Perks of Being a Graduate Assistant

This weekend, I attended a funeral service for my recently passed away friend, Jade. Then, I helped with my other longtime friend's proposal (She said yes! Yay!). While I was only back home for about 40 hours total, I had a long list of to-do's and shed many tears. I was drained both emotionally and physically when I arrived in Minnesota after a delayed red-eye flight. Going back home wasn't the vacation I needed. It only wore me out more.

July was a rollercoaster for me. I went on a short but wonderful vacation with my partner only to return home and find that my friend had passed away and my job hours were radically changing once again since the delay in work assignments experienced in May and June. I worked constantly to give good feedback to my summer school students, complete as much as I could of a last-minute grant for a budding for-profit, and add pages to the website of the place I was interning for. It never felt like enough despite the dismal wages I was earning.

As I drove home from Minneapolis, the emotional, physical, and monetary stress weighed on me. I'm not sure if the FOMO of multiple friends getting engaged over the weekend is what broke me or if it was just exhaustion that a long day's sleep couldn't fix. I felt broken. I feel broken. And I can't help but feel as if the biggest part of what is breaking me is graduate assistantships.

Notice how I said my assistantship instead of just graduate school in general. I love graduate school. If I didn't I wouldn't be here, especially for as long as I have been. I love researching, discussing theory, writing, presenting at conferences, and editing in hopes of getting published. I loved using my special skill as statistics to help me understand quantitative data. I loved learning about different research methods, usability, dis/ability studies, anthropology, pedagogy, and medical rhetoric. I loved collecting data for the studies I did on first-year writing students. I love it all.

As I approach my fourth year in a PhD program (my seventh year in grad school overall), I've come to realize what I dislike about it. It's the assistantship. Don't get me wrong. I've loved serving as a teaching assistant the last 7 years. I love teaching college. I have greatly appreciated being allowed to teach 300 and 400-level courses that many students don't get the chance to teach. I love helping my students grow and seeing them move forward in academia as they achieve their goals. My problem is the perks, or the lack thereof.

When trying to waste time relaxing in Minneapolis, I came across a social media post that posed the question What are some non-salary perks that your job offers? The pictures afterwards provided examples such as vacation time, discounts, and the like. I sat there and wondered if I was being ungrateful; I could come up with a grand total of ZERO perks of being a graduate assistant. In hopes that I was wrong, I posed the question to my followers, friends, and family. Despite their attempts to make my job sound more positive than it is, there were still no truthful answers (at least not for my position in my college in my university). I thought I'd spend some time in this blog post discussing these issues.

S.J.'s first day teaching college as a graduate assistant in 2018

Snacks

While this answer from a fellow graduate student seems a bit trivial, they clarified what they meant by snacks: meal credit reimbursement for dietary restrictions. As a fellow foodie with some picky eating habits and unfortunate dietary needs, I see the importance of this. I smile a bit every time I think about my first week in my PhD program when I received an email from the department secretary with the headline "Apples in the breakroom!" (yes, there was at least one exclamation point if I recall correctly).

However, this perk isn't truly for graduate assistants in my department. A lot of emails go through the graduate student Listserv, making options for feed food via announcements a student-based perk. It also took a couple years (and maybe some loud complaints) for people in my department to offer gluten-free food I and other gluten-free graduate assistants could eat at required trainings and department meetings. I unfondly remember a day when I showed up for the coffee hour to find an empty room with glutenous bread and coffee, then quickly walked away as if I had passed by the room on accident. My department has come a long way in providing more appropriate snacks now though. Lastly, credit for meals at events like conferences was available to any student who got department funding to attend, not just graduate assistants.

So we get some snacks during required meetings. It's a perk. To be honest, I rather just be paid more so I can provide breakfast to myself. I also rather have HR figure out who keeps stealing our meals and snacks from the floor's shared break room fridge and freezer. I hope next time they steal my Klondike bars (yes; not one, not two, but FOUR #WhatWouldYouDoForAKlondikeBar #ThatIsntYours) they find out they have a dairy allergy and learn their thieving lesson the hard way. #YouAreWhatYouEat #APieceofShit

Mental Health Services

This was also a response from another graduate student from a different university. Honestly, that sounds great, but it has nothing to do with therapy and psychiatry appointments I make. At my university all students are eligible for free solo and group therapy. As a poor grad student who can't afford otherwise, I see a therapist on campus and have attended three different therapy groups for art therapy, graduate student support, and people with chronic illnesses. As for my psychiatry appointments that I need to stay on my medications, I have to deal with that according to my health insurance, which currently does not cover all of my needs as a chronically ill, mentally ill person.

I was never given an option for health insurance as a graduate assistant at my current university. In short, my employer does not provide me with mental health or even physical health services. Even when I've gone to the campus clinic for a student emergency, I was still charged a fee as it wasn't in my insurance's network (so what am I paying the school's mandatory health fee for, then?).

As I made just barely too much to qualify for medicaid recently, the only insurance that covered all my medications has a premium of ~$160/month. Even with the premium, I have to pay for my psychiatry appointments (~$200) and my medications (at least $70 even with insurance or use of GoodRX coupons). Most recently, I cancelled my annual GI appointment (they recommend this when you have IBS and random Colitis spells) because I can't afford it. #FunTimes If anything, that might suggest that my employment is causing me to pay more for treatment as my pay either qualifies or disqualifies me for medicaid.

Transit Benefits

This answer didn't have an explanation attached to it. In my town, buses are provided during the school year and are free for any student. Once again, my work doesn't give me an advantage here. I'm not even allowed to have a staff parking permit; I have to get a student one even though most semesters I need the parking pass because I teach in person on campus. Parking is often free in certain lots during evening graduate classes. How ironic and how evil! There's ~$200 down the drain each year. And that isn't reimbursed for graduate assistants either.

Resume Boosts

While this answer is technicallllllllllly true, I don't count it as a true answer to the question in regards of non-salary perks. Why? Because you are able to add whatever experience you want to your resume, and if the graduate assistantship shows you have skills needed at a place of employment, you should be allowed to freely include that information in the resume or CV. You should be allowed to do that for any position. It's not a perk. It's (if used correctly) a fact; I did this at this place for this many years.

The second reason why I think a resume boost isn't really a perk is because it isn't the graduate assistantship alone that gets you interviews and job offers; it's the degree you earned during the time of your graduate assistantship. Yeah, it looks cool that I teach a 400-level course. Yeah, my administration position will look great when I apply for similar positions. At the end of the day, the degree is more valuable. This is a lesson I learned while serving as the student on a post-doc hiring committee. I saw how much the post-doc was being offered to teach a class list that I felt I'd be able to successfully teach or had successfully taught before. The post-doc would make almost $40,000 more than me. Why? Because he finished his PhD while I was only in my third year. My 5 years of teaching experience and the experience I gained teaching in this specific program at the time had nothing to do with it. My advisor reminded me that I'd be making that much once I graduate. It didn't heal the wound.

Letters of Rec

This was a well-meaning answer from someone not in grad school. If I sound petty when describing my reasoning for this answer's failure to address non-salary perks, it's because I've learned it the hard way. Doing a great job at your assistantship doesn't guarantee a letter of rec let alone a good letter of rec. My first boss that oversaw my teaching as an assistant in my master's program did indeed write me a letter of rec when I told him I was applying for summer jobs and would greatly appreciate it as he had been the only observer I had in my classes during the time. When I read it, I cried. He had ended it by calling me spicy, a Latina stereotype. He had the gall to ask if that was culturally insensitive and I, being the desperate student I was, said "no." It's a grudge I've been more open about since he retired.

My other boss also observed my class twice. I never got a letter of rec out of that relationship. I didn't think observing me twice was enough to feel as if she truly knew me as an instructor. I haven't been observed teaching as an assistant by a superior since 2021. Now, it feels outdated and again incomplete. I asked someone I worked with for two years for a letter of rec. She had seen me help new graduate students and plan events behind the scenes, all valuable skills. She didn't even answer my email request for the letter.

All pettiness aside, like the resume, you usually expect that if you asked for a letter of rec and you did a good job that you'd get one. This isn't a perk just for graduate assistants. It works for many jobs. It just didn't work for mine.

What remains?

So my job does provide us with some snacks during meetings. It doesn't provide health benefits or insurance. It doesn't have transit benefits. It is only as useful as the degree that comes with it for resumes and CVs. It doesn't guarantee any letters of rec. Does anything remain? Have I forgotten something?

Does the school offer students...

• parking pass options: Yes

• public transit options: Yes

• mental health options: Yes

• housing options: Yes

• meal plan options: Yes

• events with free food: Yes

• events with free stuff: Yes

• campus health resources: Yes

• student discounts at select locations: Yes

• a mandatory gym fee: Yes

And I pay all my mandatory student fees to get access to these benefits.

Do they guarantee summer work? No, though I've been one of the few lucky enough to have it as an option the last couple of years.

Do they provide paid time off? No.

Do they offer work from home options? No, but if you're lucky and have a good enough reason you'll be considered.

Do they offer competitive pay? No.

Do they offer employee discounts? Not that I've seen. I'm also sure the student discount would cover any place the staff also get discounts at.

Do they offer permanent positions for students after finishing their assistantships? No.

Do they take advantage of graduate assistants accepting a lack of perks and livable wage in order for them to do "what they love?" ABSOLUTELY.

Overall, that love for teaching and research is used against graduate assistants in order to keep the status quo in the university. The admin and presidents make absolute bank while graduate assistants often teach the first classes that students take at the university, which affect whether a student will continue to attend the university or leave for a different place or career path (I once won $5 in coffee gift card after a student nominated me as a innovative instructor #CheapPerk). I'm not even including the fees international graduate students and assistants accumulate during their time here, but just know that it isn't a perk for them either.

Despite our challenges, we still rise. I'm tired of fighting with every last ounce of my strength to rise above my circumstances as a first-generation, low socio-economic status neurodivergent graduate student in a red state far from my home. It's no wonder to me that it is so hard for certain classes of people to become doctors and tenured professors in the first place. Without those resources, every day is a fight both mentally and physically of your will to succeed. If you drop out, you weren't really dedicated to the profession, you weren't meant to be a professor, or you didn't financially plan enough. If you succeed, you often hope to become part of the system that makes bank while you see others suffer the circumstances you did or worse in the name of equality rather than equity and longing to make the profession better. I've only recognized too late that the system is set up against us. And I've never seen a greater reason to unionize, especially for a future doing what I love.

#IDisappointMyDad #IDMD #post20 #08012024 #PerksofBeingaGradAssistant #GTA #GA #graduateassistant #petty