Graduate Appointments, Employment, and Benefits

• Teaching Assistantship (TA)
• Research Assistantship (RA)
• Graduate Assistantship (GA)
• Resident Director (RD)

These appointment types include a stipend for service work and may include a tuition scholarship.

Graduate Recruitment Scholarship (“GRS” – Available Fall and Spring Terms)
This appointment type has a $975 stipend for service and includes a partial tuition scholarship.

Graduate Fellowship
This appointment type has no work component and may include a tuition scholarship.

Graduate Tuition Scholarship
This appointment type is awarded in conjunction with an assistantship, GRS, or fellowship and may cover all or a portion of your instructional fees and non-resident surcharge (if applicable) for registration up to 18 credit hours per semester for the period of the appointment. General fee, health insurance, technology and other miscellaneous fee charges are not covered by the tuition scholarship and are the responsibility of the student. Tuition scholarships cannot be used to cover courses taken for Audit, OPIE-prefixed, and/or undergraduate courses.

Ohio University abides by the Council of Graduate Schools Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees, and Assistants. When you accept an offer of funding for the next academic year, you and the graduate program are entering into an obligation that both are expected to honor. Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15. Withdrawing an acceptance of financial support after April 15 commits the student to obtain a written release from the program before accepting an offer from a different program or institution. Refer to the Resolution for additional conditions affecting funding offers.

Required Employment Paperwork for Returning Students

Students who have been employed by the University within the past year and are currently active in the payroll system are NOT required to complete new hire paperwork.

• Confirm if you are still active
• Choose Dashboard>Finance and Administration Dashboard>Employee Lookup.
• If your name populates AND you are working in a different position than the previous semester, you will need to complete the Existing Student Employee Information Sheet online.

Required I-9 and Employment Paperwork for New Students

All new students will need to complete an I-9 and new hire employment paperwork. Follow the instructions on how to complete this paperwork.

All employment paperwork must be completed no later than your first day of employment or you will not be eligible to begin working.

Stipend payments and fellowship disbursements are disbursed according to the schedule in Table 2.

Stipends are paid in semi-monthly installments, while fellowship awards disburse once per term, unless the department chooses another schedule.

**Please check with your department if you have been given a fellowship award for the disbursement schedule your department has elected, as it may be spread out over the semester rather than as a lump sum.

Payroll and the Office of the Bursar have two separate direct deposit setups:

Service stipend payments can be direct deposited or payable by check, mailed to a student’s permanent mailing address. Pay slips can be viewed online at myhr.ohio.edu.

• The Enterprise Business System requires login with your Ohio ID and password.
• Click "My Personal Information" for pay slip, W-2, tax statements, and other documents.

Fellowship and loan funds are disbursed through the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarships and are posted to the student account. Any outstanding balance in the student account will be paid prior to any excess credits being issued to the student.

Students can receive excess credit funds in the form of a direct deposit or check from the Office of the Bursar. Students can enroll in direct deposit through the My OHIO Student Center under the Finances section. If the student does not enroll in direct deposit through the My OHIO Student Center, excess credit funds will be issued in check form and mailed to the student’s address in their student record. Paper checks are only mailed on Fridays from the Office of the Bursar. Additional information About direct deposit

Fellowship appointments and tuition scholarships are posted to student accounts after the student is registered for the required number of graduate hours.

Ohio University Policy and Procedure outlines the effective dates of employment responsibilities for Graduate Assistants.

Appointment or Fellowship award letters, university account balance notifications, registration, grade reports, and other official university communications are sent to your Ohio University email account. You are responsible for any and all official correspondence sent to your Ohio University email account, so please activate it and check it regularly.

Throughout your academic career, please keep your mailing address current on your student record by visiting the following University Registrar web page. Your employment record is separate from your student record, so please be sure to update your employment record by visiting myhr.ohio.edu.

Maximum hours of total employment are 20 hours per week, on or off-campus. Graduate appointment recipients may not accept other full-time employment, either within or outside of the University. Graduate students cannot have two full-time graduate appointments.

Registration Requirements

• Minimum registration requirements must be met in order to retain a graduate appointment and/or tuition scholarship. see Table 1 below.
• Courses numbered 5000 or above and carry graduate credit. Use care to register for the graduate level in dual numbered courses.
• Hours taken for Audit and undergraduate courses cannot be used to meet the minimum graduate hour requirements. Note: if you are registering for undergraduate courses, your total registration hours are a combination of the undergraduate AND graduate credits. Be sure you are registered for the minimum graduate credits to satisfy your appointment requirements (see Table 1) before adding undergraduate credits.
• Some departments/schools may require more registration hours. Register during the posted registration times to avoid late registration fees. To receive/retain your tuition scholarship, you must be registered for the required number of graduate credit hours by the second Saturday of the academic term (thirteenth calendar day). Late registration to bring your registration to the minimum requirement will incur fees.
• Under unusual circumstances, limited exceptions to the minimum enrollment level may be granted. Requests for exceptions should be sent with the department/school and college approval to the Associate Dean of the Graduate College for consideration.
• Failure to comply with graduate appointment requirements, including registration for the required number of graduate hours, could result in the termination of the entire graduate appointment. This could result in the student being responsible for all tuition scholarship charges.
• Any registration hours exceeding 18 credit hours will incur an additional cost per credit hour to the student as determined by the Ohio Board of Trustees.
• Course hours dropped after the second Friday of the semester remain on your schedule as withdrawn. Withdrawn hours are counted in your total registration hours for the purposes of your graduate appointment registration requirement.

• You must have a cumulative GPA of 3.00 in all graduate courses and show satisfactory progress toward your degree, as defined by your program/department. Some programs may require a higher GPA to maintain a graduate appointment.
• You must perform graduate assistantship duties satisfactorily, as defined by the immediate supervisor or the department/school. Failure to perform duties satisfactorily may result in termination of the appointment.

Questions or problems concerning work assignments should be resolved within the employing department/school, whenever possible. Problems not resolved at the department/school level can be referred to the Graduate Student Appointment Grievance Board, Ohio University Policy and Procedure 28.102.

Non-native speakers of English must demonstrate English proficiency to be awarded a graduate appointment. For details regarding the English proficiency policy, please see the Ohio University Graduate Catalog.

Teaching Assistants must meet oral English proficiency requirements as defined by the State of Ohio. These requirements apply to all teaching assistants with instructional responsibility regardless of the teaching assistant’s native language. For details, please see the Ohio University Graduate Catalog.

Eligibility for a tuition scholarship is based on the number of semesters in which a student has received such a scholarship at Ohio University. The rules set the MAXIMUM number of semesters in which a student could receive support. Colleges and programs may have more restrictive limitations than the university policy. The counting of semesters of eligibility does NOT include summer semesters. Any student who receives any tuition support from the university will be considered to have received a tuition scholarship.

A graduate-level student with an awarded graduate-level degree from ANOTHER institution can receive no more than 10 semesters of tuition scholarship from any department or combination of departments.

A graduate-level student without an awarded graduate degree from another institution or one who has earned a graduate degree from Ohio University can receive no more than 12 semesters of tuition scholarship from any department or combination of departments.

Students who have reached the maximum number of semesters of tuition scholarship are NO longer eligible to receive a tuition scholarship from any Ohio University program or department. Students can continue to receive a stipend without a tuition scholarship.

Graduate students seeking continuation of stipend and scholarship support must follow all departmental policies and procedures pertaining to renewal of that support. Additionally, Graduate Council guidelines state that graduate students holding graduate appointments written for an academic year must receive notice of renewal or nonrenewal of that appointment no later than the end of spring semester. This provision does not apply to appointments terminated early or not renewed for academic or service performance reasons. In such cases, no prior notification is required.

Graduate students holding graduate appointments written on a semester basis must receive notice of renewal or non-renewal of appointment at least one semester before the end of that appointment period. Graduate students holding spring semester appointments must be notified no later than the end of the spring semester of renewal or non-renewal for fall semester. This provision does not apply to appointments terminated early or not renewed for academic or service performance reasons. In such cases, no prior notification is required. Notification of summer semester appointments can be made as early as practicable.

Graduate Tuition Scholarship: An awarded tuition scholarship is withdrawn from the student’s account if the student withdraws within the first fifteen calendar days of the semester. The student is responsible for the full 20% withdrawal assessment. An awarded tuition scholarship remains on the student’s account if the student withdraws after the first fifteen calendar days of the semester, provided the student was registered for the correct number of graduate credit hours at the time of withdrawal. The student is responsible for the balance of tuition and fees assessed, as well as any other charges incurred.

Stipends: Students who withdraw from all classes are paid a pro-rated portion of their stipend award, based on the actual number of days worked prior to the withdrawal.

Students seeking information about accessibility assistance can contact Student Accessibility Services. 

The Education Opportunity is a partial tuition scholarship available to the spouse or domestic partner of a graduate student who holds an RA, GA, or TA appointment. The Education Opportunity benefit pays half of the eligible instructional fee (up to six credit hours) and non-resident surcharge (if applicable) for the student’s spouse or domestic partner who is appropriately enrolled for credit at Ohio University. There is no general fee credit and the value of the benefit for graduate-level courses are taxable to the graduate student holding the graduate assignment.

Restrictions

Education Opportunity cannot be used to pay for OPIE-prefixed courses or courses taken for audit. Education Opportunity is available only for semesters in which your graduate appointment is in effect. Applications must be received by the deadline to be accepted. Education Opportunity scholarships must be requested each semester.

Application Requirements

The completed application form and required documentation must be returned to the Graduate College by 5:00 pm on or before the second Friday of the semester for which the student is seeking the Education Opportunity scholarship. Application forms are not accepted after the deadline date.

Forms

• Request for Spousal/Domestic Partner Waiver [PDF] 
  (Revised September 2021)
• Domestic Partnership Affidavit [PDF] 
  (Revised November 2021)

“Residency for Tuition Purposes” policy is outlined in the Graduate Catalog. The petition to change your resident status is available on the Graduate College Forms web page.