Teaching Assistant (T.A.). Almost any grad student who wants a job as a TA will get one. And who wouldn’t want one? You are being paid over $30/hour for the nominal hours you are assigned, but we rarely seem to actually put in that many hours. The Graduate Coordinator allocates the positions. If this is your first year TAing, you will almost certainly not get to TA in the course you would have chosen for yourself. Some of us now in our 3rd or 4th year still don’t get to TA the courses we are most interested in. Also, the majority of the positions are for ECO100, ECO105 and the core second year courses, so you are most likely to get one of those. If you are at all interested in TAing economic history subjects, though, definitely let the Grad Coordinator know about it – these are definitely the hardest positions to find good TAs for.
The department is also responsible for TA jobs at the Erindale campus of the university, and you may end up having to go out there every week or two if you are assigned there. This is just the luck of the draw – most people in the PhD program are given an Erindale appointment at some point in their career, so do not feel too hard done by if you’re one of them. Bus fares are paid for, but damage to your back from the bus trip is not. Lucky we have a universal public health care system here.
If you think you are being asked to work more hours than you are being paid for, or if you have any other grievances, you should see the CUPE representative in the first instance. It is not a valid grievance to say that you are working more hours than someone else despite having the same nominal hours allocation. We know that this does happen, but it is pretty much impossible to completely standardize the work load. If you are feeling hard done by, remember that you are probably being paid for more hours than you are actually doing, and try to stop looking over the fence at the greener grass in other fields – bitterness is unbecoming.
Remember that to hold most scholarships or fellowships and be considered a student for income tax purposes you can work a maximum (officially) of ten hours per week. This means that a full TA position will mean about 140 hours of pay per term (since you are paid as if you worked the ten hours per week). The only problem with this is that (probably) most of your work –the grading anyway – will come at the same time you are busiest yourself , around exam periods. Talk to your supervising professor and work things out if you get into a bind. They are usually very accommodating.
Research Assistant (R.A.). Open market but no central clearing. To get a position, you could ask around until someone hires you but you are usually asked out-of-the-blue by a professor (so don't be surprised and have something intelligent to say, such as "Huh?"). If you don't make too much noise about it, the ten hours per week is not a binding constraint but do not let your studies be affected. Pay scales vary (i.e., are negotiable): generally the rate is about $15 per hour, or above, depending on the task, your level of experience, and how much grant money the professor has available. R.A.'s do a variety of tasks: programming, bibliographical searches, proof-reading, couch moving, and babysitting. Prof's hire R.A.'s because they can't, won't, or don't want to do the work themselves, but it can be a great way for students to learn the nitty gritty of research. Profs are usually looking for specific skills, e.g., a FORTRAN wizard, a talent for washing cars, or an A+ in grammar.
Scholarships/Bursaries/Financial Aid If you plan to be around next year you should apply for an Ontario Government Scholarship (OGS) and/or a SSHRC. So it's crucial that you do this. Unfortunately the deadline is in October or November of the year before. Therefore, what are you going to do in a few weeks, at the end of September? Yup. Apply. You should fill out the forms even if you're not sure if you are going to continue: it's not that painful and it will keep your options open. There are several bursaries offered by the economics department – check out their website on this – and by the university as a whole.
This Page is maintained by Julien Morissette
Last updated September 14, 2003.