1. Fellowships and Financial Aid
  2. Doctoral Student Funding
  3. Graduate Assistantships

Graduate Assistantships

Graduate Assistantship positions may be awarded by the doctoral programs, CUNY and Graduate Center administrative offices, and the CUNY colleges upon admission or while you are studying at The Graduate Center. In many cases, a graduate assistantship is a component of a multiyear fellowship. Students with graduate assistantships are eligible for in-state tuition coverage if they are within their first 10 registered semesters.

Graduate assistantships are tiered in A, B, C, and D categories based on maximum hours of service (between 100 and 450 hours per year, with the highest maximum in A-tier positions) and may be teaching, or non-teaching positions (see below for details).

Graduate Assistant A, Graduate Assistant B, Graduate Assistant C, and Graduate Assistant D are titles in the PSC-CUNY Contract. CUNY graduate students (master’s and doctoral students) should be given priority by CUNY colleges when hiring individuals for all graduate assistant appointments.

Assistantship Details

Details on each of the Graduate Assistantship tiers are below, including starting salary, anticipated workload/hours of service, and benefits. 

At The Graduate Center, an appointment to any Graduate Assistantship is contingent upon a student’s status as a full time student in good academic standing in their doctoral program as defined in the Academic Policies and Procedures section of The Graduate Center Student Handbook and satisfactory performance in the title of Graduate Assistant.

 

The Graduate Assistant A (GAA) can be a teaching or a non-teaching title.

Compensation

GAA appointments are normally 12-month appointments, and payments are paid bi-weekly in the form of a New York state payroll check. The current starting salary is $25,357  for an annual appointment.

Workload

Students holding the non-teaching GAA title shall have an annual appointment of no more than 450 non-teaching hours during the work year. (This translates into 15 hours of work per week for each 15-week semester.)

Students holding the teaching GAA title shall have an annual appointment of no more than 240 teaching hours during the work year.

Additional Work Assignments

A GAA may not hold any other teaching or non- teaching appointment at CUNY while appointed to the GAA title. This means that a GAA cannot work concurrently as an Adjunct Lecturer or as a Non-Teaching Adjunct at one of the CUNY colleges.

Benefits

A GAA is eligible for:

  • CUNY in-state tuition remission if they are within the first 10 registered semesters of doctoral study at The Graduate Center.
  • The 2017-2023 PSC-CUNY Contract provides doctoral students who have completed at least ten semesters and hold a position covered by Article 1 of the PSC contract  up to four additional semesters of in-state level three tuition remission.
  • GAA appointees are eligible to enroll in the low-cost NYSHIP health insurance at their own expense. The coverage is available even if a GAA has been registered for more than 10 semesters.
  • Deferred compensation plans and commuter benefits program (see Human Resources).

The Graduate Assistant B (GAB) can be a teaching or a non-teaching title.

Compensation

GAB appointments are normally 12-month appointments, and payments are paid bi-weekly in the form of a New York state payroll check. The current starting salary for an annual appointment is $13,215.

Workload

Students holding the non-teaching GAB title shall have an annual appointment of no more than 225 non-teaching hours during the work year. (This translates into 7.5 hours of work per week for each 15-week semester.)

Students holding the teaching GAB title shall have an annual appointment of no more than 120 teaching hours during the work year.

Additional work assignments

A GAB may also hold an appointment as an Adjunct Lecturer or as a Non-Teaching Adjunct at one of the CUNY colleges and receive separate compensation for this service. Please note, however:

  • If a GAB holds an Adjunct Lecturer appointment, the GAB may be appointed for no more than 150 contact hours in the adjunct appointment or 270 contact hours in the combined GAB and Adjunct appointments.
  • If a GAB holds a Non-Teaching Adjunct appointment, the GAB may be appointed for no more than 120 teaching contact hours or 225 non-teaching adjunct hours in the combined assignments.

Benefits

A GAB is eligible for:

  • CUNY in-state tuition remission if they are within the first 10 registered semesters of doctoral study at The Graduate Center.
  • The 2017-2023 PSC-CUNY Contract provides doctoral students who have completed at least ten semesters and hold a position covered by Article 1 of the PSC contract up to four additional semesters of in-state level three tuition remission.
  • GAB appointees are eligible to enroll in the low-cost NYSHIP health insurance at their own expense. The coverage is available even if a GAB has been registered for more than 10 semesters.
  • Deferred compensation plans and commuter benefits program (see Human Resources).

The Graduate Assistant C (GAC) is a teaching-only title. Currently, The Graduate Center does not appoint students to the GAC title. 

Compensation

GAC appointments are normally 12-month appointments, and payments are made bi-weekly in the form of a New York State payroll check. The current starting salary in the GAC salary scale is $19,289.

Workload

Students holding the GAC title shall have an annual appointment of no more than 180 teaching contact hours during the work year. Normally, a GAC teaches two three-credit (45 contact hours) courses each semester. If a GAC is assigned by the college to teach four-credit courses (60 contact hours), the GAC normally teaches two four-credit courses in the fall (totaling 120 contact hours) and one four-credit course in the spring (60 contact hours) to satisfy the 180 contact hour requirement.

Additional work assignments

A GAC may also hold an appointment as an Adjunct Lecturer at one of the CUNY colleges and receive separate compensation for this service. Please note, however:

  • If the GAC holds an Adjunct Lecturer appointment, the GAC may be appointed for no more than 90 contact hours in the adjunct appointment (90 contact hours is the equivalent of two additional three-credit courses.) GACs may not also hold non-teaching adjunct appointments.

Benefits

A GAC is eligible for:

  • CUNY in-state tuition remission if they are within the first 10 registered semesters of doctoral study at The Graduate Center.
  • The 2017-2023 PSC-CUNY Contract provides doctoral students who have completed at least ten semesters and hold a position covered by Article 1 of the PSC contract up to four additional semesters of in-state level three tuition remission.
  • GAC appointees are eligible to enroll in the low-cost NYSHIP health insurance at their own expense. The coverage is available even if a GAC has been registered for more than 10 semesters.
  • Deferred compensation plans and commuter benefits program (see Human Resources).

The Graduate Assistant D (GAD) is a non-teaching title. 

Compensation

GAD appointments are normally 12-month appointments, and payments are paid bi-weekly in the form of a New York State payroll check. The current GAD starting salary is $5,816 for an annual appointment.

Workload

Students holding the GAD title shall have an annual appointment of no more than 100 non-teaching hours during the work year. (This translates into 3.3 hours of work per week for each 15-week semester.)

Additional work assignments

A GAD may also hold an appointment as an Adjunct Lecturer or as a Non-Teaching Adjunct at one of the CUNY colleges and receive separate compensation for this service. Please note, however:

  • If the GAD holds an Adjunct Lecturer appointment, the GAD may be appointed for no more than 180 contact hours in the adjunct appointment.
  • If the GAD holds a Non-Teaching Adjunct appointment, the GAD may be appointed for no more than 225 non-teaching adjunct hours.

Benefits

A GAD is eligible for:

  • CUNY in-state tuition remission: A GAD is eligible for the CUNY tuition remission if they are within the first 10 registered semesters of doctoral study at The Graduate Center.
  • The 2017-2023 PSC-CUNY Contract provides for additional in-state tuition remission at the Level 3 tuition rate for doctoral students who are in their 11th, 12th, 13th, or 14th registered semesters of study and who are employed in a title recognized under Article 1 of the collective bargaining agreement
  • GAD appointees are eligible to enroll in the low-cost NYSHIP health insurance at their own expense. The coverage is available even if a GAD has been registered for more than 10 semesters.
  • Deferred compensation plans and commuter benefits program (see Human Resources).

Contacts

Graduate Assistant appointments for the doctoral student recipients of the Graduate Center’s multi-year recruitment fellowships, the other fellowships offered by the Graduate Center for doctoral students, as well as the Ph.D. program-based graduate assistant appointments are managed by the Provost’s Office. The offices and programs at the Graduate Center who have allocated fellowships and graduate assistant opportunities will send out recruitment information annually and students are able to apply for these opportunities if they meet the eligibility criteria.

For more information about the graduate assistant component of a Graduate Center-based fellowship or for general information about graduate assistant appointments at the Graduate Center please contact:

Anne Ellis

Director of Graduate Assistant Program/Special Assistant to the Associate Provost, Provost's Office; Director of Graduate Assistant Program/Special Assistant to the Associate Provost, Academic Affairs

Rosa Maldonado

Academic Operations Specialist, Provost's Office; Academic Operations Specialist, Academic Affairs