How many hours do TAs typically put in?

[laura_b]

Most of the programs I applied to have TAs teach six hours (two classes) each semester. Between class time, office hours, grading, etc, how many hours of work does that add up to each week? Is it possible to manage that, classes and an extra part time job? I am a little worried that if I get into a program, I will end up being too busy to devote extra time to writing. Paid time to write is one of my main goals in pursuing the MFA in the first place, so that would obviously be very defeating. My top choice program is located in the same metro area as a large community college, and if I get in there I was thinking I might be able to take on a section or two as an adjunct. Would 12 hours of teaching spread over two campuses be more or less difficult than six hours of teaching plus waiting tables or writing for the local paper or whatever? I would assume most TAs probably have another job, since the stipend isn't really enough to live on by itself.

[biotechie]

I'm a Master's student in science, and I teach a 1 credit hour lab (but I do the prep, so it is nearly equivalent). I spend nearly 10 hours per week not including teaching working on grading papers and homework as well as prepping my lectures. Since I do research, too, it is impossible for me to have a second job. However, I am also not allowed to have a second job. I wouldn't recommend trying to teach, go to school, and write along with an outside job, but I'm also from a science background.

Check with your school. Some will not allow you to have outside employment. Others will make sure that you are paid enough that you don't need it. Make sure you know exactly what benefits and shortcomings come with teaching.

[comp12]

I've attended and TAed for two different universities now, and in my experience, I find that TAs generally are able to finish their work on average at or slightly underneath the amount of their workload. Many TAs end up joining the union to protect themselves from being consistently overworked past their paid load. E.g., if one is paid for 15 hours a week, he or she may spend 3 on lecture, 3 on sections, 2 on office hour, 1-2 on lesson plans, and the rest as needed on grading. Most often, it is the grading that may force a TA to overwork, and when that happens, s/he is encouraged to go to the professor first to strategize allotment of time. Because of union rules, TAs are discouraged from putting in more hours than paid, even if willingly, and the university/prof is required to either reevaluate the assignments and grading needs, or hire more TAs or increase the existing workload. Sometimes, during peak semester times, a TA might work more hours than the load, and that balances out some of the off weeks, but all in all, I've found virtually all TAs are usually able to handle all their requirements close to the rate that they are being hired.

I've only heard of universities that hire TAs by workload, so they are paid for the hours they sre expected to put in. I've never heard of them being hired by the course/credit load of the class they are teaching, as that sounds more typical for lecturer/adjunct/associate teacher positions.

Edited December 29, 2012 by comp12

[Eigen]

Our TAs are assigned by classes, but it's been made very clear on a few occasions that it shouldn't exceed 20 hours per week on a regular basis. 

 

We had it brought up at a Dean's Forum with the graduate students, and our school's Dean made it very clear that if departments were assigning work that regularly exceeded 20 hours per week, he would very much like to know about it, and would be willing to intercede on the graduate student's behalf. 

 

That said, I know in the sciences it's a challenge balancing teaching, research and classes, and I can't imagine trying to throw an outside job in the mix. But I know a lot of my friends in the humanities routinely work part-time jobs in addition to TAing, so this is probably something a lot more discipline and school specific. As mentioned above, all of our contracts say we can't work an outside job without the permission of our advisor and department chair, at least while we're receiving any school funds. 

[blakeblake]

It depends on your responsibilities.  If you only grade for classes of 20-30 students and give an occasional lecture, then school, TAing, and a part-time job (preferably less than 20 hours) are do-able.  If you are the sole grader for large classes or if you hold full responsibility for 6 hours of classes, then I would not recommend trying to take on a part-time job (unless you do so only during the summer).  As someone who has held full responsibility for 3 hours and later 6 hours while earning my MA, I can tell you that TAing for 6 hours under these circumstances makes life *very* difficult.

 

TA salaries are small because living on not enough to live on is a way of life for grad students.  For the most part, you are expected to give up a decent salary for the sake of your passion.  If you have looked into the cost of living in the town where your school is located and you realize that it is literally impossible to live in that town on a TA's salary, you have two options.  If you are willing to take out student loans, then you can borrow a few thousand dollars per semester.  If you can't live off of your TA's salary and you are not willing to take out loans, then you should not accept an offer to attend this school.

[wildviolet]

At my university the official guideline is 10 hours per week on average for teaching a three-hour course. This guideline is doable as long as you work efficiently. One of my colleagues probably spent about twice the amount of time that I did--I think she wasn't working very efficiently.

 

Some weeks, I put in about 6-7 hours: 3 hours for class time and 3-4 hours for prepping (which included reading the course material and preparing my PPT slides). When I had to grade assignments, the total for the week would be about 10-12 hours. So, on average, it worked out to be about 10 hours per week over the course of the semester. Next year, if I teach the same course again, I will have already read the material, so I will just need to go back and refresh my memory/update my slides.

 

We are not allowed to have outside jobs but that is because our stipends should cover living expenses.

[rising_star]

In my department, most of the contracts are for 20 hours of work per week. Yes, there are plenty of weeks where even with prep time, teaching, and office hours, I do not put in that much time. But, when there's grading to be done or extra office hours before an assignment is due, then I definitely put in that many hours. I can't imagine adjuncting two classes on top of that, especially since you'd be slammed with grading at midterm and finals time. My colleagues that both teach on campus and adjunct at the local community college are all beyond coursework so they aren't trying to juggle their own courses with everything else. But, YMMV.

[hashslinger]

Most of the programs I applied to have TAs teach six hours (two classes) each semester. Between class time, office hours, grading, etc, how many hours of work does that add up to each week? Is it possible to manage that, classes and an extra part time job? I am a little worried that if I get into a program, I will end up being too busy to devote extra time to writing. Paid time to write is one of my main goals in pursuing the MFA in the first place, so that would obviously be very defeating. My top choice program is located in the same metro area as a large community college, and if I get in there I was thinking I might be able to take on a section or two as an adjunct. Would 12 hours of teaching spread over two campuses be more or less difficult than six hours of teaching plus waiting tables or writing for the local paper or whatever? I would assume most TAs probably have another job, since the stipend isn't really enough to live on by itself.

Two classes per semester is considered a rather heavy load. I have taught two classes per semester myself, and believe me, your writing time goes out the window. Teaching is extremely time consuming, especially if you are doing it for the first time.

 

Most TAs I know do not have outside jobs. Most find that the stipend they earn is adequate to cover basic living expenses, minus anything fancy.

 

What programs are you looking into? I would strongly recommend only applying to programs that will provide an adequate stipend for a moderate amount of teaching--usually a 1/1 load.  

Edited December 29, 2012 by hashslinger

[laura_b]

How do you find an average of $10,000/year adequate for living on? I can't figure it out. Rent, utilities and health insurance alone would eat it right up.

[TakeruK]

When I was TAing lab courses, I was assigned 4.5 hours per week (3 hours in lab, 1.5 hours for prep and grading). I think I ended up working more like 5 hours a week overall, about half in the lab and half prep time (not all weeks had labs). So I would estimate a TA workload to be 1 hour of prep/grading/email time for every 1 "contact-hour" (i.e. in class or in lab). It depends on each TA assignment though, of course!

 

We were paid for all the hours worked though. Also, we were unionized but there was no weekly limit on hours. Instead, hours were "billed" by the term (e.g. 54 hours per term) and it's up to the course prof and the TA to decide how to allocate those hours. The guideline here was also 10 hours per week, on average, per course.

 

For things like grading, it's easy to adjust your work to fit in the number of hours allocated. It's also important to discuss the expectations with whomever you are TAing for, since you don't want to be spending hours marking an assignment that the prof just wants you to quickly glance over. 

 

As for the stipend, are you sure that your TAship is the only source of income? 10,000 a year for TA work sounds about right but that's usually only a fraction of your total support. It might be different in a Masters level program though. Sometimes I found that the department webpages are very vague about funding, but your letter of offer should clearly state what you can expect.

[Eigen]

$10k sounds really low, even for English. I wonder if it's lower (as mentioned) since its an MFA program rather than a PHD?

[laura_b]

^Probably. My top school gives out $11,500 yearly stipends for those holding an MA already (like myself). According to the TA manual on their website, a TA at 50% works 20 hours which includes teaching two classes each semester. They also offer a $20k stipend for "distinguished MFA scholars" for those with high GPAs and GRE verbal scores, but unfortunately my GRE is just below the cutoff. My AW score is 5.5, but I don't know if that could make up for the verbal score. I am just not a good test taker unless it's an essay test. My second choice only pays $8,000 per year. I will be so disappointed if I manage to get a spot in one of these programs, but then can't afford it.

 

Is it possible to get much in loans on top of a TA? I would only take FAFSA loans. I am not getting myself into a mess with private loans.

Edited December 30, 2012 by laura_b

[comp12]

11.5k sounds really low for a 50% or 20 hour TA assignment. Are you sure that stipend directly corresponds to the level you'd be offered? Maybe that 20 hour figure is just an even, round example figure, and for TAs like you, you'd be working at something close to 33 or 25 percent?

As for making things work, I suppose something like only a 10k living stipend is not ideal, but is not unusual for an MFA program. The starving artist or writer life has to begin somewhere, right, so why not at the graduate level, heh. It seems while STEM stipends can go into the 30ks, I've only heard of MFA stipends maxing out at 20K tops. Sometimes, like TakeruK writes, the TAship is only part of the allotment. Maybe there is a small fellowship or RAship the department can come up with to add to the stipend. You wont know th specifics of your particular offer under you receive it. Health insurance is typically included as part of a TA or RAship though, so you wouldn't have to worry about that. Also, these stipends usually only cover work for 9-month academic years, so you might be able to supplement that with finding a summer TAship or job elsewhere. Depending on cost of living in the university's area, maybe it is doable with a 9-month 11.5k stipend, free health insurance, and time to find work over the summer.

[rising_star]

laura_b, you'll be eligible for unsubsidized Stafford loans (~$20K/year I think) and possibly GradPLUS loans as well.

[hashslinger]

As others have emphasized, $10k is low in this day and age. And $10k in exchange for a 2/2 load is really extreme.  

 

As a point of comparison, I live in a cheap area of the country, and I think the MFA students start out at about $14k for 1/1.

Edited December 30, 2012 by hashslinger

[fuzzylogician]

In my department TAing is part of the funding package, and after we've completed the required load we can additionally TA for pay. In that case, the salary is for the whole course, not per hour. How much time it takes depends on the course but the more time consuming ones usually take 10-15 hours a week, depending on the particular week and what assignments the students have. Normally the breakdown for such a course is something like: 3 hours lecture, 1 hour office hours, 1 hour recitation, 1-2 hours preparing for recitation, 4-5 hours grading. 

[hotsaranghae]

My university also doesn't really allocate weekly hours. Last semester I had to teach 2 of my own classes, so I had to do everything on my own. That was 2.5 hours of class time, 1 hour office hour, about 3-4 hours of lesson planning and about 5 hours of homework grading (I taught a low level German class, so we had exams, essays and small homeworks everyday) weekly, not to mention exam making that could sometimes take up to 3 hours per exam. It was difficult, but I only have one class to teach this semester because I'm writing my MA thesis and the year before I was only TAing for professors. The department spread out the stipend, so we get a flatrate of abt $10K/year for the two years of MA program. The third semester was definitely the worst, but I feel like the program really spread things out evenly. I do agree that 10K really isn't that much though. My parents still had to pay for institutional fees at the start of every semester eventhough I live in Athens, GA.

[uromastyx]

It truly depends on the demands of the course (i.e. grading load), your abilities in planning (or wingning it), and how dedicated you are to coursework or professional development (pubs, conferences, etc).

[1Q84]

Reviving dead thread. And sorry to the above, I meant to upvote that! I'm receiving $22k for "average 10 hours a week" teaching fellowship. This probably means 1/1, right? Two courses a semester couldn't possibly be that few hours.

[TakeruK]

Reviving dead thread. And sorry to the above, I meant to upvote that! I'm receiving $22k for "average 10 hours a week" teaching fellowship. This probably means 1/1, right? Two courses a semester couldn't possibly be that few hours.

 

I am now thinking this may really depend on the field and school. In Canadian science programs, the TAs are never present during the lectures. As I said above, my teaching load was 4.5 hours for 1 course (3 hours facetime in the lab, 1.5 hours prep/marking). TAs who ran tutorials instead of labs might have 1 hour prep, 2 hours facetime in classroom, 1.5 hours marking. I don't know how the humanities and social sciences work but since our TA contracts clearly states that any time a TA is required to attend lecture, they should be logging these as paid hours, I am guessing that these TAs might be attending lectures too!

 

But you are talking about a US school, right? At my US school, the TAs are always present in the back of the class, which is already a 3 hour workload. They also don't seem to get solutions to the problem sets, so yeah, I would guess they work about 10 hours per week per course if you count attending class, doing the readings, office hours, doing the homework, and grading. 

[1Q84]

The impression that I'm getting is that it's not something where I sit in a professors lecture and TA about his/her material. It's just basic college writing for freshmen so I think it's just my own class + marking hours + maybe office hours?

[Arcadian]

It's typically only 3-5 hours per week for me. At my school, TAs are relatively low-responsibility.

[juilletmercredi]

It probably does mean 1 class a semester (maybe one class for the year; we only have to TA one class per year here).

Hours devoted to TAing depend on the professor and class.  On the low end, I TAed an intro class with a super-organized professor that only required that I show up (class was 1 hour and 15 minutes twice a week), hold two office hours a week, grade about 20 2-page papers 3 times a semester (this didn't take much time at all), help come up with exam questions and then grade the exams.  On a regular week, the class took less than 10 hours of my time - probably about 7 hours/week.  Exams and paper weeks were longer but maybe 12-15 hours max.

This semester's assignment is more mid-range.  The class meets for 4 hours each week, and I have to hold 2 office hours, so 6 hours.  This class has less straightforward material and more sort of nebulous work so I think I work on it about 10 hours per week each week.  When I had to prepare a lecture, I probably spent 20 hours that week on this class.  It varies wildly.

The stats class I TAed was the biggest commitment of time.  I TAed two sections of the lab, which were 2 hours each.  So again, 4 hours in class plus 2 office hours = 6 hours.  But I also had to design the labs (or at least alter templates from last year), design homeworks, grade homeworks, design the exams and grade the exams. That class took 15 hours a week EVERY week, and on weeks in which I had grading to do, I felt like I didn't have enough time to do anything besides work on the class.