Graduate Assistantships

The Department of Sociology awards full-time and part-time graduate assistantships to its most qualified applicants. Full-time assistantships require 20 hours of work per week in the department, pay a monthly stipend for eight months, and include a full tuition and fee waiver (including out-of-state tuition, if applicable). Part-time assistantships require 10 hours of work per week, pay a monthly stipend for eight months, and include a waiver of half the student's tuition and fees. Students who receive full-time or part-time assistantships must enroll for nine credit hours per semester, maintain satisfactory work performance, and maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Students usually remain on assistantships for two years.

Although the deadline for applying for Fall admission to our program is July 1, students should apply by March 1 to receive full consideration for an assistantship. Students interested in applying for an assistantship should fill out the "Application for Graduate Admission/Assistantship in Sociology" form (Sociology Application for Graduate Admission (PDF)) and send it along with their personal statement and letters of recommendation to Joseph Lariscy, Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Sociology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, 38152.

Students who apply for a graduate assistantship should also apply for work-study support through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). When filling out the application, be sure to ask for work-study support. Students who want to apply for graduate assistantships are not required to apply for work-study support. However, students who apply and qualify for this support earn more as graduate assistants than students who do not apply.

To receive priority consideration for work-study support, you should apply by March 1 for the Fall semester and by October 1 for the Spring semester. The University of Memphis Financial Aid website will explain how to begin the process. You can access the electronic form you need to fill out at Federal Government FAFSA website.