Graduate Student Handbook

Assistantships for Research

Graduate students may receive a paid research or teaching assistantship during the course of their degree program. Each assistantship has a set number of hours associated with it, either at 0.33 FTE (no more than 13.2 work hours per week; 9 hours of tuition remission per semester) or 0.49 FTE (no more than 19.6 work hours per week; 12 hours of tuition remission per semester). Graduate Assistants are considered employees, and their work assignments are normally independent of their graduate program. Advisers/supervisors are to discuss their expectations with the students; total work hours are not to exceed the limit set by their FTE. If the graduate assistant is not meeting expectations, they may lose their assistantship, but may continue on their degree program. A student must be on the assistantship for the full semester in order to receive the benefits.

More information is available at: https://graduate.unl.edu/funding/assistantships

Funding

Faculty may fund a GRA from their grants or, for new faculty, from startup funds. In the future, the School will have a limited number of Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAs) which will be awarded by the Graduate Committee. SNR stipend rates can be found in shared drive"SNR Info" (S:\")

Work Hours

Assistantship appointments are usually 0.49 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) and require work hours of 15-19.6 per week. Select Assistantships may have .33 FTE and work hours of 10-13.3 per week. Work assignments can be independent of the student's graduate program. Advisers/supervisors are to discuss their expectations with the students; total work hours are not to exceed the limit set by their FTE.

Benefits

Assistantships provide students with income, tuition remission (12 credit hours per semester, and up to 12 in the summer, depending on stipend amount paid), and health insurance at a reduced rate. More information can be found at: https://www.unl.edu/gradstudies/funding/assistantships.

Health coverage for the fall semester is from mid-August through December and for the spring semester is January through mid-August. More information can be found at: https://health.unl.edu.

For faculty who fund assistantships, make note that the funding source will be billed once each semester approximately 47% for tuition and health insurance. More information can be found at: https://research.unl.edu/sponsoredprograms/fringe-benefit-rates/.