Teaching Assistants

If you haven’t done so already, please talk with your advisor as soon as possible about your funding situation and whether you will need a TA position in the upcoming quarter. Any CSE PhD graduate student who will not have a full RA appointment or other funding in the fall quarter should submit a TA application. If you might need a TA position (e.g. you’re still trying to secure an RA position), you should still fill out a TA application which can be withdrawn anytime before the application withdrawal deadline. If your situation is unsettled and/or you need additional time, please contact the TA Coordinator. For non-CSE grads who are advised by Allen School faculty, TA positions will by considered on a case-by-case basis however these students should first look to their own department for funding options.

Two types of grad TA appointments are available:

• A “full-time” (20 hours/week) Grad TA appointment: This is the most common type of grad TA appointment and should be selected when a TA appointment will be your sole source of funding in a quarter.
• A “half-time” (10 hours/week) Grad RA/TA appointment: This option should only be selected by grads who already have another source of funding (e.g. RA, Fellowship) available. Students might choose a half-time appointment in situations where they have pre-existing funding but wish to fulfill their TA requirement or else when (after consultation with their faculty adviser) a half-time option is deemed more appropriate.

Students who have the flexibility to accept either the full-time or half-time TA option will be able to indicate so in the application.

CSE B.S./M.S. students at the graduate level are encouraged to apply for TA positions (be sure to select the “Grad TA” option if you will have grad student status in the quarter you are applying). While TA positions have never been guaranteed, historically, nearly all BS/MS students who have applied have received TA assignments. Beginning in winter quarter 2025, we will begin phasing in a new 3-quarter limit of grad TA assignments for BS/MS students. After 3 quarters as a grad TA, B.S./M.S. students will be deprioritized during the TA application/assignment process and will receive a TA position only under exceptional circumstances such as unexpected open positions or to fill a specific course need.

For winter quarter 2025, this new 3-quarter limit will apply to B.S./M.S. grad students who started the Master’s program in Autumn 2023 or earlier and have been assigned as a TA at the *graduate* level for 3 or more quarters.

While graduate students from other departments can apply for quarterly CSE TA appointments, they will be given lower priority due to funding commitments made to CSE grad students and the anticipated large number of CSE applicants . We expect the number of TA positions given to non-CSE graduate students to be extremely limited and only offered when a CSE student is unavailable.

• Go to the Graduate Teaching Assistants application website and sign in with your UW NetID: https://ta.cs.washington.edu/apply/
• You should now see a page with your “TA Candidate Dashboard”.  Click the “Apply” button which will take you to the application page.
• In the Basic information section, you should see your name displayed; “TA type” refers to *your* student status (not the level of course you wish to be a TA for). All graduate student applicants should select one of the grad TA options–most commonly the “Grad TA” selection. Only select the “Grad RA/TA” option if you have another source of funding (RA, grant, fellowship, etc.) to supplement this TA assignment giving you a “full” (~20 hours/week) grad appointment.
• In the Personal statement section, you may describe why you would like to be a graduate teaching assistant and/or what outside experience you have. This is not required; rather the purpose is for you to provide any information you’d like instructors and/or the TA Coordinator to know when considering you for a TA position.  This information is particularly helpful if you are a first-time applicant or non-CSE student.  You should also use this space to include additional information about your course preferences/rankings or any prior arrangements you have made with a course instructor regarding an assignment.  Graduate students from other majors can also provide links to their CV or undergrad transcript information if available.  
• In the Course category preferences section, indicate your general preferences for the various course areas. 
• Finally, in the Individual course preferences section, you can indicate your TA preference rankings for individual courses.  Simply give whichever course you would prefer to be assigned to a higher ranking preference from 1 to 5 (with 5 being most preferred) and rank any other courses relative to that (or the same if you have an equal preference).  Also, if you are unable to TA for a course due to a schedule time conflict (i.e. you are unable to attend any of that course’s lectures OR the weekly course staff meeting), please check the schedule conflict checkbox in the first column.
• Click the Submit button and you’re all done! You may return to this page and make changes at anytime during the open application period.

(specific duties and responsibilities will be provided by the course instructor)

• Attend lectures
• Conduct quiz section meetings
• Facilitate discussions
• Prepare lectures for quiz sections
• Prepare review materials for quiz sections
• Hold extra review sessions for exams
• Hold regular office hours
• Tutor students
• Manage and respond to course-related e-mail
• Prepare webpage for course materials
• Maintain (update) webpage for course materials
• Develop and maintain electronic bulletin boards, discussion sites, etc.
• Prepare assignments
• Grade assignments
• Prepare test questions
• Proctor exams
• Score exams
• Maintain grading records
• Maintain course attendance records
• Calculate quarter grades
• Attend instructor/TA meetings
• Attend TA Training seminar/courses
• Act as liaison/mediator between student and professor
• Prepare lecture materials
• Present lectures
• Prepare handout materials
• Review literature

• TA: $3,362 (Master’s students)
• TA1: $3,514 (Ph.D. students, pre-generals)
• TA2: $3,646 (Ph.D. students, post-generals)

*The UW/UAW contract for Academic Student Employees requires departments to pay summer graduate student teaching assistants and predoctoral instructors/lecturers a supplement of 20% of the individual’s monthly salary rate for the academic year. This supplement is effective only during the summer quarter instructional session payroll dates, 6/16/XX—8/15/XX. The supplement is for all graduate teaching assistants and predoctoral instructors appointed for less than three months in Summer Quarter regardless of their total teaching FTE. This supplement does not apply to research assistants, staff assistants, or other ASE appointments.

‡ Variable Graduate TA Salaries will be updated for 2024-2025 once confirmed. (see https://hr.uw.edu/labor/academic-and-student-unions/uaw-ase/ase-contract#article-33-wages)