The following information addresses other policies in effect regarding the hiring of graduate assistants:

1. Graduate students holding Departmental or Unit-funded Graduate Administrative Assistantships or Graduate Research Assistantships are not eligible for tuition assistance. These graduate students are eligible for resident fee payment if they are non-residents and meet the statutory requirements.

2. On occasion, departments may need Graduate School Funded Graduate Assistants for purposes other than the performance of teaching duties. When such an individual is hired, no tuition assistance will be provided. There exists a special relationship between Graduate Teaching Assistants, tuition assistance, and the funding for tuition assistance; therefore, the use of Graduate School Funded Graduate Assistants for duties other than teaching or assisting with teaching is discouraged. Permission to deviate from this arrangement may be granted by the Graduate Dean only in rare instances, and if granted, there will be no tuition assistance.

3. The courses in which a GTA registers MUST be courses on the approved program of study. GTAs must enroll in 6 credits per semester (3 credits in the summer). Therefore, it is imperative that a program of study be approved and on file in the Graduate School.

4. Graduate students must be enrolled in nine credit hours to be considered a full-time student. Any graduate student enrolled in less than nine hours will be considered a part-time student. Graduate School policy does allow for Graduate School Funded Graduate Teaching Assistants or Departmental Administrative or Departmental Research Assistants funded from various departmental sources to be enrolled in a minimum of six hours. However, an important reminder is that a graduate assistant who is enrolled in six hours is not considered a full-time student for financial aid and academic reporting purposes; this level of enrollment could cause problems for both graduate students and graduate programs.

5. Graduate level international students, likewise, are asked to maintain the nine credit hour minimum to be considered full time under Immigration and Naturalization Service regulations. International graduate students may take less than a full class load if the circumstances involved are warranted, but each student’s situation should be addressed individually with the university’s International Student Advisor and the Graduate Dean.

6. All prospective graduate teaching assistants of Kansas Regents' institutions shall have their English competency assessed prior to being considered for any employment having classroom or laboratory instructional responsibility and/or direct tutorial responsibilities. The following shall be used to implement this policy:

a. All prospective graduate teaching assistants must be interviewed by and have their competency in spoken English certified by no fewer than three institutional personnel, one of whom should be a student. The prospective graduate teaching assistant should provide a memo from the department chair signed by two faculty members and one student stating that his/her English ability is adequate.

b. Non-native speakers of English must achieve a minimum score of 50 on the TSE or SPEAK.

c. Non-native speakers of English assigned to teach courses in modern languages must also achieve 50 on the TSE or SPEAK and have their competency in spoken English certified by no fewer than three institutional personnel, unless the language courses they teach are conducted primarily in their native language.

d. All prospective graduate teaching assistants who do not meet the specified language test requirements shall not be assigned teaching responsibilities nor other tasks requiring direct instructional contact with students.

e. An exception will be made for courses taught in sign language.

7. All graduate assistants are required to view a videotaped presentation addressing the subject of sexual harassment at the start of their assistantship responsibilities. These videotapes are availabe in the department office or the Graduate School.

8. Graduate assistants may hold a second job on campus only if the total hours of all on-campus employment do not exceed 20 hours per week.

9. An assistantship may be awarded for a maximum of two years (four semesters, excluding summer term), but an award is made only for one year or semester at a time.

10. Non-resident students who were GTAs for Fall and Spring will no longer be allowed to receive resident tuition or tuition assistance for the following summer term unless they hold an assistantship specifically for that summer term.

11. The new SEVIS (Immigration and Naturalization) regulations allow an international graduate student to register in only three credit hours of on-line (Virtual College) coursework per semester. Thus, since international graduate students must be in nine graduate credit hours a semester, they must be in at least six on-campus credit hours each semester.