Graduate School Guides and Handbooks
Employment and Financial Aid
Financial assistance is available to all graduate students on a competitive basis. The College of Arts & Sciences and the Graduate School have additional merit-based fellowships.
The current graduate stipend is $16,002 for a 9-month teaching assistantship. All additional money, above and beyond the regular graduate stipend is subject to availability of funding, continued good progress towards obtaining a degree and a good employment record.
Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs) are paid on a monthly basis on the last working day of the month. All prospective employees must complete an Immigration and Naturalization Service I9 form regardless of citizenship. See the graduate secretary in the Mathematics Department to complete the paperwork.
Teaching is sometimes available in the summer and summer research fellowships worth up to $2,000 may also be available, especially for Ph.D. students. Students must earn 18 credit hours of graduate-level Mathematics in order to teach. In addition to the 18-hour rule, international students with teaching assistantships must successfully complete the International Teaching Assistantship Program (ITAP) and pass the ITAP Proficiency Exam before being eligible to teach.
GTAs are required to work in addition to taking courses. The University measures the amount of work expected of students in terms of a 40-hour work per week. A student who is expected to work for 40 hours each week is said to be assigned a 1.0 Full Time Equivalency (FTE); a student working for 20 hours each week has a 0.5 FTE, and so on. In the Mathematics Department, most employed graduate students are assigned a 0.5 FTE, which allows for half of the time to be spent working, and half studying. Workloads vary during the semester, and you may find yourself working 25 hours some weeks and 15 during others.
Any student with a Teaching Assistantship of 0.5 FTE or greater is awarded a full tuition grant, which pays the full amount of that student's tuition. GTAs will never see this money; it just means that they won't have to pay their tuition at the beginning of each semester. GTAs are eligible for a variety of other benefits, including health services, single coverage health insurance provided by the Graduate School, textbooks provided by the Department of Mathematics, and membership in the Alabama Credit Union. For a list of all benefits, refer to the Graduate Assistant Guide.
Each GTA with a 0.5 FTE must be enrolled in a minimum of six and a maximum of twelve credit hours in graduate-level courses (two to four three-hour courses) each semester. A GTA with a 0.25 FTE must be enrolled in a minimum of nine and a maximum of twelve credit hours of graduate-level courses each semester. All GTAs must successfully complete at least six credit hours in each semester to be eligible for the continuation of financial support.
First year GTAs’ will duties may consist of tutoring or conducting problem sessions for courses taught in large lecture sections. For GTAs teaching their own sections, their normal load is two 3-credit hour courses. Assignments for problem sessions may vary.
Once a GTA is eligible to teach, courses are assigned to them by the Director of Introductory Mathematics. For teaching duties, the Director of Introductory Mathematics is their immediate supervisor, and will be happy to help them whenever possible.
Sometimes, however, teaching duties can start to interfere with GTA’s own studies; this is likely toward the end of the semester, when everyone is giving important exams. GTAs must learn to divide their time between their duties as students and as teachers, and not allow one responsibility to conflict with the other.
The continuation of finance support guideline.
International Students
International students often face different challenges than their American counterparts. For example, visa difficulties can sometimes arise. There are many different ways that this problem can occur, and you should always speak immediately to the Graduate Program Director if there is any question about your visa.
If your native language is not English, you have the added burden of taking courses and perhaps teaching courses in an unaccustomed language. The university has established certain guidelines and procedures to ease the problems of non-native English speakers. All international students are required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEFL before being admitted; the Graduate School has established a minimum of 550 pBT or 79 iBT or 6.5 IELTS on the TOEFL or equivalent for admission. These guidelines are not intended as roadblocks or filters for graduate students, but are primarily to protect prospective students. Graduate study in Mathematics is challenging enough without the added problems of trying to cope with an unfamiliar language!
Graduate Teaching Assistantships are normally offered to applicants who have the core of 25 or better in the speaking component of their iBT TOEFL. However, the Mathematics Department may offer Graduate Teaching Assistantships to applicants who have excellent preparation in Mathematics with minimum English test score requirement above. These students must realize that they need to intensively improve their English skills after they arrive to the University of Alabama to continue receiving financial support as a Graduate Teaching Assistant.
The English Language Institute (ELI) was established on the University of Alabama to help international students master English, and to certify their proficiency in the language. Before being permitted to teach, every non-native English speaker must take and pass the International Teaching Assistant Program (ITAP) test given by the ELI. Before the fall and spring semesters begin, the ELI give placement tests for prospective GTAs who fail the ITAP test in their first time. In the fall and spring semesters, it conducts a training program for them. The program focuses on three main areas of study: pronunciation, teaching methods, and U.S. culture. Every non-native English speaker must complete the appropriate course and pass the Proficiency Exam in a timely manner. Failure to do so will result in the loss of the teaching assistantship.
The ELI gives three kinds of passing grades: "full," "trial full," and "conditional." A student who receives a conditional pass will be assigned to lead problem sessions and tutor undergraduate students. The assistantship is contingent upon the completion of the ITAP course and the appropriate grade on the Proficiency Examination. The ELI course usually begins during the last week of August and the first week of January new GTAs will be informed of the date, so international students should arrive in Tuscaloosa well before that time. International students who fail or receive a conditional pass in the ELI examination are required by this department to take courses at ELI and retake the examination at the next opportunity. Failure to do so will result in the loss of the assistantship.
In addition to the required courses, the ELI also offers a number of non-required short courses that help international students improve their spoken English, writing skills, and cultural knowledge. The ELI will be glad to provide them with a schedule of these opportunities.
Substantial improvement in English skills requirement: The Department of Mathematics encourages and expects international students to have a Full Pass on ITAP by August 15 of their second year; that way, they can perform their expected teaching duties. Otherwise, full financial support may not be awarded.
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