Hiring Decisions/Units
The authority to hire Academic Student Employees (ASEs) and Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs) is delegated to the Program Chairs, Directors and Deans. It is the responsibility of the hiring unit to verify the eligibility of student employees and to appoint students in accordance with the UC Davis Academic Personnel Manual. Students who are employed at UC Davis as an ASE or GSR should always be aware of who the contact people are in the hiring department when they hold an ASE or GSR appointment.
Tuition and Fee Remission
Learn more about the policy and implementation procedures for remission of tuition and fees for eligible graduate student employees.
Types of Academic Student Employee Appointments
- Teaching Assistant (TA) - A graduate student employed as an instructional trainee. Under active guidance and supervision, a TA is typically responsible for teaching course sections (e.g., discussion, laboratory, or quiz sections), holding office hours, preparing course materials, and grading. A TA shall not be solely responsible for the entire instruction of a course (or for providing the entire instruction of a group of students enrolled in a course), the instructional content of a course, the selection of student assignments, planning of examinations, or determining the term grade for students. A TA shall not be given the same
level of responsibility for an entire course as an Associate Instructor. Students appointed to the TA title receive a fixed monthly salary related to their appointment percentage, are exempt employees, and report leave time taken in arrears in the Time Reporting System. - Associate Instructor (AI) - A student who is employed under general supervision to conduct the entire instruction lower division course or group of students in a lower division course. AIs may not be the designated supervisor of other graduate student appointees (e.g. TAs). Students appointed to the AI title receive a fixed monthly salary related to their appointment percentage, are exempt employees, and report leave time taken in arrears in the Time Reporting System.
- Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) - A student engaged in research under the supervision of a faculty principal investigator. Students appointed as a GSR receive a monthly salary related to their appointment percentage, are exempt employees, and report leave time taken in arrears in the Time Reporting System.
- Reader - A student who provide services which will normally include the grading of student assignments and examinations, and may include limited advising and demonstration work related to grading only. A Reader will not be given the other
responsibilities customarily assigned to Teaching Assistants, Associate Instructors, or Tutors. Readers submit their hours worked in Time Reporting System and are paid bi-weekly. - Tutor- A student who provides tutoring to an individual (one-on-one) or group of students (2 or more at the same time). A Tutor will not be given the other course-related instructional responsibilities customarily assigned to Teaching Assistants or Readers. Tutors submit their hours worked in Time Reporting System and are paid bi-weekly.
If a graduate student has an employment/payroll issue, they are advised to follow these steps:
The first point of contact should be the student’s hiring department HR contact which is usually the person listed on the appointment letter for GSR, TA, AI_, Reader and Tutor positions. For GSR positions, a student can also reach out to the hiring PI – they can refer the student to appropriate staff in the PI's home department.
The second point of contact should be graduate student's graduate program coordinator. For a full list of programs and contact information, please visit grad.ucdavis.edu/programs.
For UC Path/HR questions, students can also contact their Shared Service Center directly.
Academic Unit Shared Services Center supports students with appointments in College of Biological Sciences, College of Engineering, College of Letters and Science, Intercollegiate Athletics, Graduate School of Management, School of Education, School of Law, and School of Veterinary Medicine. Distributed Shared Services Center (DiSSC) supports students with appointments in College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.