Revised
2009-201
0 Departmental
Guidelines
Page 1 of 18
UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY
GRADUATE ASS'STANTSHIPS,
FELLOWSHI PS, AND
TUITIOru SCHOLARSHIPS
2OO9-201
O GUIDELINES FOR DEPARTMENTS
It is the responsibility of the appointing officer (or designee) to inform prospective
assisfants, fellows, and tuition scholarship recipients of the guidelines governing
assistantships,
fellowships, and tuition scholarships, including the required and permissible
seruice and study loads associated with these awards.
GRADUATE STUDENT EMPLOYEES UNION
. All State-funded
teaching and graduate assistant
positions
are represented
for
purposes
of collective
negotiations
by the Communications
Workers of America Local
11}4lGraduate
Student Employees
Union (CWA Local 1 104/GSEU).
Presidential
Fellows and Carson Carr Graduate Diversity
Scholars are also members of the GSEU
bargaining
unit.
.
Except for Presidential
Fellows,
fellows are NOT members of the CWA Local
1 104/GSEU
bargaining
unit. Likewise,
graduate
assistant
positions
that are funded
from non-State
resources
(e.g., the Research
Foundation
or other external funds) are
NOT members of the CWA Local 1 1 04/GSEU bargaining
unit.
JOB POSTING
. The Office of Human Resources
Management
posts a list of departments
and
administrative
units that employed CWA 1 1O4iGSEU
represented
teaching and
graduate assistants
during the previous academic
year.
o Under the current Agreement,
units identified
in the above listing are required to have
written policies describing
the application
process, selection
criteria, terms of
appointment,
policies for renewal, and evaluation
procedures
for all CWA Local
1 104/GSEU
represented
teaching and graduate
assistant
positions.
APP LICATI ON P ROCE D U R ES
. Applications
for assistantships,
fellowships,
or tuition scholarships
should be made
directly to the department
chairperson
in the department
where the program is offered
or to the dean for any school that does not have a departmental
organization.
In the
case of new students,
the appropriate
admissions
officer should be notified of the
application
for an assistantship,
fellowship,
or tuition scholarship
so that the graduate
application
will be given special attention
during the admission
process.
Revised 2009-201
0 Departmental
Guidelines
Page 4 of 18
TERMS OF APPOINTMENT
o A student must enter the University
in good academic
standing
to be considered
for
appointment
during the initial term. Likewise,
a student must remain in good academic
standing and must have satisfactorily
performed
the assigned assistantship
duties to be
eligible
for renewal in this appointment.
.
Full-time
student status is required to hold an assistantship
or fellowship.
.
A student may receive a maximum of two years of support from State resources
while
pursuing the Master's degree. Doctoral
students
who enter the University
without
advanced standing are limited to a total of four years of State-funded
support. Doctoral
students who enter their doctoral program with a master's degree in the same field may
be eligible to be appointed
for a total of three years. lf a student has been advanced
to
candidacy
by the end of this funding eligibility
and has been consistently
funded by
your department,
he/she may also be eligible for an additional
year of funding to
support the writing of the dissertation.
Requests
for exceptions
to this policy should be
directed to the Dean of Graduate Studies.
Assistants
and fellows cannot hold more than one full assistantship
or fellowship,
and
should not engage in additional
work beyond the assistantship
or fellowship,
including
part-time
lectureships
and outside employment,
during the term of their appointment.
The student's
department
chairperson,
college/school
dean, and the Dean of Graduate
Studies all need to authorize
exceptions
based on educational
benefits (not financial
need). Approval should be received prior to the commencement
of the additional
responsibilities.
In general, assistants
are expected to provide their usual services following
the
academic calendar and, in addition,
to be available
to assist during the examination
period when needed. However, assistants
in certain administrative
offices or
departments
may be expected to provide services over the entire period including
the
intersession
recess, provided this arrangement
is stated in the notification
letter at the
time of appointment.
For payroll purposes graduate assistants
are appointed
for the 2009-2010
academic
year from August 20, 2009, through May 26,2010. Stipend checks are divided into
twenty equal payments and are subject to the lag payroll. lf the appointment
papers
are submitted
to the Office of Human Resources
Management
by June 12,2009, the
first check will be issued on September
16, 2009, and the final check on June 9, 2010.
Fall 2009 semester graduate assistants
are appointed
from August 20,2009 through
January 6, 2010. First paychecks
for those appointed
for Fall 2009 will be issued on
September
16, 2009 and their last paycheck
date is January 20,2010. Spring 2010
semester graduate assistants
are appointed
from January 7 , 2010 through May 26,
2010. First paychecks
for those appointed
for Spring 2010 will be issued on February
3, 2010 and their last paycheck
date is June 9, 2010.
Fellowship
appointments
are generally
for the period of September
1, 2009, through
May 31, 2010. Stipend checks are divided into ten equal payments
and are issued
once a month except in March. There are two checks issued in March. (Please refer
to the Fellowship section of these guidelines
for the specific payment schedule.)
Revised 2009-201
0 Departmental
Guidelines
Page 9 of 18
G R AD U ATE ASS'STANTS
H I P S
o Graduate assistants
are those who receive stipends in association
with assignments
in
teaching, research,
administration,
professional
assistance,
clinical duties, and
specialized
services. Assistants
cannot receive academic credit for assigned
assistantship
duties. This policy includes research
performed
by research assistants.
. Assistantship
stipends are considered
to be taxable income even where there is a
specific
requirement
for training
for all students
in a particular
program. All
assistantship
stipends are subject to federal taxation,
which also means that they are
taxable under New York State law. Assistants
may not ordinarily
file as "tax exempt"
on their W-4.
LEVELS
FULL ASS/SIA NTSHTPS
W|TH STTPENDS
AT OB ABOVE $8,09s (.5 FTE)
o Assistantships
at .5 FTE with annual stipends at or above $8,093 are considered
standard full assistantships.
Students holding these assistantships
are expected to
devote approximately
one-half of their time to the academic program and one-half to
the assistantship.
.
Study: Prior to admission
to candidacy,
graduate assistants
must register for a
minimum of 9 graduate credits each semester
of the academic year to meet award
eligibility
requirements,
except that doctoral
students
in their last term prior to
candidacy
may be allowed a reduced course load to conform with remaining
program
credit requirements.
Note, however,
that such reduced enrollment
will not cause the
student to be certifiable
as enrolled full-time. After admission
to candidacy,
certifiable
full-time
award eligibility
and certification
requirements
can be met by registering
for a
minimum
of one dissertation
899 unit.
.
Duties: (a) Teaching
assignment:
teaching
up to five credits (generally
one or two courses each session).
(b) Labo.ratory
teaching assignment:
two or three sections each
sesston.
(c) Non-teaching
assignment:
15-20 clock hours per week.
. Tuition Scholarships:
Graduate students with this type of award may qualify for a tuition
scholarship
of 9 or more graduate credits per semester following
the application
of TAP
if a New York State resident.
HALF ASS/SIA NTSHTPS
(.25 FTE)
.
Students holding assistantships
with annual stipends at or above $4,047 and appointed
to .25 FTE lines are expected to register as full-time
students and provide half the
professional
assistance
of full assistants.
.
Study: Full-time
registration
(minimum
of l2graduate credits per semester)
in course
and seminar work each session of the award. Supported
doctoral students in their last
semester prior to candidacy
may be allowed a reduced course load to conform with
remaining
credit requirements.
Such reduced enrollments
will not, however, be cause
for full-time enrollment
certifications.
Supported
doctoral students formally admitted to
