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This document incorporates policies and procedures established by the University Trustees and campus administration and those set forth in the negotiated collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO). These supersede previous procedures and guidelines as well as previous policies on these matters. Further implementation will be provided as needed by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost. Specific questions, however, should be addressed to the Assistantship Office, 239 Whitmore.

TYPES OF GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS

TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIP
A Teaching Assistant (TA) has one or more of the following responsibilities in courses for which he or she does not have primary responsibility:

(1) coordinate, lead, or assist in the instructional process in preparation and direct interaction with students in lab, discussion, quiz, or problem sessions; (2) meet with students and teach during office hours; (3) grade papers; (4) grade and proctor exams; (5) supervise undergraduate interns; (6) counsel students; (7) administer colloquium programs. A TA may have additional, related duties as assigned.

In addition to positions in academic departments and the Division of Continuing Education, Teaching Assistants (and Teaching Associates) may be hired for instructional programming approved for and funded by non-academic departments. An example is the 3-credit Peer Sex Education course, designed and offered by the University Health Services and credited to the Public Health Department. Under no circumstance may a Teaching Assistant's responsibilities include duties that are unrelated to instructional effort, e.g., clerical, administrative, or even research type activities. A non-academic department must first have met institutional review requirements for an instructional program before it can appoint Teaching Assistants.

TEACHING ASSOCIATESHIP
A Teaching Associate is responsible for the teaching and grading of a course. Teaching Associate positions, like the TA, can be paid from any funding source.

RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIP
Research Assistants assist in conducting research of a scholarly nature, normally under faculty supervision. The work of a Research Assistant can include, but is not limited to, the gathering and analyses of data, the development of theoretical analyses and models, the production or publication of scholarly journals and research reports which is primarily for his or her own research, and is secondarily for the benefit of the University, faculty or academic staff supervisor, or granting agency.

PROJECT ASSISTANTSHIP
The Project Assistantship is a form of Research Assistantship where the graduate student performs work primarily for the benefit of the University, faculty or academic staff supervisor, and secondarily for the graduate student's own research. The Project Assistant must, however, do work related to academic research. This position cannot be used as an alternative to an Internship when a student's academic work is not enriched by the job duties.

INTERN ASSISTANTSHIP
Intern Assistantships (also known as Internships) are awarded to students who are gaining practical experience that directly augments their classroom studies. In some departments, Internships are required for graduation. Some graduate Internships are fulfilled off-campus. Whether worked off-campus or on, Internships funded by a sponsoring firm, agency, or department must be specifically designed to support and enrich a student's academic experience. Interns cannot fill regular staff positions or substitute for consulting services.

Examples of acceptable on-campus Internships include:

* A School of Management major designing a department or trust fund level accounting system.

* An Anthropology or Sociology major designing or implementing demographic analyses for the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.

* A Computer Science or engineering student designing and implementing computer based applications to support academic, research, or administrative needs.

* An Art major designing a patient waiting room for Health Services.

Examples of acceptable off-campus Internships include:

* The Clinical Psychology Department requires students to perform paid practicum at area hospitals and other institutions under the tutelage of staff psychologists.

* The Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning have students funded by county commissions and Massachusetts cities and towns as part of unique urban planning projects.

Examples of unacceptable Internships for both on- and off- campus include:

* Service activities such as cashiering, stock work, clerical work.

* Employment of a student whose major is unrelated to the work: i.e., a French major designing a budget system, even if that French major has exceptional skills in budgeting.

FELLOWSHIP
An award made to assist a student in the pursuit of his/her studies or research, usually with no requirement for service or performance.

TRAINEESHIP
An award made to assist a student in the pursuit of his/her studies or research, sometimes with and sometimes without the requirement of service or performance, but usually limited to a specific discipline by the granting agency.

ASSISTANT RESIDENCE DIRECTOR, (ARD)
A graduate student employed by Housing and who is required, as a condition of employment as an ARD to reside in University-assigned housing. The job duties and responsibilities of the ARD can be obtained from Housing Services, Berkshire House.

 

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT FOR GRADUATE ASSISTANTS

STIPEND
Graduate Assistantships and Associateships are required to carry a stipend at a rate that is no less than the established minimum set for the campus. This amount may vary from year to year, depending on budgetary and contract considerations. The current minimum stipend necessary to qualify for tuition and Curriculum fee waivers is $3467.75 for a single semester and $6,935.00 for the full academic year. However, minimum hourly rates vary by funding School or College. For a complete list of these rates please see the 2007-2008 Assistantship Information sheet. Minimum earnings needed for a tuition waiver in a given semester may be met by combining any number of eligible appointments - see below "Minimum Earnings." Stipends are paid in bi-weekly installments over the length of the appointment.

PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT
Most commonly graduate assistants and associates (GA's) are appointed from September through May. GA's may also be appointed for as long as 12 months from June through May or for periods of less than a semester. A GA may be re-appointed and serve for a second, a third, or even a fourth year. All graduate appointments shall automatically terminate at the end of the specified appointment period. No appointment or reappointment of a graduate student to an Assistantship or Associateship in any way commits the University to reappoint that same student at some later time.

To insure the timely receipt of the first bi-weekly paycheck, appointments of GA's should be made, and the completed fully signed appointment forms received, by the Graduate School at least 1week before the appointment is scheduled to begin. Retroactive appointments are not generally permitted and no graduate student employee should begin work until he or she has signed their Graduate Fellowship Assistantship Form (GFAF).

WORKLOAD
There are two policies governing the number of hours per week that a student may work on campus. The State Labor Board has imposed a maximum of 40 hours per week that a student may work for compensation on the campus. This includes the total from all job types: Assistantships, student hourly, Work-Study, etc. The second policy requires institutional responsibility to limit the pressure on students who hold multiple appointments and maintain a significant credit load. The student's academic progress and the quality of their classroom lecture delivery are both jeopardized under overload conditions. The Graduate School , therefore, also includes the course credit hours in the total permissible workload of 40 hours. A student who, with the addition of credit hours, slightly exceeds the 40-hour maximum, can have the limit lifted with a letter from the Graduate Program Director or Department Head attesting to the student's capacity to handle the overload. Thesis and dissertation credits are not included in the total. Note that International students with F1 and J1 Visas may not work more than 20 hours per week while classes are in session. These students may work up to 40 hours in a week during Intersession and the through the summer.

LANGUAGE TRAINING
A TA or TO who is appointed and is required by the University to participate in language training as a condition of that appointment may do so within the hours of his or her appointment, provided that such training is scheduled so as not to interfere with any other scheduled responsibilities of the TA or TO.

PREPARATION TIME
Any time a graduate student employee spends in training required by his or her department before the semester begins, whether provided by the department or the University, shall be counted towards the total number of contracted hours for the employee for the subsequent contract period.

SUMMER SESSION APPOINTMENTS
In addition to regular academic year appointments, graduate students, who have begun their academic course of study, may be appointed to assistantships in the summer. The rate of pay must meet the same minimum requirement established for the academic year and prorated for the length of the summer appointment.

ADDITIONAL COMPENSATION
A full or part-time Graduate Assistant or Associate may receive additional compensation from University sources in the form of other assistantships, student hourly, or fellowships as long as the hours worked are within the limits described under "Workload" above.

NON-DEGREE STUDENTS
Non-degree students may NOT receive tuition waivers under Board of Higher Education regulations. A non-degree student may be appointed to an assistantship only if the funding department is also willing to pay the student's tuition. Graduate assistants may not pay their own tuition. Curriculum fee would be waived and the health fees deferred. In addition to the student's tuition, the funding department would also be charged the heath fee charge back rate.

VACATION, ADDITIONAL TIME OFF, AND HOLIDAYS
Graduate student employees in the GEO bargaining unit shall receive the following vacation, additional time off, and holiday benefits:

Vacation : Graduate student employees shall accrue vacation leave at the rate of one working day per month. Vacation leave cannot be carried over beyond the contract period in which it is earned. Vacation time shall be taken during January intersession or Spring break unless, in the judgment of the department head, an alternative schedule would be preferable. Graduate employees who are required to work during January intersession or Spring break must be notified when they apply that this is a condition of employment. All vacation time shall be requested in advance and scheduled at the discretion of the department head.

Additional Time Off : Graduate student employees shall accrue personal leave at the rate of 24 hours per semester (pro-rated on the basis of full-time employment - 20 hours per week for 19 weeks per semester). Personal leave used for non-emergency reasons shall be requested in advance and scheduled at the discretion of the department head. If personal leave is used for emergencies (including illness), the graduate student employee shall notify the department head as soon as possible. You can use the multiplier .063 times the total number of hours a student works to determine Additional Time.

Holidays : Graduate student employees who normally work on a day when the University is closed due to a holiday shall receive pay for that day. However, when class days are switched (Monday schedule is on Wednesday) workdays will be switched as well. The following days are considered holidays:

•  New Year's Day •  Washington's Birthday •  Memorial Day •  Labor Day •  Veteran's Day •  Christmas Day

•  Martin Luther King Day •  Patriot's Day •  Independence Day •  Columbus Day •  Thanksgiving Day

Any graduate student employee who is required by his or her supervisor to work on a University holiday shall receive either compensatory payment or compensatory time off; the choice between these two options shall be at the discretion of the supervisor.

EMERGENCY CLOSINGS
When University employees are released from work due to emergency conditions, graduate student employees shall also be released - this includes snow or other weather related emergencies.

I. TUITION WAIVER SCHOLARSHIPS FOR ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

A Tuition and Curriculum Fee waiver scholarship is granted to all students who have achieved a level of academic excellence established by departments and recognized by the awarding of a half-time or greater Graduate Assistantship, Associateship, Fellowship or Traineeship with a current minimum earnings of $3467.75 for a single semester.

Eligible Appointment Types : A Graduate Assistantship or Associateship may take the form either of a Teaching Assistantship or Associateship, Research Assistantship, Project Assistantship, Assistant Resident Director, working or non-working Traineeship, working or non-working Fellowship or Intern Assistantship which serves as a learning experience directly associated with the student's academic discipline. Examples of these functions are given under "Types of Graduate Assistantships."

Sources of Funding : Graduate assistantships may be funded by extramural sources such as grants or contracts, from revenue based Trust Funds, or from State Funds. Graduate students may also be paid directly by external funding agencies.

Inappropriate Job Duties : Graduate students who perform "service" functions for remuneration must be hired on an hourly basis and do NOT receive tuition or curriculum fee scholarship waivers or health fee deferments. Examples of "service" functions are clerical duties or other work that does not professionally enhance and provide educational value towards the student's academic goals. On the other hand, graduate students with professional job duties must be hired on Graduate Assistantship Appointments. Student hourly appointments are processed on the Graduate Student Personnel Action forms through the Graduate Assistantship Office.

Active Status : Only students with "active" graduate status, including Program Fee and Provisional Status may qualify for tuition waivers for assistantships. Undergraduates, post baccalaureate students, non-degree students as well as students enrolled through Continuing Education are NOT eligible for tuition waivers in this category.

Minimum Earnings : Tuition waiver scholarships for assistantships are granted only to Assistants and Associates who receive a stipend equal to at least half the current minimum full-time (FTE) Assistantship stipend. For Academic Year 07-08, the minimum earnings necessary for a tuition waiver scholarship to cover both the fall 07 and spring 08 semesters is $6,935.00. This amount may be paid either over the two semesters or all in one semester. In practice, therefore, a stipend of $3467.75 for one semester will suffice for that semester; a stipend of $6,935.00 for one semester (either fall or spring) will qualify for a waiver for BOTH fall and spring of this academic year. Tuition waivers can neither be applied retroactively to a previous academic year nor carried over to a subsequent academic year.

Summer Session Waivers : Waivers of tuition for summer session enrollment of thesis or dissertation credits are also granted to Graduate Assistants and Associates who earn at least (for AY 07-08) $2,555.00 during the summer in which the student is enrolled for thesis or dissertation credits. Or alternatively, if this summer qualifying amount ($2,555.00 for AY 07-08) is earned above and beyond the amount necessary for qualifying for a tuition waiver in one or both of the preceding academic semesters, then waivers of tuition for summer session enrollment of thesis or dissertation credits will be granted. See the 2007-2008 Assistantship Information sheet for details of qualifying earnings for tuition waivers. The costs of registration, scheduled courses, independent study, or internship credit taken through Continuing Education cannot be waived.

II. TUITION WAIVERS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
The number of special tuition-only waivers for international students that may be granted is equal to a maximum of ten percent of the total number of international students currently enrolled on the Amherst campus. This ten percent does not include international students who have Graduate Assistantships or Associateships and therefore have waivers in the compensation category. Thus, if there are 1,000 international students enrolled on the campus at a given time, and 400 of these held Assistantships, the 100 authorized waivers would be available for the remaining 600. Tuition waivers for international students DO NOT include a waiver for Curriculum Fee or deferment of health fees.

The selection of international students to receive their tuition waivers is made by the International Programs Office.

III. TUITION WAIVERS FOR NON-WORKING FELLOWSHIPS AND NON-WORKING TRAINEESHIPS
Tuition waivers for fellowship and traineeship recipients, who are not required to work, are not automatic and will be given only when the fellowship or traineeship terms do not include provisions to pay the tuition . The original award letter must be submitted to the Assistantship Office for determination of tuition waiver applicability.

 

IV. COURTESY TUITION WAIVERS
The majority of those entitled to waivers in this category enroll under reciprocal student exchange and other contractual agreements.

 

CURRICULUM FEE WAIVERS

The University Curriculum Fee is currently waived for those students with tuition waiver scholarships awarded in conjunction with Teaching Assistantships, Teaching Associateships, Research Assistantships, Project Assistantships, Internships, Working Traineeships, Working Fellowships; or earned for academic distinction as with non-working Fellowships and non-working Traineeships. With some graduate appointments, the funding sources provide a separate budget for payment of mandatory fees - this is particularly true of grant-funded fellowships and traineeships. In such cases, the Curriculum Fee is NOT waived and the funding sources will be billed directly by the Bursar's Office for the Curriculum and other appropriate Fees.

CURRICULUM FEE WAIVER CHARGE-BACK
The Curriculum Fee charge-back is assessed to all grant and contract and revenue based funding sources including federal appropriation accounts and gifts where GEO appointments are charged.

The effective rates are determined by competitive proposal date, as follows:

Proposal Submission Date: Rate to be charged during FY08

Prior to 7/1/2001 N/A

7/1/2001 - 6/30/2003 $3,168.06

7/1/2003 -6/30/2004 $3,974.80

7/1/2004 -6/30/2006 $5,187.00

7/1/2006 -6/30/2007 $5,700.00

On or After 7/1/2007 $ 5,897.60

The following graduate appointment types are included :

Research Assistant (RA)
Project Assistant (PA)
Teaching Appointments (TA and TO)
Interns (IN)

Working Fellows - NB: non -working fellows and non -working trainees are excluded from the charge back.

The rate is calculated from actual 2007 participation data and expected FY 2008 graduate curriculum fees. It is also calculated on the basis of one FTE equal to 760 hours of employment for the year. All applicable fall and spring appointments will be calculated as a percentage of this FTE.

The charge back rate is applicable from the first Sunday in September through the last Saturday in May. The fee charges are not subject to Indirect Cost Charges, and are not applicable to appointments on department and P.I. RTF accounts.

Charges for fiscal 2008 will be assessed to all appropriate accounts monthly beginning in September 2007, using object code 786900. Questions concerning the Curriculum Fee charge-back may be directed to Will Shea, Director of Financial and Cost Analysis, wshea@admin.umass.edu , 413.577.0313.

HEALTH BENEFIT
Only eligible graduate student employees in the GEO bargaining unit are provided with health fee exemptions for Basic Health, Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP), and the Student Family Health Plan. All three health plans are administered over two plan periods: fall, which runs from August 1 through January 31 and spring, which runs February 1 through July 31. For the academic year 2007-2008, the minimum earnings necessary for health fee exemptions that cover the 12-month health plan period, August 1 through July 31, is $6,935.00. However, if a student earns a stipend of half that amount ($3467.75), he or she will receive a full plan year of the SHIP fee exemption and a single plan period of the Basic (and Family, if elected) fee exemption. The semester in which the earnings take place will determine the plan period in which the Basic (and Family) fee exemption(s) take place. Earnings to qualify for health fee exemptions are cumulative beginning with the first payroll date of summer and ending with the last payroll date of the spring semester. Summer earnings must always be applied forward .

It is the responsibility of principal investigators of fellowship and training grants to provide the Graduate Assistantship Office with verification and description of duties of appointed students for consideration of Health Benefit eligibility. Without such verification, the Graduate Assistantship Office will assume that the fellowship or traineeship does not require work, and the student appointee will be coded "not eligible" for the Health Benefit.

 

HEALTH BENEFIT CHARGE-BACK
The cost of the graduate student employee health benefit is borne by the departments and grants funding eligible appointments. The total cost is automatically distributed back to the accounts funding the stipends. The distribution method is based on the hours an eligible student is contracted to work. In Fiscal 2008 a charge-back of $2,979.20 is made for each Full Time Equivalency of work (FTE), which equals 20 hours per week over 38 weeks (760 hours). Lesser or greater amounts of work result in a pro-rated charge-back (the charge-back equals $3.91 per hour). The actual health benefit received by the graduate student employee is unaffected by the amount of health charge back paid by the department or grant.