Money (also known as "Support")

Teaching Assistant (TA)

A TA in the Department of Mathematical Sciences carries a teaching/tutoring load of 12 credit hours per year. Typically, a TA is the instructor of record for one to two courses per term. That is, the TA is the teacher for the course, running all class meetings, designing and grading assignments, exams, quizzes, projects, etc. and assigning grades. Most of the courses taught by TAs are also taught by professors and lecturers and most have a faculty coordinator. The courses typically taught by TAs are: college algebra (4 credit hours), mathematics and liberal arts (3 credit hours), mathematics for elementary school teachers (2 or 3 credit hours, depending on the course), and basic statistics (3 credit hours). As an example of course content and processes, the following link is to class web pages for some recently taught Math for Liberal Arts courses (the pages are maintained by the faculty member/TA who taught the course): Fall 2004.

The vast majority of graduate students are TA's and typically make between $12,000 and $15,000 for the nine months of the academic year (depending on degree obtained). TAs also receive a tuition waiver - no tuition is paid by the graduate student; however insurance and student fees are the responsibility of the student.

Each TA is provided with office space and access to a computer (it may be a computer shared by those sharing the office space), printer, and copy machine.

Summer Support

Most students get some sort of support in the summer either from teaching, grant work, or from the department for progress towards the degree (yep, students get paid to take summer courses). Summer support can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending on the source(s) of support.

Grant Work

Among the active grants in the department, several support graduate students at a level of $15,000 to $18,000 per calendar year (including the summer). On average there are two graduate students fully supported by grants each term. These students may spend all their work time doing research or may do some teaching or internship work and some research. In addition, there are many small grants, fellowships, and scholarships available from federal, state, private, and university sources that provide $500 to $3000 per year. Graduate students are mentored by faculty in applying for these small travel, research, and curriculum development grants.

Living in Greeley (home of UNC)