Graduate Assistantships

Academic graduate assistants help full-time Gabelli School faculty members with the following duties:

Provide instructional support by:

• Teaching a small group or section during a course or tutoring individual or groups of students
• Holding office hours to review student or course work
• Grading assignments
• Administering tests or exams

Provide administrative support by:

• Ensuring maintenance and upkeep of technology and web-based class materials
• Performing basic data entry

Provide research support by:

• Collecting, conducting, and/or analyzing literature reviews
• Drafting research reports and other materials for submission to agencies and foundations
• Preparing presentations

Administrative graduate assistants work closely with a variety of business units within the Gabelli School of Business to provide administrative support. They engage in duties assigned by the sponsoring office, which can range across a broad variety of responsibilities. Types of duties include:

• Data Entry
  
• Event organization and support
  
• Posting social media
  
• Programming and database management
  
• Tech support

Graduate assistantships are highly selective, and students must meet the following enrollment requirements to be eligible.

Fall and Spring Terms

Students must be registered for the following minimum credit loads to hold a graduate assistantship:

• 9 or more credits → Eligible for up to 20 hours per week

• 6 or more credits → Eligible for up to 10 hours per week

• 1.5 or more credits → Eligible for up to 5 hours per week

Students approved for a graduate assistant position prior to the end of the add/drop period will have their accounts audited after the add/drop period to ensure they remain registered for the required number of credits.

Summer or Final Term

Students who are attending classes during the summer or who are in their final term of study must be registered for the following minimum credit loads:

• 6 or more credits → Eligible for up to 20 hours

• 3 or more credits → Eligible for up to 10 hours

• 1.5 or more credits → Eligible for up to 5 hours

Students enrolled in 3 credits during their final term may hold a 10-hour graduate assistantship, provided it is their final term of study.

To be included in the pool of students shared with faculty members and administrative offices, students MUST submit the Graduate Assistant Application by the term deadline outlined in the invitation email. No exceptions will be made to include students who do not submit an application by the deadline.

The Graduate Assistant Application opens for students, nearly two months prior to the beginning of each term. Application submission closes for students about a month into the term.

Staff and faculty members review the applications as they are received. They have until the end of the second month of the term to reach out to applicants to offer graduate assistant positions. Once a supervisor and student agree to work together, an approval form is submitted by the supervisor. Graduate assistants are paid by tuition remission within 7-10 business days of having the approval form submitted.

Students may be hired as graduate assistants for a maximum of 20 hours per week in any given term. The 20 hours may be split among more than one faculty member or administrator.

Graduate assistantships are only posted for the current term, and it is up to your supervisor if they will be hiring you for the following term. Students may submit another application for the following term once it becomes available.

NOTE: Students SHOULD NOT begin working until they are sent an email from [email protected] confirming they are approved to work and that their funds have been posted. Students will NOT BE PAID for work done before receiving the approval email.

Eligible students hired for either an academic or administrative graduate assistantship will be compensated entirely through tuition remission posted within 5 business days of receiving the graduate assistantship approval form.

Both the graduate assistant and the hiring supervisor will receive a confirmation email that the

payment has been posted to the graduate assistant’s Fordham Ebill Suite account. Please note that it may take an additional 5 business days for the funds to disburse to the Fordham student account. If funds are posted before the start of the semester, funds will disburse no earlier than 3 days prior to the start of classes.

Compensation posted to a student’s account will first cover any remaining balance and will then be refunded to the student. For refunds to a student’s personal bank account, students will have to contact the Office of Student Accounts at [email protected] or 718-817-4900.

Graduate assistant positions are viewed as “self-help scholarships,” and as such are tax-exempt. Therefore, graduate assistants will NOT receive a W-2 for their compensation, nor is a social security number required to hold a graduate assistant position.

Compensation will be broken into the following amounts based on hired hours:

PLEASE NOTE: Students will not be compensated for work beyond the max hours allowed in accordance with their weekly assigned hours. Therefore, students who begin to work before the start of the semester may end their graduate assistantship earlier, take a break during the term, or work reduced hours during some weeks.

Students who are unable to keep their commitment to their graduate assistantship for the duration of the term will be prorated for hours or weeks worked.

Sometimes compensation is delayed for a variety of reasons. Please be sure that all is in order prior to applying for a graduate assistantship. Delays can occur for the following reasons:

• A student is not registered in the correct minimum number of credits needed for a GA position.
• A supervisor does not have graduate assistant hour allotment for the term.
• A student’s current sum of aid is up to the cost of attendance and the current aid must be adjusted.