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Financial Assistance

Here you'll find information about assistantships and fellowships, as well as links to the Office of Student Financial Aid and COGS, the union representing all Iowa graduate students.

Send us an e-mail with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Current students hard at work at their assistantship site

Current graduate assistants hard at work

Graduate Assistantships

Students pursuing the Student Affairs concentration work closely with the program to search for assistantships in related offices. Assistantships may also be available to students pursuing other concentrations in the M.A. program.

Graduate assistantships at The University of Iowa are designed to provide students with work experience and the means to finance their education, while providing the University with the benefit of an innovative work force. Assistantships are closely related to specific departments or fields, and all require specific skills or aptitudes. Responsibilities often include student services, advising, programming, teaching, or administrative duties. In addition to assistantships in student affairs areas, students might be eligible to work for faculty members as research assistants if funds are available, or as teaching assistants in the department.

Positions

Most graduate assistantship sites list their openings with the program for the fall semester during the previous spring semester. We assist admitted students in identifying assistantship opportunities, providing information to students in advance of the Campus Visit Days weekend and in plenty of time for in-person interviews to be scheduled. Although most offices hire during the late spring, additional positions sometimes open during the academic year.

List of recent assistantship sites

Remuneration

Assistantships provide valuable experience, open new career paths, and help finance your graduate education. In addition to a monthly salary, all .25 FTE or greater assistantships provide a fee waiver for the out-of-state portion of tuition. In addition, some assistantships offer a partial tuition scholarships. Positions vary from .25 FTE (10 hours per week) to .50 FTE (20 hours per week) and may span 9 or 12 months. Graduate assistantships typically pay between $13,500 and $17,000 for a half-time nine month position. Although M.A. students are exempt from the union (see below), most on-campus employers work to honor the current COGS agreement.

 
Fellowships

Students from under-represented groups might be eligible for the Dean's Graduate Fellowships sponsored by the Graduate College. Most of these fellowships cover tuition costs plus approximately $15,000 for the first year of study. Second-year assistantships are encouraged. In order to be considered for these competitive fellowships, students must be a member of an under-represented group and must be nominated by the program faculty.

Each year, the Iowa Testing Programs award a limited number of full-ride fellowships to students with outstanding academic credentials in the College of Education. For information about these special graduate assistantships (SGA), contact the Iowa Testing Program early in the application process.

 
Campaign to Organize Graduate Students (COGS)

In March 2002 we received confirmation from UI Human Resources that M.A. students are exempt from the collective bargaining agreement between The Board of Regents, State of Iowa, and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, Local 896 (COGS). Article I, Section 2, of the Agreement between COGS and the Board of Regents excludes from the COGS bargaining unit "Research Assistants (FR19 or FL19) whose appointments are ... (b) primarily intended as learning experiences which contribute to the students' progress toward their graduate or professional program of study." (p. 1). M.A. students are defined as Research Assistants whose assistantships are necessary for their professional development. What this means in practice is that as of the incoming class of Fall 2002, M.A. students do not come within the salary or benefits requirements of the COGS contract. Some UI assistantship sites have continued to treat our students as though they were part of the COGS agreement and some do not. In all cases, however, the faculty work with the sites to ensure our students are treated properly.

Detailed information on COGS

 
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