Gross earnings for a part-time teaching assistant| Hours a week | At $10.00 an hour | At $16.50 an hour | At $21.50 an hour |
|---|
| 5 hours | $50 | $83 | $108 |
| 10 hours | $100 | $165 | $215 |
| 15 hours | $150 | $248 | $323 |
| 10 hours a week over 36 weeks | $3,600 | $5,940 | $7,740 |
How does it compare with tutoring outside the campus?
A campus teaching role pays less per hour than a marketplace tutor, and it gives more stability and a stronger reference.
Reported starting pay on one large set-rate tutoring platform is about $15 to $18 an hour, and marketplace tutors average $35 to $60 an hour, though the marketplace keeps a 25 percent platform fee from what the tutor earns.
So a marketplace tutor at a $50 listed rate keeps $37.50, against $16.50 to $21.50 on campus.
The campus figure is lower because the work is unpaid preparation, it is unpaid marking and the session is scheduled by the department rather than booked by a student.
What the campus role adds is continuity. A term-long appointment with a named course is a stronger line on a CV than a set of private lessons, and it comes with a reference from a member of faculty.
Our guide to part time tutoring jobs online pay covers the online market in detail.
What are the requirements?
The subject knowledge, and usually a grade in the course, which is why the roles go to students who did well.
Most departments want an undergraduate student who has completed the course with a strong result, or a postgraduate student in the subject. A few open the role to students from outside the department, usually at a lower rate.
The second requirement is availability. The session times are fixed by the timetable, so a candidate who cannot be in the building on Tuesday at four in the afternoon cannot take the role, whatever the pay.
Third, and less obvious, is the grade appeal process. Some departments require a teaching assistant to be senior enough to handle a formal appeal, which narrows who can be appointed to the bigger sections.
Which roles pay the most on a campus?
Lab sections and writing intensive courses pay more, because the grading load is heavier.
A laboratory section carries the preparation of materials, the safety briefing and the marking of lab reports. A writing intensive seminar carries a heavy marking load on essays, and the workload is a reason to pay above the basic band.
Large lecture courses with a single section pay least, because the work is mostly marking a large cohort. Our guide to part time research assistant jobs university covers the other academic role where the wage is funded by a grant rather than by a department.
How teaching assistant roles are priced| Role type | Rate position | Why |
|---|
| Laboratory section | Top of the band | Materials, safety and report marking |
| Writing intensive seminar | Top of the band | Heavy essay marking load |
| Discussion section | Mid band | Preparation and office hours |
| Large lecture course | Lower band | Mostly marking a large cohort |
How do you find a teaching assistant job?
Go to the department, because the hiring sits with the faculty member who teaches the course.
Three routes work. The department careers page lists the departmental teaching assistant positions. The student employment office handles the work study eligible versions.
And the most direct route is to ask the instructor of a course you took, early in the term before the appointment is filled.
Two questions to ask. Whether the appointment is for the term or for the year, and whether the marking time is paid. Our guide to part time peer tutor jobs college covers the lighter version of the same work on the same campus.
What changes about teaching assistant hiring next?
Expect the workload to shift towards the students who need more help, because that is where the time goes.
Three forces shape the next two years. Enrolment growth has pushed more sections onto teaching assistants, which spreads the same pool of students further. The grading load is what makes the role valuable, and it is the part departments are trying to reduce.
The pressure on the wage is the usual one. Campus hourly scales move with state minimum wage rules and department budgets are set annually, so the rate rises slowly while the workload expectation rises faster.
For a candidate the conclusion is that the role is worth most when the section is small and the marking is the teaching, because that is the version that turns into a teaching portfolio.
Next steps
Ask the instructor directly, early, and check whether the marking time is paid before you accept.
- Check the campus wage scale, where published rates run from $10.00 to $21.50 an hour
- Ask whether the appointment covers the term or the year
- Ask whether the marking and preparation time is paid
- Check the session times against your own timetable
- Ask whether the department will consider an appeal
- Look for the smaller sections, because that is where the pay and the reference are
One final thought. The rates here come from published campus policies, the federal handbook and occupation wage data, which is the best guide available before an application.
gov/understand-aid/types/work-study">Federal Student Aid work study page sets out the programme rules, including the hourly-only payment rule and the federal minimum wage floor that every work study employer must meet.
Photo: Norman_Gil, Pixabay Content License, via Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/photos/ai-generated-teacher-classroom-10283012/)
Fazlur Rahman
