Assistantships at a Glance
The most common source of University funding for graduate students are paid teaching or research assistantships where students assist a faculty member in teaching, research, or lab work as a paid employee.
Assistantships with a minimum of 10 hours per week enjoy the following benefits:
- a tuition credit, GEO tuition benefits do not apply to University+ courses except under exceptional circumstances. Please see Tuition Credits for University+/Online Courses for more information
- a 100% reduction of the Service Fee
- University pays 95% of the individual health insurance premium
- University pays 95% of spouse and/or dependent health insurance premium
- parking discounts
- Free dental and vision insurance
- Time off for illness, vacation, bereavement, parent/family reasons
- Wellness reimbursements for gym memberships
- A $150,000 fund is available to support graduate students with childcare, after-school tutoring and summer camp costs
- The minimum pay is currently $36.67/hr.
The minimum stipend for a 9 month 20 hr assistantship is $27,869.20. Some departments may pay assistantships at a higher hourly rate. They may also offer financial support in the summer.
For more information, please see our funding policies and procedures.
Information on financial aid for graduate students, tuition and other cost estimates can be found here.
UMass offers robust support for teaching assistants in the Teaching Academy.