Programs may appoint graduate students to Partial Graduate Assistantships (PGAs) during fall and spring semesters. Read through the guidelines below.
General Guidelines
Academic programs must obtain permission from their Dean’s Office before offering PGAs.
Students with PGAs are expected to work 10 hours per week (on average).
Students hired as PGAs must be admitted to a degree program as regular or provisional graduate students and must be enrolled as full-time students.
Students with PGAs may be simultaneously employed in one WVU hourly student worker position for up to 10 hours per week.
All other rules and policies that apply to regular graduate assistantships apply to PGAs.
Stipends
PGA stipends must be a minimum of 1/2 of the WVU minimum stipend for a full assistantship (effective Fall 2023, the PGA minimum stipend will be $7,500 for 9 months or $3,750 per semester).
Tuition Waivers and Benefits
Students with PGAs are granted a waiver of 5 hours of University tuition each semester.
Programs may supplement the PGA waiver hours with merit waiver hours from their pool if they wish. These students are allowed an exception to the rule that students may only receive tuition waivers from one source.
The hiring unit should submit a graduate assistant waiver form for 5 credits. Students with PGAs must be classified as partial graduate research assistants (PR), partial graduate teaching assistants (PT), partial graduate service assistants (PS), or partial graduate residence hall assistant (PH).
If the student’s program allocates additional merit waiver credits to a student with a PGA, an additional merit waiver form must be submitted.
Students with PGAs have 1/2 of the cost of their student health insurance paid (unless they waive the coverage).
The hiring unit is charged the usual fringe benefit costs (currently 7.0% of the student’s stipend) in addition to the students’ stipends. These funds are used to pay for student health insurance, Social Security/Medicare, and Worker’s Compensation.
Students with PGAs are not eligible for “summer special” tuition waivers (summer University tuition waivers granted to some students who held regular GA assignments in both fall and spring by the students’ school or college).