Academic Programs - Doctoral Program in Educational Theory and Practice (ETAP)
Departmental Assistantships
Each program area within the Department has traditionally received a budget allocation to hire doctoral students as Graduate Assistants. The actual number of Graduate Assistants who can be hired depends on annual budget allocations that fluctuate. Program Coordinators work with the Department Head to determine the types of departmental work that needs to be performed, which generally falls within the areas of supervision of student teaching and/or other field experiences, teaching of undergraduate courses, or work as a research assistant. Doctoral students who have applied for Graduate Assistantships are matched to these departmental work needs.
Departmental Graduate Assistantship award decisions can only be made after budget allocations become clear, usually during the month of March. For new doctoral student assistantship applicants, the award decisions take into account, among other things, the work needs of the Department and Programs, the number of Graduate Assistantships that are available, the student’s emphasis area designation, and the strength of the student’s academic credentials and work experience. For doctoral students who have already been on a Departmental Graduate Assistantship, the award decision takes into account all of the prior criteria in addition to consideration of whether the student is making satisfactory academic progress, the quality of the student’s prior assistantship work, and the department’s desire to provide continuing support for successful doctoral students.
Departmental Assistantships are provided at either a 1/3 time or 1/2 time rate. The department determines the rate of the assistantship and, therefore, the amount of work (hours) required of the student per week and the stipend offered. Normal 1/3 time assistantships require 13 hours of work per week and 1/2 time assistantships require 20 hours of work per week. The actual amount of the Graduate Assistantship stipend is set by the Graduate School each year and the College of Education posts these rates on its business policies and procedures webpage: http://www.coe.uga.edu/adfaculty/business/about/policies.html (scroll down to the PDF link “Graduate Assistant Pay Rates”).
Students holding departmental assistantships receive a tuition waiver, students pay a reduced matriculation fee of only $25 and an activity fee (currently $563) each semester. It is important to note that students who receive assistantships must be enrolled for at least 12 credit hours each fall and spring semester, and, if on assistantship during the summer, must be enrolled for at least 9 hours total during the summer sessions.
Graduate Assistantship Applications must be submitted/resubmitted each year no later than January 15th. The application is available at this link: http://www.coe.uga.edu/esse/students/application.pdf.
