What is an assistantship?

The School of Strategic Leadership Studies offers a limited number of assistantships to full-time students. Assistantships typically cover 9 credits of tuition for the fall semester, and 9 credits of tuition for the spring semester, as well as a stipend. 

2017-2018 Tuition (per credit hour)

Tuition Rate

Cost Per Credit

In-state tuition rate

$ 473

Out-of-state tuition rate

$ 1,231

Summer In-state tuition rate

$ 459

Summer Out-of-state tuition rate

$ 1,109

What are the expectations of a student holding an assistantship?
  • The student must be conditionally or unconditionally accepted into a graduate program. Students who are provisionally accepted will not be eligible until they achieve conditional or unconditional acceptance into their program.
  • The student must be enrolled full-time (9 credits per fall and spring semesters) in order to maintain their assistantship. Assistantships generally do not cover summer tuition. 
  • Assistantships require students to work 20 hours per week in their sponsoring department. 
  • After receiving an assistantship, the student must maintain at least a 3.0 graduate GPA in order to retain or reapply for the assistantship.
Typical Stipend Amounts

Assistantship Level

Stipend Amount Per Academic Year

Master's Graduate Assistant

$ 7,910

Doctoral Assistant

$ 15,538

How do I get an assistantship?
  • Express that you are interested in an assistantship prior to applying during your pre-admissions meeting with Dr. Karen Ford.
  • Indicate that you are interested in an assistantship on your application when you apply for admission. Applicants interested in obtaining an assistantship should finalize and submit their application no later than February 1st.
  • Have an updated CV or resume available for the Strategic Leadership department. This will aid the program in placing you in an assistantship external to our department if necessary. 

Please note...

Although the Strategic Leadership department makes every effort to place students in a doctoral-level assistantship within our department or with a campus partner, there are instances where only master's level assistantships will be available. Students may need to apply for a graduate assistantship. A listing of open assistantships can be found on JMU's JobLink. 

Search For An Assistantship

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