Graduate Assistantship
The College of Graduate Studies offers this set of guidelines for appropriate roles and responsibilities for the graduate assistantship. The graduate assistant offers a valuable service to the academic community at Virginia State University. A graduate assistantship provides opportunities for students to expand and/or apply their discipline knowledge and skills under supervision of faculty or administrators while also providing instructional, research, and/or administrative support to departmental efforts.
Eligibility Requirements
- Submit all requirements for admissions to include official scores from standardized tests (GRE, Praxis, VCLA, etc.), if applicable.
- Accepted to a graduate program at Virginia State University and be enrolled as a full-time student with 9 credit hours or more.
- Minimum cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 for first time graduate students, and minimum cumulative graduate grade point average of 3.0 for current graduate students if applicable.
- S. Citizen or Permanent Resident Alien
Duties and Responsibilities
- Duties are at the discretion of a designated faculty member or administrator referred to as the GA (Graduate Assistant) supervisor.
- Duties may include, but not limited to assistance in laboratories, assigned duties that complement classroom instruction and/or performing common academic duties, and/or holding office hours or other administrative support.
- Graduate assistants may not be assigned to regular classroom instruction duties nor may they serve as an instructor of record for any instructional activity.
- Attend the orientation session and other assigned events that are organized by the College of Graduate Studies specifically for graduate assistants.
- Complete at least 9 hours per semester, with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Students failing to maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and/or maintaining 9 credit hours will be terminated. The student may reapply once the grade point average is restored. Students with a grade of “I” (incomplete) are ineligible but may be eligible once the “I” is removed and the term grade point average is restored.
- Receiving the Graduate Assistantship does not guarantee renewal.
- Students must complete a minimum of 20 hours of work in the department each week. A Graduate Assistant Hours Work Log must be completed monthly and returned within 5 business days from the end of each month to the College of Graduate Studies.
- Satisfactorily perform the duties assigned by the GA supervisor. The GA supervisor will complete a mid-semester and end of the semester evaluation. The evaluation must be satisfactory if the GA will return the next semester.
- The GA will have a maximum of 4 semesters to receive the assistantship (see six above).
- Sign a written GA contract each semester.
- Students accepting the graduate assistantship cannot be employed with another entity on or off campus.