Assistantships (TA/RA) Funding, Explained

What a graduate assistantship is

A graduate assistantship is a formal appointment a US university department makes to a graduate student in exchange for part-time academic work. The student performs defined duties — teaching, research, or both — and in return receives compensation that typically has two parts: a tuition waiver that covers some or all tuition, and a stipend that functions as a living allowance.

Assistantships are not scholarships or gifts; they are employment arrangements with defined obligations. The student is expected to fulfil their assistantship duties reliably while making normal progress toward their degree.

Teaching Assistantships (TA)

A Teaching Assistant supports undergraduate instruction under the supervision of a faculty member. Typical TA duties include leading discussion or lab sections, holding office hours, grading assignments and exams, and occasionally assisting with course preparation.

The time commitment is typically described as a half-time (50%) or quarter-time (25%) appointment, meaning the TA is expected to spend roughly 20 or 10 hours per week respectively on TA duties, alongside their coursework and dissertation work. The exact percentage and duties are set by each department.

TA appointments are most common in departments that have a substantial undergraduate teaching load — large STEM departments, social sciences, and humanities. They are less available in small or highly specialised graduate-only departments.

Research Assistantships (RA)

A Research Assistant is funded through a faculty member's external grant to work on the research that the grant supports. The student's research work thus serves both the grant's objectives and, typically, the student's own dissertation or thesis.

RA positions are most common in STEM fields, where faculty regularly hold grants from agencies such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) or the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Availability depends entirely on whether a faculty member has current grant funding and whether that funding includes a student position. This makes RA funding inherently variable — a faculty member who has an RA for the current cohort may not have one the next year, or vice versa.

For PhD students entering STEM fields at research-intensive universities, a RA funded by a faculty advisor's grant is a common funding route after the first year or two. Some students begin as TAs and transition to RAs when they join a research lab.

Fellowships and other funding models

Beyond TA and RA appointments, graduate students may also receive funding through university fellowships, external fellowships, or a combination. A university fellowship is internal funding awarded to admitted students, often in the first year, that carries no teaching or research obligation. External fellowships — such as the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP, available to U.S. citizens/nationals/permanent residents only), the Fulbright Foreign Student Program (for international students), or discipline-specific foundations — provide funding independent of a specific department.

Many PhD students receive a mix over the course of their degree: a fellowship in the first year, followed by TA or RA appointments in subsequent years. These arrangements are programme-specific and are best understood by reading each programme's official funding overview and asking current students or the graduate programme coordinator.

Who receives assistantships, and how to verify

Teaching and research assistantships are primarily associated with PhD programmes and, to a lesser extent, research-track master's programmes. Coursework-only master's students are less commonly offered assistantships, though it varies by department — some do offer them to top-admitted MS students, particularly in fields with heavy undergraduate teaching needs.

Assistantship availability, stipend amounts, tuition-waiver terms, and the proportion of admitted students who receive funding all differ by programme, university, field, and year. The only reliable way to know what a specific programme offers is to consult the programme's official funding and financial-aid pages, and to ask the graduate programme coordinator or current graduate students.

This guide describes the general model of US graduate assistantships. It is guidance, not financial advice. Amounts and availability change; do not plan a budget based on third-party estimates. Always verify on official sources.

• PhD programmes: most research-intensive programmes aim to fund all admitted students through TA/RA/fellowships — but confirm officially
• Research-track MS: some departments offer partial funding; verify per programme
• Coursework MS: less commonly funded through assistantships; check each department
• Professional programmes (MBA, JD, MD): separate financial-aid model; check each school's official aid pages