Hiring Decisions/Units  

The authority to hire Academic Student Employees (ASEs) 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 should always be aware of who the contact people are in the hiring department when they hold an ASE 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 student serving in an apprenticeship under the active tutelage and supervision of a regular faculty member. Students appointed to the title Teaching Assistant receive a monthly salary related to the percentage of appointment time.
• Associate Instructor (AI) - A student who is temporarily employed as the instructor of an entire lower division course or group of students in a lower division course. Students appointed to the title Associate In_ receive a fixed monthly salary related to the percentage of appointment time.
• Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) - A student engaged in research under the supervision of a faculty principal investigator. Graduate programs are given flexibility in the salary level they may offer graduate students employed as GSRs and students are paid a monthly salary during the time they serve in a GSR position.  
• Reader -  A student who serves as a course assistant, which will normally include the grading of student papers and examinations. This position generally will begin on the first day of classes for the quarter appointed and terminates on the last day of the quarter (last day of finals). Readers 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 graduate program coordinator. For a full list of programs and contact information, please visit grad.ucdavis.edu/programs. 

The second point of contact should the contact person listed on the employment letter for GSR, TA, AI_, and Reader 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. 

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.