Graduate assistantships appointed at 33.3% or higher (>13 hours/week) provide multiple benefits:
- monthly stipend;
- remission* of both resident and non-resident tuition (students will still need to pay segregated fees, roughly $726/semester); and
- eligibility for health insurance (health insurance options for a reasonable premium are among the country’s best group health insurance plans), with appointments of at least a full semester (for academic year positions) or six months (for annual positions). Student employees paid on an hourly basis are not eligible for the graduate benefits package.
*Graduate students enrolled in service-based pricing programs, such as online and accelerated programs, are ineligible to receive tuition remission.
Graduate students should consult with their graduate programs and read their admission and appointment letters carefully to understand their benefits eligibility.
Skill development
Students also gain valuable skills through assistantship roles. This work may apply directly to their career goals or build broad, transferable skills in areas like communication, teamwork, and leadership.
“Through this position, I have developed a broad understanding of higher education issues… and continued to strengthen my applied analytical and technical skills.”
-Project Assistant
Announcement:
Minimum stipend levels
2025-26
The campus stipend rates for 50% graduate assistantship appointments in 2025-26 are:
Teaching assistantship
Academic: $29,157
Lecturer Student Assistant
Academic: $31,975
Project assistantship
Annual: $35,636
Academic: $29,157
Research assistantship
Annual: $35,636
Academic: $29,157
PA grader/reader
Hourly rate: $28.41
University fellowships (100% appointment)
Annual: $35,636
Academic: $29,157
2024-25
The campus stipend rates for 50% graduate assistantship appointments in 2024-25 are:
Research assistantship
Annual: $32,396
Academic: $26,506
Teaching assistantship
Academic: $26,506
Project assistantship
Annual: $32,396
Academic: $26,506
Lecturer Student Assistant
Academic: $29,068
PA grader/reader
Hourly rate: $25.83
Assistantship stipends by program
Graduate programs may adjust stipend amounts above the campus minimum to remain competitive in attracting top students. The Graduate School reviews, approves, and posts program rates annually.
More information on the process for setting graduate assistantship minimum stipends and program rates is available in the UW–Madison policy library.
Investing in graduate assistants
UW–Madison, through internal, extramural, and gift funding sources, supports over 5,400 graduate students – including 71% of doctoral students – through graduate assistantship appointments. The university’s continued investment in graduate students has resulted in minimum stipend levels at or above the peer institution median.
Read more about how UW–Madison supports graduate assistants.
Four years of graduate assistantship minimum stipend increases planned
UW–Madison has committed to increasing minimum graduate assistant stipends for the next four years in a forecasting plan, which emphasizes factors that are critical to student success: tuition remission, health and dental insurance benefits, paid vacation and sick leave, and mentorship training. The new approach gives students, principal investigators, departments, programs, schools, and colleges the ability to budget for increases to minimum stipends several years into the future.
Teaching Assistantships:
Instructional positions that include such duties as lecturing, grading papers, supervising laboratories, leading discussion sections, or developing course curriculum
Project Assistantships:
Project-related assignments such as coordinating programs, organizing events, analyzing data, or supporting student services
Research Assistantships:
Research under the guidance of a faculty member
Finding and applying for graduate assistantships
The vast majority of graduate assistantship positions are not posted publicly or available to all graduate students. Instead, they are “owned” by particular graduate programs and are reserved for students in those programs. Programs use their own internal processes to award assistantships to students. To find out how your program awards assistantships, you should contact your program.
A smaller number of graduate assistant positions are not reserved for students in particular programs, and any graduate student can apply for those positions. Those positions are usually listed as they become available on the website of the Student Job Center. Generally, the positions are posted relatively close to the time they will start, so positions that start in the fall semester will usually be posted in July or August.
Browse UW Graduate Assistantships
If you have a graduate assistantship, visit the Office of Financial Aid to understand how your assistantship will affect your financial aid offer.
Office of Human Resources Policies
Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedures
Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedures (GAPP) outlining employment-related practices for graduate student teaching assistants, research assistants, and project assistants.
Teaching Assistant Orientation and Training
Many programs offer specialized Teaching Assistant (TA) training during orientation, the week before classes begin. Other programs offer teaching methods seminars for their TAs. Some schools and colleges offer TA orientation sessions (typically during orientation week in August). Students should contact their program’s graduate coordinator or payroll representative for more information, or call one of the deans’ offices listed above.
Letters and Science TAs should watch for information from the L&S TA Training & Support Team.
College of Engineering TAs should look for information from the Collaborative for Engineering Education and Teaching Effectiveness.
For international students
The International Teaching Assistant (ITA) Training Program, coordinated by the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program, helps non-native English speaking TAs (or potential TAs) improve their oral communication and classroom teaching skills.