University of Delaware
Graduate Catalog 1996-1997
Financial Aid
Graduate Student Assistantships

   The University of Delaware offers assistantships to students with
regular, full-time status and high academic standing in exchange for
professional services. All assistantships carry a stipend and must provide
tuition. Assistants are covered by the University's graduate student
Accident and Sickness Insurance Plan. (Coverage and student costs are
subject to review each year by the insurance company and the University.
Refer to "A Guide to Student Health Services" for current details.)
Assistants must be in good standing, which means that they must maintain a
minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.00 (B average) EACH SEMESTER to
retain the assistantship. To qualify for full-time status, assistants must
enroll for at least six graduate credit hours each semester. Occasionally a
graduate student assistant may have fewer than six credits outstanding to
complete his or her program. In such a case the department must petition
the Graduate Office for permission to maintain the student on an
assistantship. A full-time assistant is normally employed up to twenty
hours a week and may not engage in any additional remunerative employment
either inside or outside of the University during months when the student
is working as an assistant. Assistantships may be offered on a part-time
basis with the appropriate prorated compensation (stipend and tuition).
There are four categories of assistantships: teaching assistantships,
research assistantships, graduate assistantships, and tuition
assistantships. The definition of these categories is provided below. In
cases where a student's time and funding are divided between or among these
categories, the student's classification will be determined on the basis of
how the student is spending the preponderance of his or her time.

   TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS. Teaching assistantships are awarded through the
individual departments. Teaching assistants are required to perform
teaching and other instructional activities up to twenty hours each week
during the fall and spring semesters.

   RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS. Research assistantships are generally funded by
research grants and contracts provided by external funding agencies.
Research assistantships require twenty hours of service or research a week.
Research assistants are expected to work on their assigned research
projects during winter session and may be required to work during summer as
well. The amount of each student's stipend will be calculated in accordance
with the number of months that the student is employed.

   GRADUATE ASSISTANTSHIPS. Graduate assistantships are awarded by academic
departments and other University offices to students in exchange for work.
Graduate assistants are employed for twenty hours a week in a variety of
capacities as administrative assistants to University faculty and
administrators.

   TUITION ASSISTANTSHIPS. Tuition assistantships provide tuition but do
not pay a stipend. They are awarded according to the same rules that govern
all graduate student assistantships, except for the following: full-time
tuition assistants are required to work no more than ten hours per week.