Appointment
All appointments shall be based solely on ability and fitness for the position to be filled. For specific eligibility requirements, see Section III herein.
The Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies shall make all Graduate Assistant appointments. No other person is authorized to appoint Graduate Assistants, nor to modify or revise the provisions of any appointment or offer of appointment. No other person is authorized to make statements, either oral or written, which may be construed to be commitments to appointment by the University.
Appointments to the position of Graduate Assistant may be made for the Fall semester, Spring semester, Summer (with Summer being considered one semester), and academic year. Normally Fall semester contracts begin the Monday before Fall semester classes begin and end no later than the end of the final exam period. Spring semester contracts begin the Monday before Spring semester classes begin and end no later than Spring commencement. An academic year is the period of time from the beginning of school in August to the end of school in May which encompasses both the Fall and Spring semesters.
All appointments of Graduate Assistants are conditional upon budget and enrollment.
Students may not hold more than one Graduate Assistantship.
Contracts of Graduate Assistants are also conditional upon progress toward the advanced degree, budget and enrollment. Subsequent appointments are based upon prior performance as a Graduate Assistant and progress toward the advanced degree.
All approved appointments are rechecked by the Office of Graduate Studies after the add/drop deadline to verify continued eligibility.
The official offer to a Graduate Assistant shall also indicate that the appointment automatically expires at the end of the period stated and does not establish a right to subsequent appointments or any further appointment rights. No other notice shall be provided.
Compensation and Fee Waiver
The full-time Graduate Assistant Stipend is $3,000 per semester.
The three-quarter time Graduate Assistant Stipend is $2,250 per semester.
The half-time time Graduate Assistant Stipend is $1,500 per semester.
All Graduate Assistants are provided full waiver of tuition.
All Graduate Assistants are provided full waiver of all University and College or School-specific fees.
The time limit for the fee waiver is equal to a period of time not to exceed the number of semesters normally required in the recipient's academic discipline. At Fairmont State University this means that a fee waiver period for a master's student is up to two (2) years. Exceptions to this time limit may be requested from the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies.
Since the Graduate Assistant classification is a student classification, Graduate Assistants are not provided benefits.
Evaluation
Each Graduate Assistants' supervisor is required to submit a written evaluation of the performance of a Graduate Assistant at the end of each semester. This evaluation shall be placed in the academic file of the Graduate Assistant.
Departments should provide Graduate Assistants who have completed their degree, an opportunity to assess their experience in this apprenticeship. As part of that assessment, the College or School Dean should conduct an exit interview for each Graduate Assistant. The information obtained from these assessments should be used to evaluate the overall apprenticeship program in the department.
