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College of Education

Hiring Graduate Assistants

  1. If more than one unit is involved, obtain authorization from the second unit to make the proposed offer to the student.

  2. Create an offer letter stipulating the terms of the offer. The terms should minimally include a description of the assignment, name of the supervisor, start and end dates of employment, stipend amount, and tuition credit amount. If a health insurance supplement is provided, this should be stated as well. The Graduate School released a a memo regarding health insurance [pdf] for graduate assistants in May of 2021.

  3. The prospective graduate assistant should sign and date the letter to acknowledge agreement to the terms. Keep a copy of the letter for your files.

  4. The prospective graduate assistant should fill out and submit the Graduate Assistant Application Form.

  5. Check email to make sure that hiring form submissions are consistent with email responses indicating receipt of the form.

Dear Mr. Einstein:

I am pleased to offer you a position as a graduate assistant in the Science Education Program at the University of South Carolina. Your responsibilities will be to assist the Program faculty with their research and teaching preparations. Professor Niels Bohr will be your supervisor and will work with you to arrange your schedule and specific tasks. You will be expected to work 20 hours per week starting on 15 August 2003 and ending on 7 May 2004.

This assistantship comes with a stipend of $8,000 for the fall and spring semesters combined. In addition, we will provide a tuition supplement in the amount of $2,100 per semester to help defray the costs of your tuition and fees.

Graduate assistants are required to have health insurance coverage. Should you choose to purchase the University's health insurance plan, the Graduate School will provide an annual subsidy of $200 to be used toward this expense. In addition, the program will add $100 per semester to the tuition supplement to assist with paying for University health insurance coverage. Note that these subsidies are only provided to students who choose to purchase the University health plan.

If you agree to this offer, please sign and date below to indicate your acceptance. I hope that you agree to accept this opportunity because I am confident that you would find this to be a rewarding and valuable educational experience.

Sincerely,

Werner Heisenberg, Chair
Science Education Program

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