CCAS has a graduate student support budget that covers tuition, stipends, and GA salaries. Departments may also have endowments and their own R-funds for awards (if approved by the CCAS Finance Department). Note that an award package may include one or more of these components (salary, tuition, stipend).
GW's current terms and conditions of accepting an award can be downloaded from here.
Types of Awards
Fellowship
A fellowship consists of a tuition award and/or stipend, typically merit-based, but sometimes offered as a recruitment incentive. Fellowships, by definition, do not require the student to provide services to GW.
Tuition Award
A tuition award is paid only to the tuition bill and is applied directly to the student’s account. Tuition awards are not taxable income to the student. Unless there is a compelling reason to combine a stipend with a tuition award covering less than full tuition, OGS strongly recommends making awards in the form of tuition, due to the tax advantages for students. Students may not combine tuition awards with employee tuition benefits, per University policy.
Stipend
A stipend is a living allowance, paid to students to support their study. Stipends do not require any work other than the student’s own academic work. Stipends are taxable income to the student and are reported to the IRS. However, stipends are not earned income, so GW does not withhold income tax from stipend payments. By April 15, students must pay income tax on stipends received in the preceding tax year. Stipend payments are issued on a monthly basis at the beginning of the month.
Graduate Assistantship (GA)
A Graduate Assistantship is a salaried position that requires the student to provide services to GW. This is taxable, earned income to the student, subject to federal, state, and FICA tax withholding, as with any paid employment. The University defines a GA as a position requiring student, classroom, or laboratory contact. Students working in a capacity that requires no student contact (such as administrative work or grading only) should be hired as hourly workers on a wage account. New international students whose native language is not English must have a TOEFL score of 100 (IELTS of 7.0) in order to be eligible to be a GA.
Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA)
A Graduate Research Assistantship is a salaried position involving research work in connection with a project that produces “generalizable knowledge”. This is taxable income, subject to federal, state, and FICA tax withholding, as with any paid employment.
Background checks are required for all first-time GAs and GRAs. Details on the background check requirement are sent to the student by University Human Resources. Students who do not successfully complete the background check are not permitted to serve as GAs or GRAs.
Timing of Awards
