Eligibility Requirements for a Graduate Assistantship  

The graduate assistantship is a nine month salaried appointment of a student enrolled full-time in a degree granting program in the Graduate School at Howard University . The appointment carries remission of tuition and requires performances by the student of specified duties for fifteen (15) hours each week, including preparation time.  

Graduate Assistants may hold one of the following titles: teaching assistant, teaching fellow, research assistant, or administrative intern.  

Graduate Assistants are appointed for a maximum of one academic year.  The nine-month period begins August 16^th and ends May 15^th. The appointment may be for a shorter period.  Second and third year doctoral student may receive two-month summer appointments. All appointments are terminated automatically at the end of the period for which they are effective. Graduate assistants may hold only the equivalent of one “full-time” appointment at a time. Students are not expected to hold any other employment during the tenure as graduate assistants.  

To be eligible for appointment as a graduate assistant, the student must:  

• Be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a regular degree-seeking student in the Graduate School ;

• Have full-time status during the period of the assistantship. The student must either be registered for a minimum of nine (9) semester hours of course work or be working full- time on thesis or dissertation, or completing a project for non-thesis option;

• Have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.2 for all graduate study or, if enrolled in Graduate School for the first time, have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 in the undergraduate major;

• Have satisfied all incomplete grades at the time of his/her appointment (thesis, dissertation, practice, directed study, independent study, special problems and internship credits excepted);

• Demonstrate proficiency in oral and written English if the native language is one other than English, show sufficient knowledge of the system of higher education in the United States, have some sensitivity of intercultural communication, and have good interpersonal skills to the satisfaction of the department or unit granting the assistantship.

• Students who are studying for a master’s degree may hold an assistantship for a maximum of two years.  Those with the master’s degree and studying for the Ph.D. degree may hold the assistantship for a maximum  of four years and those studying for the Ph.D. degree, where the masters is not required, may hold the assistantship for a maximum of five years.