Process to Begin Graduate Assistant Appointment

Graduate faculty and administrative assistants are students who assist law faculty and departments with research, administrative support and technology.  To initiate recruitment or placement for a faculty or administrative graduate assistant in the College of Law, you must first verify that research funding is available to support an appointment. You may do this by departmental/sponsored budget budget review; by submitting a request to the to verify the availability of funds in your faculty development account; or, by submitting a formal request for special funding. A request for development account review or special funding should include the number of assistants needed and/or the scope of research or assignment.  Please note that approval for supplemental research assistant(s) is strictly contingent upon available funding and budget approval.

Once funding is verified, you may elect to either make a direct graduate assistant appointment, post a graduate assistantship vacancy on the student job information webpage, or you may recruit by other acceptable methods.

Development Account Review/Supplemental GRA Funding Request Form

Law Student Requirements

When preparing to make your appointment, you should verify the following information:

• The student must have completed the first year full-time program.

• The student must be erolled at least part-time.

• To be eligible for a full tuition waiver the student must be enrolled for a minimum of 9 credit hours during the fall or spring semester, or 6 credit hours during the summer term.  To be eligible for a 1/2 tuition waiver the student must be enrolled for a minimum of 6 credit hours during the fall or spring semester, or 3 credit hours during the summer.

• The student cannot take an academic overload during the semester of employment.

• The student cannot serve as a student assistant or any other employment category in another department or college except as a research assistant during the semester of employment.

• The student cannot hold an additional appointment which would require him/her to work a combination of hours that exceed 20 hours per week.

Non-Law Student Requirements

Non-Law students must have the permission of their degree program to hold a graduate assistantship in the College of Law. In addition, they cannot exceed their program’s limitation on the number of hours to be worked. Any student accepted into a graduate degree program may be appointed as a graduate assistant depending on credentials such as grade point averages in previous course work or in the degree program, previous experience, and the nature of the work for which the assistantship is funded.

Non-Law students must meet the same requirements as law students with the exception of having completed the first year full-time program.

Appointment

Graduate Assistants can be employed either annually or on a per-semester basis. Graduate assistants receive a stipend and tuition waiver. Graduate assistants have a minimum obligation of 120 hours of work (60 in the summer) which is to be completed before the beginning of the next academic semester, with a recommended maximum work load of 10 hours per week.

The College of Law appoints graduate assistants at both the GA1 and GA2 levels. The typical compensation package for GA1s in the College of Law includes a ½ tuition waiver and $1,000 stipend for fall and spring semesters and a ½ tuition waiver and $500 stipend for the summer semester, however, depending upon the scope of the work, some limited full tuition waiver positions, GA2s, are available.  GA2 positions are most often associated with clinics and special projects.  Along with a full tuition waiver, GA2 positions would carry a $2,000 stipend for fall and spring semesters and/or a $1,000 stipend during the summer. Please keep stipend amounts in mind when considering your research needs. You or your department will be required to pay the stipend amounts associated with each position.

Once you have identified candidate(s) for your graduate assistant position(s), they will need to complete the appointment process by submitting  an appointment form. Please direct the student to Room 407UL to complete an appointment form and to receive additional information related to their appointment.

Student Work Requirements, Benefits, and Monitoring of Hours

To fulfill the number of hours of required work each term, standard graduate assistants (GA1) should work a standard average of 8 hours per week, with a recommended maximum work load of 10 hours per week.  For program and center assistants (GA2/assistants with advanced assignments) the total number of hours recommended is 10-16.  The following chart is an example of standard work hours and benefit:

 

Appt Type	Departments	Percentage Work Effort	Number of Hours Per Week	Total Hours Per Semester	Benefit	Budget Impact
GA1	Faculty Library Technology Career Services HeLP STLA RWA Communications Registrar Law Review Other	20% - 25%	8-10	120-150	½ Tuition Waiver $1,000 Stipend for Fall/Spring $500 Stipend in Summer.	Faculty development account.   Supplemental funding.**   Departmental Budget.   Dean’s Discretionary Budget.
GA1-GA2	CNCR CLHS NIFTEP Tax Clinic Sponsored Projects	10% - 40%	8-16	120-240	½ Tuition Waiver $1,000 Stipend for Fall/Spring $500 Stipend in Summer.   Or   Full Tuition Waiver $2,000+ Stipend for Fall/Spring $1000+ Stipend in Summer.	Departmental budget.
GA1	Academic Enrichment Program	10%	8-10	120-150	½ Tuition Waiver $1,000 Stipend for Fall/Spring.	Departmental budget.

**Requires Budget and Dean's Office approval.

Faculty and Hiring Managers are asked to keep a log of hours worked by graduate assistants each month during the appointment term to ensure that they are in compliance with the minimum number of work hours for each type of appointment. 

Time logs should be submitted to the College's Human Resources Officer at the end of semester for each graduate assistant employed. A sample log is provided below:
Graduate Assistant Time Log 

Posting Announcements

If you would like to post a graduate assistant position vacancy announcement, please complete the form below and email it to Anjelica Lymon, College Human Resources Officer: 
Graduate Assistant Posting Request

Announcements will be posted on the College of Law's Simplicity website for students to access until positions are filled.  Application instructions must be included with announcement requests.

Appointment Deadlines

Please be advised of the following College of Law priority deadlines for Graduate Assistant appointments:

Fall Semester: August 1
Spring Semester: December 1
Summer Semester: May 1

Tuition waivers

Students must have completed appointment forms on file by the following dates to be awarded tuition waivers:

Fall Semester: September 25
Spring Semester: January 31
Summer Semester: June 30

Tuition waivers will not be applied to student registration records after these dates.

Holidays/Closures

Graduate assistants are entitled to fall and spring breaks as well as the same holidays of faculty and staff. Please refer to the current academic calendar for information on reporting dates and holidays. Students can also speak to their supervisors about make-up hours during fall and spring breaks.

Evaluation of Work

At the end of each appointment term, supervisors are asked to formally evaluate the performance of their graduate assistant(s).  An evaluation form is found below:

Graduate Assistant Performance Evaluation Form

Process to Terminate a Graduate Assistant

Faculty and staff may find situations where they need to terminate an appointment of a graduate assistant. Grounds for termination include situations where the student is not performing satisfactory work. A termination should be handled in the same manner as terminating an employee. Supervisors must give the students a “verbal warning” and a “written warning” prior to dismissing them from their positions. The supervisor should make sure to document in writing the reasons for termination. Prior to taking any action, please inform both the College of Law Human Resources Officer and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in writing about the student and the rationale for termination. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will determine if a viable solution can be found that meets the faculty/department and students’ needs or if termination is the best solution.

Students should be advised at the time of termination that the action may result in the requirement to return both tuition and stipend payments to the University.
Students may appeal to the College of Law if they have evidence that their employment was unfairly terminated. Students should contact the Dean of the Law School within 10 business days from the date of termination. A formal grievance letter (not an email) should be addressed to the Dean. The dean will determine whether an investigation is appropriate. The dean will respond a decision directly to the student in a timely manner.

Other Documents

University Graduate Assistant Policy