Graduate assistantship funding

Graduate assistant appointments constitute the Department’s principal form of financial assistance to graduate students. Assistantships help the faculty carry out the Department’s teaching, research, and service missions. They also provide experience — essentially an apprenticeship — for graduate students as they prepare for careers in teaching and research within and outside of higher education. We see these opportunities as part of our graduate students’ professional development as they help students learn what is involved in holding an academic position, something that can set up students well for their future careers.

Most appointments are continuing commitments offered at the time of admission and reviewed annually. The department maintains approximately 25 assistantships, which are merit-based awards available exclusively to students in the MA/PhD and PhD programs. The majority of these are teaching assistantships (TAships), wherein graduate students assist in the teaching of undergraduate courses and receive a salary for their teaching. A few of these assistantships are for research (RAships) or assistance with larger projects as staff assistants (SAships). Graduate students in these positions are known as Academic Student Employees (ASEs) and receive a salary for providing assistance to faculty research and, in the case of staff assistants, students work on special projects.

These positions normally require 20 hours of work per week. The teaching assistant assignments involve attending class, grading, and other requirements specific to the course. The research assistant and staff assistant assignments will vary based on the projects faculty are working on. Current salaries can be viewed on the Graduate School website here. The Department of Communication uses the Regular (Non-Variable Rate) TA/RA/SA Salary Schedule. Students holding these appointments receive a partial waiver of Graduate Tier I tuition and fees. Assistantships also include health insurance coverage.

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Graduate student research and travel funding

Students currently enrolled in the Communication MA/PhD or PhD program can apply for grants from the Department of Communication and the University of Washington for their research expenses and travel to academic conferences to present research. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis three times each academic year. Details about eligibility, application deadlines, instructions for applying for research and travel support, and the link to the Funding Request Form are provided in the Department Intranet.