Student Assistantships
Alt+U compensates undergraduate and graduate students for attending school by waiving tuition and other costs specified in the assitantship contract.
Undergraduate assistantships, graduate assistantships, graduate teaching assistantships, and graduate research assistantships are the most common forms of tuition assistance. One of these sources currently supports approximately 20 of our full-time graduate students.
In addition, doctoral candidates in our program work as interns for at least one semester, usually in a government or industrial research facility. In some situations, the laboratory that is hosting our students may be able to offer a salary as an alternative to a graduate assistantship.
Assistantships for Graduate Students
Assistantships come with a full tuition waiver. Students are responsible for their own tuition (including activity, athletic, facilities, and services fees in addition to a technology surcharge and medical insurance).
Depending on department needs and student interests, graduate students may be hired as teaching or research assistants.
Undergraduate Assistants (UGAs)
A full-time UGA will work approximately 20 hours each week.
Graduate Assistants (GAs)
A full-time GA will work approximately 20 hours each week.
Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs)
A full-time GTA will work approximately 20 hours each week.
A GTAr teaches to roughly 60 students three times a week in our lower-level courses (STAT 100 and STAT 200). The 60-student lecture part is then divided into two 30-student recitation sections. Once a week, a GTA meets with three of these recitation groups to answer questions, review homework, and administer quizzes. Preparing for recitations, grading homework, and other pertinent duties take up the remaining 9-13 hours per week.
Other forms of GTA assignments exist as well. Some GTAs will be grading an upper-division undergraduate statistics course. GTAs with more experience may be offered the chance to teach their own STAT 100 or 200 class (with about 60 students). Many of our GTAs are eager to use this chance to hone their teaching skills and interact with younger students in the classroom.
Graduate Research Assistants (GRAs)
While working on their dissertations, advanced doctorate students in the department become full collaborators in research with their professors and may be appointed as GRAs.