View graduate assistantship eligibility and enrollment requirements for the fall and spring semesters as well as for the summer term below.
Eligibility
Graduate assistants must be admitted into a graduate degree program that allows the student to receive a waiver of University tuition. See the section on waiver restrictions.
Graduate assistants must have a 2.75 minimum GPA and remain in good academic standing in your degree program.
Non-degree graduate students are not eligible for graduate assistantships.
Provisional graduate students may hold assistantships only with the approval of their Associate Dean.
Graduate assistants may not hold more than the total equivalent of one assistantship.
Students cannot hold both an assistantship and a fellowship.
See Additional Employment guidelines for restrictions on additional employment beyond 20 hours per week. Partial graduate assistants may be simultaneously employed in one WVU hourly student worker position for up to 10 hours per week.
Graduate teaching assistants from non-English-speaking countries must pass the TrueNorth Test. More information on the test can be found from the English Language Learning Institute.
Enrollment Requirements
All GAs must be enrolled in a graduate degree program during the fall and spring terms (9+ credits).
Those who drop below full-time status during the semester must get permission to continue the assistantship from the GA supervisor, academic adviser and Grad Ed and Life.
Graduate assistants are required to be enrolled in at least 1 credit during the summer term.
Summer Enrollment Guidelines
Given the highly flexible and variety of academic activities during the summer term, we GA assignments can have greater flexibility in the summer compared to the fall and spring terms.
Work Hours
In general, GAs should be expected to work an average of 20 hours per week. However, some assistantships in the summer term may require longer work hours during short time periods or shorter work hours during long time periods.
Summer GAs may hold any combination of assistantships and hourly worker positions on campus during the summer term if their total work hours do not exceed 240 hours. Rules for additional employment do not apply in the summer term.
Stipends
Stipends in the summer must meet or exceed the WVU minimum stipend in effect for 9-month assistantships, prorated appropriately. The WVU minimum stipend is $15,000 for 9 months, which equals a stipend of 5,000 for the full 12 week period for 20 hours per week. Summer stipends should not greatly differ from the stipend rate provided during the regular academic year for similar work.
A graduate assistantship must pay at least the equivalent of one month of the WVU minimum 9-month stipend (currently $1,667) to qualify a student for a University tuition waiver during the summer.
The workload and assignments should be similar to assistantships during the fall and spring terms and follow the same Graduate Assistantship Policies. Graduate students hired primarily for clerical, manual or similar work that does not contribute to their professional skills and knowledge should be hired as hourly workers.
Summertime Minimum Enrollment
To be eligible to hold a graduate assistantship during the summer, a graduate student must enroll in a minimum of 1 credit during the summer term.
Graduate assistants’ programs or supervisors may require enrollment in specific courses or for more than 1 credit.
Graduate assistants who are funded by research grants may be required to enroll in more than 1 credit because their tuition waiver from the University is part of the cost share for the grant. These students should check with their supervisors to ensure that they enroll for the required number of credits.
Even though graduate assistants are allowed to register for fewer than full-time credits during the summer term, they are expected to devote their time to their academic pursuits as if they were a full-time student during the time they receive a stipend.
Academic pursuits may include work required for an assistantship, research, writing, coursework, program requirements, activities that contribute to development of the student’s intellectual and professional skills, and activities that facilitate the student’s progress toward degree completion.
Students who serve as regular (not partial) graduate assistants in both fall and spring are eligible to receive a tuition waiver in the following summer even if they are not a graduate assistant in the summer, with the approval of their school or college. Some schools, colleges, or programs that accept waivers during the fall and spring may not do so in the summer, so students interested in summer waivers must check to determine if they can receive them.