There are three different graduate student specific classifications that will commonly appear on the accounts:
- Teaching Assistants (subaccount 1800)
- Type B Research Assistants (subaccount 1801), and
- Type A Research Assistants (subaccounts 1804 and 1805).
Under usual circumstances, teaching assistants should be funded only from internally funded accounts, most commonly departmental teaching accounts.
Research assistants are most commonly funded from sponsored awards or from unrestricted start-up funding. The difference between the two types of research assistants is that Type B generates a tuition support charge (subaccount 8319) at the current rate for the fiscal year. Type A research assistants do not generate this charge. By default, all research assistants should be Type B unless the award regulations specifically prohibit tuition support charges in connection with research assistants or during limited periods when graduate students are not registered, usually summer quarters early in the graduate career.
Research assistants must serve for a minimum of 2 consecutive months during a quarter. However, if possible, it is best to issue full quarter appointments for both research assistants and teaching assistants.
Grant funds should not be used as a convenient source of student financial aid. Efforts should be made to ensure that the number of students and the time they spend on the award are in line with the award budget. During the proposal phase, it is important for the PI to carefully think through how many months their research assistant(s) can be reasonably expected to work on the project annually rather than assuming that it will always be for 12 months. Likewise, the number of person-months it should reasonably take to complete the project should be carefully considered.
On fellowship accounts, graduate student stipends should be coded in subaccount 8320. Fellowship payments are done through the Dean of Students office and not the payroll system.
PSD Standard Type B Graduate Research Assistant Funding
Beginning 1 October 2019, GRA funding will be issued on the same schedule as TA reimbursement, so that academic monthly funding will not be the same as summer monthly funding.
There are two standard funding scales for graduate research assistants, one for Computer Sciences (CS) graduate students and one for all other PSD graduate students (PSD).
| Annual Grad RA Funding | ||
| 1 Oct 20 to 30 Sep 21 | ||
| PSD | CS | |
| Annual Funding | 35,000 | 37,440 |
| Annual Insurance | 4,563 | 4,563 |
| Annual Service Fees | 1,304 | 1,304 |
| Total Annual Funding | 40,867 | 43,307 |
| Tuition remission @ 45% | 18,390 | 19,488 |
| Total Annual Cost | 59,257 | 62,795 |
| Monthly Grad RA Funding, Academic Quarters | ||
| 1 Oct 20 to 30 Jun 21 | ||
| PSD | CS | |
| Monthly Funding | 2,917 | 3,120 |
| Monthly Insurance | 507 | 507 |
| Monthly Service Fees | 109 | 109 |
| Total Monthly Funding | 3,533 | 3,736 |
| Tuition remission @ 45% | 1,590 | 1,681 |
| Total Monthly Cost | 5,123 | 5,417 |
| Monthly Grad RA Funding, Summer Quarter | ||
| 1 Jul 21 to 30 Sep 21 | ||
| PSD | CS | |
| Monthly Funding | 2,917 | 3,120 |
| Monthly Insurance | 0 | 0 |
| Monthly Service Fees | 109 | 109 |
| Total Monthly Funding | 3,026 | 3,229 |
| Tuition remission @ 45% | 1,362 | 1,453 |
| Total Monthly Cost | 4,388 | 4,6 |