Assistantships, Fees and Financial Aid

Types of Support Several forms of financial aid are available to graduate students. The Graduate School and the College of Engineering and Information Technology award fellowships and the Department awards a fellowship and assistantships (TA's and RA's). Students seeking student loans must make necessary arrangements with the Office of Financial Aid.

Teaching Assistantships For the 2004-2005 academic year, the stipend for a Teaching Assistant in Computer Science and Engineering is $12,000, $11,000, or $9000 depending on the duties assigned. The assistantship also includes a reduction in the tuition fee to the in state rate and there may be additional tuition supplements provided by the department. The workload of a TA should be 20 hours per week. Duties include grading papers, holding office hours for student consultation, and lecturing in laboratories under a faculty member's direction. TA's typically assist a faculty member in teaching a large section of an elementary course. After completion of 18 hours, TA's may be asked to teach a course independently.

Research Assistantships A number of graduate students are supported as research assistants (RA's) by research grants and contracts. This may entail work that leads to their thesis research. Faculty members who currently have research grants/contracts choose their own research assistants. A limited number of teaching and research assistantships are available during the summer. Application for these should be made early in the spring semester. First priority is given to current teaching assistants. Stipends and duties vary.

Industrial Research Assistants Several local companies support research assistants to work off campus. Recent companies include State Agencies, J. D. Edwards, Coastal Sciences Corporation etc.

Fellowships There are different sources of funds for fellowships. Some depend upon general University appropriations. Others are derived from endowed funds given to the University by donors. A list of available fellowships can be found in the Graduate Bulletin. The Department currently has the Metro Atlantic supplemental fellowship that provides $20,000 in support and the Fuji Fellowship that provides a supplemental $3000.

Curricula Practical Training International students on F-1 visas can only work off campus as part of curricula practical training, which is a one semester directed readings course that is augmented by a job off campus. This job serves to enhance the directed readings course by providing real world experience. Frequently students do this over the summer, but they are not allowed to extend the training beyond one semester or beyond one summer.

TA Support Renewal Policy Graduate assistantships are awarded on the basis of merit and are renewable annually, subject to a review of each student's progress. To insure that the students make good progress towards the completion of their degrees there are time limits beyond which assistantships will not be renewed regardless of performance. The limits are: 1. M.S. candidates will not be supported beyond two years of their entry into the program. 2. Ph.D. candidates will not be supported beyond five years of their entry into the Ph.D. program. Research assistantships are not subject to the preceding limitations. Full-time graduate assistants are not allowed to undertake additional employment.

Payroll and Tax Information I-9 Forms: Graduate assistants are required by the federal government to fill out an I-9 form to verify their employment eligibility. This form may be obtained from the Graduate Secretary and must be turned in to the Graduate Director within three days of the start of employment. Filling it out requires proof of identity and of employment eligibility. Usually some combination of passport or driver's license and social security card is used in filling out the form. Delay in filling out the I-9 will delay the student's initial paycheck.

Payroll: The graduate assistantship is an academic year (9 month) appointment. Summer assistantships are administered separately. Paychecks are issued bi-weekly on the last business day on or before the 15th and the last business day of the month. The first check arrives at the end of August, the last check in mid-May. One summer check is issued at the end of summer session I. For summer session II, two checks are issued; one at midterm (end of July), and one at the end of the session.

Taxes and Withholding: Each assistant should complete a W-2 form, available in the Graduate Director's office. If no W-2 is submitted to payroll, the default is 0 exemptions, resulting in a substantial amount of withholding. A method for determining the number of exemptions to claim and a form for calculating such exemptions is available from the local office of the IRS. The IRS normally considers income from a graduate assistantship taxable.