Additional employment for graduate assistants – the “100-hour rule”
WVU’s policy on graduate assistantships states that graduate students may not hold more than the total equivalent of one assistantship (20 hours per week). Assignments that exceed an average of 20 hours per week compromise the ability of students to participate in their graduate programs as full-time students, degrade the quality of the students’ scholarly experience, and prevent the timely completion of their degree requirements.
On rare occasions, graduate students may be hired as hourly
workers in addition to their assistantship assignment. To protect these
students’ academic standing, the “100-hour rule” is applied for student workers
who have assistantships. This policy states that any student who has a regular (20 hours per week) graduate
assistantship may not be employed for more than 100 hours per academic term beyond
the assistantship by the home unit or by another unit without the permission of
the Office of Graduate Education and Life. The 100-hour rule allows units to
hire a graduate student who has an assistantship for incidental hourly work
without seeking permission prior to hiring the student. Please be aware,
however, that F-1 or J-1 visa holders are restricted to working 20 hours per
week when classes are in session and may only work additional hours during
breaks.
Partial graduate assistants (10 hours per week) may not hold a second partial assistantship, but may work up to 10 hours per week as an hourly student worker.
The EBO placing a graduate student on an hourly assignment should ascertain whether that student is already on a regular assistantship assignment and should clarify that the student will work no more than 100 hours beyond the assistantship for the semester. A violation of the 100-hour rule may cause the hiring unit to lose its privileges to employ graduate students who are on assistantships.
If a unit wishes to hire a graduate hourly worker for more
than 100 hours beyond their regular assistantship during a semester, permission
must be sought from the student’s home academic unit and the Office of Graduate
Education and Life. In this case, the hiring unit should write a memo
describing the student’s duties, why it is critical to hire this person, and
how the assignment will reinforce the student’s academic program. The memo
should be forwarded to the student’s academic unit for approval and
subsequently forwarded to the Office of Graduate Education and Life for final
approval.