Graduate Assistantships
Students admitted to the Graduate School may be eligible to receive financial support in the form of an
assistantship. The primary purpose of graduate assistantships is to promote the successful completion of
an academic program by enabling students to focus their work on their degrees. Graduate assistants
work under the supervision of an appropriate faculty member. Grad assistantship assignments provide
support of the university’s teaching, research or service missions for the benefit of the student in an
area closely related to the student’s chosen field of study. Employment is measured as a proportion of
full-time equivalent (FTE) status, with 1.0 FTE representing employment estimated to be 40 hours per
week.
Types of Graduate Assistantships
There are three types of graduate assistantships at East Carolina University, graduate teaching assistants
(GTA), graduate research assistants (GRA), and graduate administrative support assistants (GSA).
Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA)
A GTA works with a supervising faculty member to gain instructional skills and an increased
understanding of the discipline. The GTA is provided a stipend and their primary responsibilities are to
support the University's instructional mission. Services provided by a GTA may include: classroom or
laboratory teaching; advising and mentoring of students; proctoring examinations; grading papers,
homework, and/or projects; accompanying/coaching musical or vocal performances, providing artistic
instruction or assisting with preparation and management of materials and programs that are utilized in
imparting knowledge or in the instructional process; or providing other general assistance in the
instruction process.
English language requirement
All nonnative English-speaking Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) must demonstrate
proficiency in spoken English appropriate to the demands of their teaching assistantship. English
language proficiency is assessed in one of the following ways for laboratory teaching or other
assigned one-on-one teaching responsibilities.
1. Successful completion of the ECU Language Academy at level 5;
2. A total minimum score of 84 TOEFL iBT (internet-based Test of English as a Foreign
Language) and a minimum score of 24 on the speaking section;
3. A minimum score of 6.5 on the speaking portion of the International English Language
Testing System (IELTS) exam.
4. A minimum score of 55 on the Test of Spoken English (TSE).
Students who score lower than the amounts listed above may contact the Graduate School to
request an appeal interview. Higher levels of proficiency appropriate to the demands of the
teaching assistantship as determined by the department is required for lecture teaching
assignments.
Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)
A GRA works with a supervising faculty member to provide general support to the University's research
mission. These responsibilities may or may not relate directly to the student's thesis or
dissertation. Duties of the GRA primarily involve applying and mastering research concepts, practices,
or methods of scholarship. Services provided by a GRA may include: assisting faculty members in a
research or creative activity; perform degree-related professional or administrative services that
supports research, instruction, professional development, or outreach missions of the University;
developing and evaluating instructional materials or curricula; or assuming responsibility for designated
scholarly endeavors.
Graduate Administrative Support Assistant (GSA)
A GSA provides general services to the University that may may or may not be directly related to the
student’s chosen field of study.
Student Worker
The Student Worker is an employed student not meeting the above criteria and would constitute an
employer-employee status within East Carolina University and requires compensation based on actual
time worked as assigned. Documentation of hours worked via a time sheet and an hourly wage of at
least the Federal minimum wage ($7.25, as of 2012), are required.
Eligibility Criteria
In order to be eligible to receive a graduate assistantship, students must meet the following criteria
unless granted an exception by the Dean of the Graduate School or his/her designee. Individual
graduate programs may have additional or higher eligibility criteria:
1. Be admitted by regular admission to an graduate degree;
2. Maintain good academic standing with a cumulative graduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or
higher. Newly admitted graduate students will have the first 9 credits attempted to establish a
minimum GPA of 3.0;
3. Continued satisfactory academic progress towards the degree as determined by the program
director;
4. Performance of assigned duties in a timely and competent fashion as determined by the supervising
faculty member or program supervisor.
For graduate assistant appointments at a 0.50 FTE or higher, graduate students are required to meet the
following criteria to maintain eligibility:
1. Master’s level students must be enrolled as a full-time graduate student each semester (Fall and
Spring) with a minimum of nine credit hours or three credit hours of thesis or other final project
in their final semester of enrollment.
2. Doctoral students must be enrolled as full-time graduate students each semester
a. (Fall and Spring) with a minimum of nine credit hours.
b. International students must maintain appropriate visa status and work permissions to
permit performance as a graduate assistant
Summer
Students may be employed as graduate assistants during first and/or second summer session if they
have been admitted to a graduate degree program. If the student is a new graduate student in either
first or second summer session he/she must be enrolled in the corresponding summer term. Graduate
assistants do not have to enroll if they were enrolled the preceding Spring semester and are preenrolled for the subsequent Fall semester. All students expecting to complete their degree
requirements during the summer must be enrolled in the summer to graduate and to hold a graduate
assistantship (see continuous enrollment policy). Students who withdraw from their graduate program
and the Graduate School after their assistantship start date are no longer eligible for an assistantship. It
is the department’s responsibility to immediately end the assistantship job and to notify the appropriate
units on campus.
Students who graduate at the end of the Spring semester are not eligible for an assistantship in the
summer unless they have been admitted to pursue another graduate degree.
Limitations on FTE, Workload, and Appointments
The Graduate School limits the FTE of graduate assistantships in order to ensure that students make
adequate satisfactory academic progress and complete their degrees within appropriate time limits. A
Graduate Assistantship of 0.50 FTE is estimated to be the equivalent of 20 hours of work per week.
Assistantships up to this limit do not require permission of the Dean of the Graduate School. Exceptions
of 0.51 up to 0.625 FTE, equivalent to an estimated maximum of 25 hours per week, require written
justification from the student’s program director and approval by the Dean of the Graduate School or
his/her designee. Exceptions for appointment totals exceeding 0.625 require the approval of the Dean
of the Graduate School. The sponsoring unit must allocate sufficient funds to cover the employer’s
portion of the NC State Employee’s Health Insurance plan.
These guidelines are applicable to all academic terms.
The combined maximum workload limits for ECU graduate assistants as stated above extend to include
all forms of graduate student employment including, but not limited to, hourly graduate student
employment, work-study employment at ECU and any other University within the University of North
Carolina System.