Support

Financial Support for biology graduate students.

Normally all candidates for a Ph.D. in biology receive full academic year financial support (autumn, winter and spring quarters) for 5 years.  You will be supported in the form of a teaching assistant provided by the University, through fellowships or traineeships from other national, private or foreign agencies, or through research assistantships from faculty research grants. In the summer, students receive appointments either on the Seattle campus or at Friday Harbor Laboratories. The primary criterion for awarding teaching assistantships and research assistantships for continuing students is satisfactory performance in the program and satisfactory teaching evaluations.

Information About Graduate Appointees Eligibility for Tuition Waivers and Exemptions, Health Insurance and Taxes.

http://www.grad.washington.edu/fellow/grad_waiv_exemp_ins.htm

ACADEMIC STUDENT EMPLOYEES (ASEs)

Student employees working in support of research and instruction are subject to policies stated in the UW/UAW contract for Academic Student Employees (ASEs). For purposes of the labor agreement, an Academic Student Employee is an individual working in one of the defined classifications in Article 14, Job Titles and Classifications . The most recent information on the contract may be found at: http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/laborrel/contracts/uaw/addons/ The term "Salaried ASE"? refers to an ASE who is appointed on a percentage FTE basis. Appointment percentages may vary, but are normally fifty percent (50%) for at least one academic quarter. The term Hourly ASE? refers to an ASE who is engaged in projects or assignments for the University on an hourly basis.

Policies on workload, vacation and paid leave are included in this contract. Vacation and paid leave must be approved by the supervisor. Paid work in excess of the normal workload must be approved/coordinated in advance with the supervisor and the Administrator or Chair of the Department of Economics.

All students who receive financial support [fellowships or scholarships] but do not have specific work assignments and work products required of them (service expectancy), casual? employees, and any ASE who will work less than 110 hours in one or more ASE classifications in a period of 12 calendar months are excluded from the ASE contract . For specifics on how to distinguish between time spent working as an ASE (service expectancy) versus time spent on a student's own research towards academic progress, see the "Workload" section of the ASE contract. 

Teaching Assistantships

One form of financial support available to graduate students in biology is a teaching assistantship.  In addition to the assistantship salary, tuition is exempt except for $213 of tuition and fees per quarter. Teaching Assistants are classified as Academic Student Employees (ASEs), subject to contractual union policies.

Research Assistantships

Research assistants are selected by members of the faculty.  In most cases the faculty will select research assistants from students that they have a prior mentoring or supervisory relationship.  Salaries, privileges, and expenditures of time of research assistants are comparable to those of teaching assistants. In addition to the assistantship salary, tuition is exempt except for $213 of tuition and fees per quarter.  Research assistants are classified as Academic Student Employees (ASEs), subject to contractual union policies.

Teaching assistants and research assistants holding a graduate appointment are covered on the Graduate Appointee Health Insurance Plan and have the option of insuring their spouse and/or children for half of the cost.