Fellowships and assistantships ( TA and RA )

Fellowships and assistant-ships ( mostly in the form of Teaching assistantships and Reasearch assistantships) are available for students pursuing their graduate study in US universities.



Fellowships:
Normally awarded to all doctoral candidates entering their first year of study, freeing them from the need to conduct research activities or the obligation to teach in the first year. Generally a fellowship for an year provides a full tuition fee waiver plus student health plan fee plus a maintenance allowance  for the year. The maintenance allowance is usually paid in monthly installments and is taxable. Fellowships are awarded by the degree granting department based on the merits of the candidate.

Assistantships:
Assistantships in teaching and research are provided for continuing students and aid applicants. The department granting the assistantship directly negotiates with student before granting it, meaning that, the student may need to talk to the professors directly to negotiate the assistantship (This normally happens for research assistantship). Entire assistantship amount is taxable. Two types of assistantships are commonly available : 1) Teaching Assistantship (TA) ; 2) Research Assistantship (RA)

Teaching Assistantship:
Depending on the need of the degree granting department, student are offered teaching assistantship who will provide services such as supervising the laboratory, assist professors in classroom teaching (prepare slide, presentation, material etc..,) and help the professors in grading ( evaluate answer sheets). Teaching assistantships may be offered as a full-appointment or partial appointment assistantship. In a full-appointment contract, the student needs to work for about 20 hours per week ( 6 classroom hours + 14 hours for preparation - this is also called full 6 hours appointment ). In the case of partial appointment, the student may need to work less than 20 hours ( it varies on a need by need basis). The allowance for the partial appointment is pro-rated according to the number of hours worked. Entire TA amount is taxable.

Research Assistantship:
Students offering research assistantance need to work for 20 hours per week in the case of full time assistantship and less than 20 hours (varies according to the need of the professor) in the case of a partial appointment ( The compensation is pro-rated according to the amount of time devoted to research). Entire RA amount is taxable.

Summary of Differences:

Fellowship	Teaching Assistantship	Research Assistantship
Full Tuition fee waiver + health plan fee + maintenance allowance	Full-time: 20 hours/week work; Partial: < 20 hours/week work - amount accordingly	Full-time: 20 hours/week work; Partial: < 20 hours/week work - amount accordingly
No obligation to do research/teaching assistantship	Assist in teaching, make slides,grade exam papers,supervise labs	Assist in research activities of the professor
Only maintenance allowance is taxable	100% taxable	100% taxable