Hiring Graduate Assistants

This information is for faculty who wish to hire graduate assistants. To read the official UA Little Rock Graduate Assistantship policy, click here.

Allocations of Graduate Assistants

  • Academic Departments will be allocated a position by their heads or deans.
  • Non-Academic Departments allocation is awarded annually by the Dean of the Graduate School. All requests for positions for the next academic year should be made directly to the Dean by email no later than February 1st.

Finding Assistants

  • New graduate students with regular admission and continuing students with regular admission and a GPA of 3.0 are eligible for Graduate Assistantship positions. (Please note the students need to be regularly admitted to a Master’s program or higher to be eligible.)
  • If a student does not meet the above criteria they could still become eligible in the future. Grade changes, ‘I’ grades posting, or other circumstances can change the eligibility of a student.
  • If a student does not have the required number of hours before the 11th day of classes, the student is not eligible for a GA position. Full-time positions require students enroll in a minimum of 9 hours of graduate courses and half-time positions require students enroll in a minimum of 4.5 hours of graduate courses (Note: Typically, courses are 3 hours each so students would be enrolled in 6 hours.)
  • If a department is allocated a position but does not have a student in mind, they should contact the Graduate School and provide an advertisement for the position. The advertisement should list the job location, duties, and schedule, as well as the contact person for the position. The Graduate School will post it and all other available GA positions. When the position is filled, please request that the Graduate School remove the advertisement.

Hiring Assistants

  • Once a student is selected for the position, the department must complete an EPAF for the student and fill out the online Appointment of Graduate Assistantship form.
  • EPAFs must be submitted for all Graduate Assistants prior to submitting the Graduate Assistant Appointment Form.
  • Please note that the online graduate appointment form is maintained in ARGOS. You will need to have ARGOS access in order to complete the form. Access can be obtained here. The Graduate School can train you on working this form within ARGOS.

Managing Assistantships

  • An offer letter to the student is a best practice. Please see the Graduate School for examples.
  • Please have a short meeting at the beginning of each semester with the Graduate Student with your expectations and requirements.
  • Graduate Assistants are expected to work 20 hours per week for full time assistants and 10 hours per week for half time assistants.
  • If a graduate assistant drops below the required number of enrolled hours without consent from the Graduate School, the GA appointment can be revoked and the student may be required to pay back in full the amount paid to them.
  • Notify the Graduate School of any changes to the student’s appointment, such as dropped hours, terminations, declined appointments. Failure to do so could result in reduced allocations for future funding.