Assistantships

Graduate assistantship positions are available to students in a variety of areas on the UMass campus. The assistantships are 10-30 hours/week, provide a full tuition credit, excellent benefits (including health care), roughly $30 hourly wage, and all are unionized positions. Some students choose to remain at one assistantship throughout graduate school, while others may have several. Once you are accepted to the program, it will be your responsibility to seek out and apply for assistantships, with support from the program. Students must be enrolled in 9 credits or more to maintain eligibility for assistantships awarded by the College of Education.

Within the concentration and department, we have a few assistantships available. However, resourceful students in our program of study have been able to obtain funding from diverse units across campus, such as Residence Life, Learning Disabilities Support Services, the Career Services Center, the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health, Assessment and Testing Services, other concentrations within the College of Education, and in various places across campus. For information about assistantships across campus, contact the Graduate School Assistantship Office, 524 Goodell Building (413-545-5287). You can also find assistantship opportunities online.

UMass offices post open assistantship opportunities throughout the spring, summer, and into the fall semester, as well as periodically when positions open up throughout the school year, so we encourage you to be patient even if you do not have an assistantship lined up immediately. If you receive an assistantship of at least 10 hours after the start of the fall semester, your tuition waiver will be retroactive to the beginning of the semester. If you receive an assistantship of at least 20 hours in the spring (or two 10-hour assistantship positions) and didn’t have an assistantship in the fall, your tuition waiver will be retroactive to the beginning of the school year.

School Counselor Education Students’ Recent Assistantship Sites/Positions

• Assessment and Testing Services
• Career Services Center
• Center for Counseling and Psychological Health
• Center for Health Promotion
• Financial Aid Services
• Learning Disabilities Support Services
• Research Assistant for Faculty Members
• Residence Life
• Student Success Programs & Services
• Teaching Assistantships

Scholarships

The College of Education offers a scholarship program for current and new students. Scholarships are offered to undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students who are preparing to work in the education profession (i.e., PreK-12 schools or higher education.) More information about specific scholarships can be found online.

How to apply:

1. Go to the Academic Works webpage and sign in with your UMass Net ID and password HERE.
2. Complete both the General and College of Education Applications. Once you do this, you’ll see all the scholarships you qualify for.
3. Click on a scholarship link and upload supplementary documents (personal statement, resumes, transcripts, additional materials depending on award).
4. Submit your application and see your dashboard, which shows you the status of any pending and submitted applications.

Scholarship recipients will be notified in April of any given year for the scholarship to be awarded in the following fall semester. For additional questions about scholarships, contact education@umass.edu.

Helpful Links

Funding Information – Graduate School
Graduate Employee Organization (Graduate Students’ Union)
Residence Education Graduate Assistant Positions