The graduate assistantship provides an opportunity for a graduate student to serve in a professional role and to establish a professional relationship with faculty and administrators. Only graduate students holding regular admission to a degree program are eligible for graduate assistantships.
Academic Standards
Students holding assistantships are to maintain a minimum of a 3.0 GPA in order to remain eligible for assistantship support. Any student with an assistantship who fails to achieve a 3.0 GPA will have one semester to raise his or her average to the minimum level. Failure to do so will result in the termination of the assistantship. This policy applies to appointments for the summer semester as well as the academic year. Graduate students who fail to achieve a 3.0 GPA over two consecutive semesters will be suspended or terminated from their academic programs at The University of Toledo.
Job Descriptions/Duties
Graduate assistants will be assigned specific duties by their immediate supervisors either as teaching assistants, research assistants, administrative assistants, or interns. Graduate Assistants should completely understand their duties before beginning the academic semester in which they are assigned. An assistant can be terminated for one or more of the following: neglect of duty, failure to make adequate progress toward the degree, incompetence, and/or financial condition of the University. Terminations of Graduate Assistantships due to any of these conditions may cause revocation of all or a portion of the tuition scholarship. The Graduate Assistant’s department and immediate supervisor will make this determination.
Length of Employment and Enrollment
The length of appointment of the assistantship is stipulated by the department. All graduate students are required to take 12 hours in order to be classified as a full-time student of The University of Toledo. Part-time graduate assistants are required to take 6-8 hours of graduate coursework for each semester of appointment. Dropping below these required hours of coursework may result in termination of the assistantship. It has been the practice of the College of Graduate Studies not to extend appointments beyond the following:
Master’s level – two years for full-time assistants and four years for part-time.
Doctoral level – four years for full-time assistants and eight years for part-time
Only rarely have exceptions to this policy been granted.