Graduate Studies

Graduate Assistantships

Graduate Assistantships provide graduate students with part-time, paid work experiences in their field of study and allow them to expand and apply the knowledge and skills they learn in the classroom in a work setting.  Under the Graduate Assistantship program, faculty and university staff can receive assistance with special projects and assignments that require the advanced skills that graduate students possess.

Graduate Assistantship Rules 2012-13

  1. In order to be in compliance with the Internal Revenue Service definition of the tuition reduction exemption for Graduate Assistants (GA) all job responsibilities for GAs must include a significant instructional or research component.  If the GA responsibilities are non-instructional or non-research then the tuition remission and stipend received by the student is subject to Federal, State, and Local withholding tax under I.R.C. § 117(d).  Please clearly identify the significant instructional or research component when submitting the GA Job Descriptions.

  2. Tuition waiver credit hours received for all GVSU graduate assistantships will be as follows:
    1. 9-month GA – 18 credit hours (F – 9, W – 9)
    2. 10-month GA – 21 credit hours (F – 9, W – 9, S/S – 3)
    3. 12-month GA – 24 credit hours (F – 9, W – 9, S/S – 6)
       
  3. Students will be limited to receiving a maximum of 9 credit hours of tuition waiver during the Fall and Winter semesters and a maximum of 6 credit hours of tuition waiver during the Spring/Summer semester.

  4. Unused tuition waiver credits may not be rolled over into subsequent semesters without approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies.

  5. Only full-time, 9-month graduate assistantships that are in academic units within academic colleges may be split into two half-time positions with the prior notification of the Dean of Graduate Studies.

  6. Full-time, 10-month and 12-month graduate assistantships may only be split into two half-time positions with the prior approval of the Dean of Graduate Studies.

  7. Half-time, 9-month graduate assistantship positions will receive 6 credit hours of tuition waiver for both the Fall and Winter semester (12 credit hours total).

  8. All graduate assistantships must have a current position description that is consistent with the Guidelines for Writing Graduate Assistant Job Descriptions.
Students Faculty & Staff

 

Page last modified June 26, 2012