Employment Policy
The Graduate School considers employment beyond a full-time Assistantship in Research or Instruction (AR or AI) of 20 hours per week incompatible with full-time graduate study. International students in particular are limited by federal regulations to no more than 20 hours of employment while school is in session, which includes AI and/or AR appointments and any on- or off-campus work.
Subject to the limitations above, should students and their departments judge that part-time employment (beyond one’s fellowship or assistantship support) is both manageable and necessary, the student may be employed either on- or off-campus . These arrangements must be approved by the departmental director of graduate studies and the student’s dissertation adviser (where appropriate). If the department offers the student an AI or an AR, the student is obliged to accept that as the first means of employment. If no teaching or research assignment is available, students may then apply on their own for employment of some other kind, subject to the approvals specified above. International students may not accept off-campus employment without authorization from the Office of Visa Services (for example, in the case of employment related to CPT courses), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, in the case of OPT eligible employment), or the J-1 program sponsor. (International students would contact the internatioanal graduates student adviser at the Office of Visa Services, 120 Alexander Rd., with any questions.)
Non-degree students, including Visiting Students, visiting Exchange Students, Special Students and Qualifying Students, may not serve as AI’s but may work part-time on campus. Visiting Student Research Collaborators (VSRC’s) may be supported as AR’s by their faculty sponsors, but may not serve as AI’s or be approved for any other on-campus employment.