities that are directly linked to their education (Federal tax-code, IRS/ IRC 117(d)). It is the responsibility of the supervisor to ensure the duties and responsibilities adhere to the tax-code, IRS/ IRC 117(d), definitions, which can be found at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-lafa/103901f.pdf.
For more information on GTA positions, please visit the graduate studies website.