Assistantship Opportunities for Graduate Students

Full-time graduate students pursuing thesis or dissertation research may be supported through teaching assistantships offered by the department or research assistantships offered by individual faculty. This support includes tuition and a stipend.

Overview

Typically, this support does not exceed six (6) years. Full-time teaching assistants are expected to work twenty hours per week and must enroll as fulltime students (currently nine credit hours, including research credits). Research assistantships may be available through the research grants of individual faculty. A limited number of graduate tuition waivers, which carry a service requirement of ten hours of work per week, may be awarded to students with superior credentials, as funds are available. Awards are granted through a competitive process, where all application materials are assessed and taken into consideration. The initial decisions are typically made based on completed applications received by March for the fall semester and, if additional assistantships are available, in November for the spring semester. Required minima for grade-point average, GRE scores, and TOEFL score are higher than those for admission to the program. In order to hold a teaching assistantship, non-native English-speaking teaching assistants must be assessed and certified as proficient in spoken English. Among other options to prove proficiency, Non-native English speakers may take and pass the SPEAK test at the CSU Testing Center. Please contact the graduate director for more information.