THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA GRADUATE SCHOOL
Financial Assistance Handbook > Table of Contents > Departmental Assistantships

4. Departmental Graduate Assistantships

Most academic departments of the Graduate School employ graduate teaching assistants (GTAs), graduate research assistants (GRAs), and/or graduate administrative assistants (GAAs). Regular assistantships have a minimum stipend of $7,250 per academic year; 6 semester hours per semester of teaching or equivalent work are required of the assistant. Assistantships with lesser assignments carry proportionate stipends. Graduate assistants receive tuition grants equal to their in-state and out-of-state tuition. Tuition grants are reduced proportionately for part-time assistantships.

Only students who are unconditionally admitted to the Graduate School are eligible for assistantships, unless the Dean of the Graduate School allows an exception. If you are a prospective graduate student applying to the University, you should express your interest in an assistantship on your application. You may also benefit from correspondence with the head of the department or program of interest in which you indicate your desire to become a graduate assistant.

International students or non-native speakers of English who are offered graduate assistantships must attend a three-week orientation and language program to assure competence in English. Additional employment outside the University is not permitted for such graduate assistants. For specific information on availability of teaching assistantships, contact the graduate adviser in the department of interest.

The University of Alabama offers free single coverage medical insurance to many of its graduate assistants as part of their graduate assistantship. Qualification for health coverage is based on academic criteria as well as how the assistantship is funded.
Please note that not all assistantships qualify, you must contact the department to which you apply to determine if any of their assistantships will be covered.
For more information regarding UA’s free health insurance for graduate assistants please refer to the following link on The University of Alabama Graduate School website: http://www.graduate.ua.edu/admin/gahealthinsp.html
 


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Update: Sep. 2007