Assistantships and Fellowships
Each student admitted to the Graduate Program in Acoustics, and who has not already arranged funding, is considered
for support with an assistantship. A student given an assistantship receives a stipend and a grant-in-aid for tuition;
this stipend, but not the tuition, is taxable. In general, the amount of the stipend provided by an assistantship depends
on the person's standing as a graduate student (i.e., earned bachelor's or ; passed Ph.D. candidacy or comprehensives).
Most assistantships are one half-time during the academic year, and the equivalent of one-half time during the summer.
Summer assistantships typically do not carry a grant-in-aid for tuition. Graduate assistantships cover 80% of the cost of
the Penn State provided student health insurance.
The graduate assistantship is a vehicle for providing a stipend to help meet living and other incidental expenses
during graduate study. In exchange for this stipend, and also the remission of tuition fees, the student is expected
to assist in the research and/or teaching programs associated with the Program. As such, the student has an obligation
to devote a minimum of 20 hours per week on average to his or her assistantship duties, for the duration of the eighteen-week
period of the assistantship for each semester (12 weeks in the summer). It should be noted that the period of the
assistantship (18 or 12 weeks) is longer than the respective academic semesters, which means that the student's commitment
relative to the assistantship extends past the beginning and/or end of the semester. Therefore, it is imperative that the
student communicates with the faculty member supervising the assistantship to determine when the student is expected to be
available to perform his or her duties. Even though a graduate student may be granted a half-time assistantship, the amount
of time this student may spend on his or her research may well exceed the 20-hour per week that one might traditionally
associate with a half-time position. While some flexibility exists for fulfilling the obligations associated with an
assistantship, the student is expected to coordinate his or her schedule with the faculty member who is supervising the
assistantship. Upon being offered an assistantship, the student will receive the "Terms of Offer" of a Graduate Assistantship,
which outlines the conditions of the assistantship offer, including the date upon which the student is to report, and to whom
he or she should report. Although an assistantship is taxable, it is not considered by the University to be compensation for
work done. Instead, it is intended to help support a student during his or her graduate study. Should it become necessary for
the student to withdraw from the University during the period of the assistantship, the assistantship will also be terminated.
Periods of withdrawal are not excepted when determining time to completion for a degree.
Graduate assistants must have health insurance coverage that meets certain standards established by the University. Graduate
assistants are eligible to participate in the health policy designated by the University, with the assistantship paying eighty
percent of the individual annual premium with the remaining twenty percent being deducted from the student's assistantship stipend.
A student holding any graduate assistantship may not normally accept employment of any kind beyond that specified by his or her
assistantship. A student may receive a concurrent fellowship supplement. In addition, the Graduate School regulates both the
maximum and the minimum number of course credits a graduate student may take according to the schedule shown below in Table 1.
Both teaching and research assistantships are offered according to the anticipated needs of the Program, as well as the support
available. These assistantships have different responsibilities associated with them and are supported by different sources of
funding. Assistantship support for each student will be reviewed at regular intervals. Normally, students who maintain regular
academic status and who make adequate progress toward completing their degrees can expect continued support.
Types of Funding
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