Graduate Student Support Eligibility

Graduate student on-campus appointments (i.e. academic student employees and graduate student researchers) may be for a maximum of 50% time (20 hours per week) during the academic year. During the summer (mid-June to mid-September), some departments allow appointments up to 100% time. Before accepting a position outside your own department, you must obtain the approval of your graduate department support coordinator: this approval process is built into the IA system for ASE and GSR appointments.

Graduate students must meet the basic qualifications as follows: 

1.  Full-time enrollment (12 units or more) is required for students in 50% time appointments. Students enrolled in less than 12 units are eligible for up to a 25% time graduate student academic appointment with the approval of the student’s department.

2. Be in good academic standing, i.e.,

   1. Meet departmental standards including a satisfactory spring evaluation;

   2. Maintain a GPA of 3.0 in upper-division and graduate course work; 

   3. Must not have accumulated more than a total of eight units of F and/or U grades overall.

3. Be within departmental support time limit:

   1. Ph.D. and D.M.A. Degree Aim: Every student has three time limits within the department. These are: pre-candidacy, support, and total registered time.  A doctoral student must advance to candidacy by the Pre-candidacy Time Limit (PCTL) and also be within the Support Time Limit (SUTL) to remain eligible for campus employment or to receive other University funds.   In addition, no one may be employed as a Teaching Assistant and/or Associate for more than 18 quarters.

   2. M.A., M.Eng., and M.S. Degree Aim: Eligible for 7 quarters of support.

   3. M.F.A. and M.P.I.A. Degree Aim: Eligible for 10 quarters of support.  

International Students

The above eligibility requirements apply, and please also note:

• International graduate students who are nonnative speakers of English must be certified as having requisite language skills before they can serve as teaching assistants. This English language policy does not apply to a student who serves as a TA which is conducted in his/her native language. For further information, contact the English Language Program for International Instructors (ELP-ii) at (858) 246-0628.
• An international student in F-1 or J-1 status is restricted to on-campus employment of a maximum of 50% time (20 hours per week) during the academic year. This can be in addition to an off-campus CPT appointment. During the summer, 100% employment is allowed (depending on the student’s Academic Department support policy) if the student intends to enroll full time Fall quarter and meets all other eligibility criteria.
• For information on paid off-campus employment, more information about CPT is available via ISEO. GEPA prioritizes the academic progress of students seeking higher degrees, and defers to the student’s academic department to approve CPT appointments. Students may not exceed graduate academic employment, CPT appointments, or a combination of the two, over 100% during the academic year or summer periods.