Assistantships

GETTING STARTED

How to be considered

Contact the graduate chair of your department.

Basic eligibility

To hold a graduate assistantship a student must be admitted for a specific graduate degree objective and enrolled for credit during the fall and spring semesters. Non-degree students are not eligible.

Graduate assistants are not required to register for courses during the summer term. Graduate assistants employed in summer without summer enrollment are subject to FICA and Medicare taxes; fees for recreation center usage; limited access to libraries and health center fees.

International graduate students who wish to be employed as teaching assistants at Nebraska must attend the International Teaching Assistant Institute. The summer institute, a concentrated 80-90 hour program, is held the first two weeks of August.

Benefits

Tuition remission of up to 12 hours per semester is provided as a benefit of eligible assistantship employment.

Students holding eligible assistantships are provided basic individual student health insurance coverage at reduced cost to the student. The student health insurance plan covers accidents and illnesses to a maximum of $250,000 per policy year.

If a student resigns or the assistantship is terminated during the semester before 4 full months of service have been completed, all tuition benefits will be lost. The student is then responsible for paying the total tuition cost and health insurance premium.

To be eligible for benefits, an assistantship needs to meet all of the following criteria:

1. The appointment is continuous for 4 full months within the semester.
2. The stipend meets the minimum requirement set by the Office of Graduate Studies.
3. The assistantship or combination of assistantships in one or more departments totals at least 13.33 hours and no more than 20 hours per week.

Forms and Documents