Securing Graduate Assistantships in a COVID-19 Market

Congratulations, you’ve been accepted to a graduate program! But now you’re concerned about paying for it. The good news is that you hear about a graduate assistantship available. You interview and receive the position. More congratulations are in order, but then you find out the institution is experiencing financial challenges, and they have dissolved your graduate assistantship, leaving you without funding. That is what happened to both of us, Jillian and Bea, during the spring of 2020.

In February 2020, we both received offers for our top-choice assistantship positions and signed contracts for the following academic year, when we were scheduled to start our graduate programs. The benefits were plentiful and included a stipend and full tuition remission. We were on cloud nine! But in April 2020, we received notification that our university had instituted a hiring freeze, effectively dissolving our assistantships. Once again, we were on the hunt for precious funding, and our futures were uncertain. Luckily, we were able to find other graduate assistant positions, but this was not the case for all graduate students.

The loss of employment and funding for coursework and research exacerbated the precarious financial situation many graduate students were already facing. By April 2020, 54 percent of American colleges and universities had imposed hiring staff freezes in response to the financial crisis, and an additional 34 percent anticipated taking such an action. As we experienced, these staff positions included graduate assistantships.

Although graduate school deans listed financial assistance, including assistantship, as a top priority in their response to COVID-19, securing those jobs is not always under the graduate school’s control. Graduate assistants frequently work outside their own disciplines and divisions on their campus, and the assistantship funding comes from the employer’s budget. In our case, that meant that our academic advisers were appalled at the situation but ultimately not in positions to secure our jobs or the funding that came with them.

Graduate assistantships at our institution are highly coveted positions for their many benefits, including academic funding. By losing our original assistantships, we were in a state of uncertainty. Without those assistantships, the pressure to pay increased out-of-state tuition loomed, and we moved quickly to determine how to proceed.

Your Own Best Advocate

We’ve painted a dreary picture of what it is to be a graduate assistant during COVID-19. But through self-advocacy and utilization of available resources, the obstacles you encounter are not insurmountable. Students may be concerned they will appear too aggressive, but in this scenario, you are your own best advocate. Here is our advice to incoming graduate students who find themselves looking for assistantships in a pandemic.

Begin looking for available positions immediately upon admission. Colleges and universities have websites with job openings specifically for internal candidates. As a newly admitted student, you should be able to access these and view current job openings that may not be listed on public sites. In addition, you should not neglect sites like HigherEdJobs or LinkedIn for job postings.

During the interview process, ask your potential employer to be transparent with you about the certainty of the position. What is guaranteed, and what is not? Before interviewing with potential employers, become as financially informed as possible. For example, our institution was legally allowed to terminate our assistantships due to exigent financial circumstances even though we had signed contracts. Questions to ask may include:

• To an employer: I understand that many universities have budget concerns right now. Should I be concerned about this position becoming unavailable?
• To an adviser or current student: How is the institution supporting graduate students during COVID-19? Whom can I speak with to learn more about alternative funding opportunities if my assistantship support becomes unavailable?

If your assistantship falls through, pursue other options. Some examples include:

• Ask your initial assistantship employer for a reference or if they are aware of other positions available. It is highly likely that your initial employer will be almost as disappointed as you were that you could not be a part of their program. Remember that you stood out in your interview, and they chose you. They recognized your potential, and they can help convey that potential to other employers or direct you to other positions they feel you might thrive in.
• Contact additional employers with whom you interviewed to inquire if positions are still available. Upon losing her original position, Bea reached out to another employer whose offer she had declined in February to explain her situation. As luck would have it, the position had not yet been filled, and Bea was hired. Even if that had not been the case, this employer may have been able to connect her to other offices seeking graduate assistants.

Reach out to an adviser or mentor at the institution. Advisers and mentors are there to offer guidance, especially in times of irregularity. They are also familiar with resources you may be unfamiliar with. After losing her graduate assistantship, Jillian had a prior meeting scheduled with her adviser the following day. During the meeting, that person was able to help her identify various paths forward with or without assistantship funding.

Make a backup plan. While we certainly hope you are able to pursue your graduate education as planned, you should still identify other paths to take if this is not possible.

• First, speak with your adviser or with graduate admissions about deferring your enrollment to a future term.
• Second, apply to jobs in your field or other opportunities from which you can gain experience and knowledge.
• Whatever your backup plan is, it should be tailored to you and your needs.

When in doubt, ask. COVID-19 is a dynamic situation for colleges and universities, but you do yourself a disservice by staying quiet when you have a question. Unsure whom to direct your question to? Email a graduate admissions counselor or your academic program coordinator your question and politely request they connect you with the appropriate person or office. Don’t rule out being involved with an office whose assistantship position didn’t work out. Staying in contact with that office may lead to future assistantship, internship or mentorship opportunities.

During these stressful times, it can be easy to feel defeated. Budgets will continue to be strained over the next few years, but other help is in the works. In January 2021, President Biden shared his outline for the next stimulus bill, which designates $35 billion for public colleges and universities as well as private and public historically Black colleges and other minority-serving institutions, including providing millions of students with up to $1,700 in institutional assistance. There is hope that the Biden-Harris administration will continue to support higher education and provide timely and necessary aid.

Finally, please remember that you have already accomplished so much by completing your undergraduate degree, applying to graduate programs and being accepted. Taking time to appreciate and take care of yourself is just as important as pursuing your academic goals. Higher education leaders are vital to the progress of society. You are talented, and we need you! Do not give up. The list of action items is about looking for assistantships during the pandemic, but we hope you use them for an overall successful graduate school experience. Best wishes!