Financial Aid & Assistantships

Pre-Professional Training Opportunities

Qualified students have a range of opportunities to learn and to develop new skills under the supervision of professionals in various fields requiring a high degree of facility with language, literature, critical analysis, and verbal expression. Within FGCU, English MA students work as teaching assistants or associates for composition courses; as research assistants who collaborate with faculty on research projects; as project managers for the English program; as editors for The Mangrove Review and Aquila; and as staff for the FGCU Sanibel Island Writers’ Conference.  For more information, please read below.

Graduate Assistants (GA) Compensation & Responsibilities

Graduate Assistantships, which include a stipend and a tuition-waiver, are available on a competitive basis—the student’s initial admission package determines placement. The English MA Program Coordinator, in consultation with English faculty and the Chair of the Department of Language and Literature, tenders the offers for Graduate Assistantships.

These assistantships require ten hours of work per week for a semester (fifteen weeks total), and they are usually allocated for positions as Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAssistants) who assist a faculty member with a composition course. However, depending upon university support, graduate assistantships might also be available for duties as a research assistant with a faculty member, project manager for the English program, editor with The Mangrove Review and Aquila, or staff assistant for the FGCU Writers’ Conference.

  • FAQs

  • Minimum Requirements

  • Responsibilities for Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAssistants)

  • Stipend and Tuition waiver for GTAssistantships

  • Contact

Graduate Teaching Associates (GTAssociates) Compensation & Responsibilities

A limited number of Graduate Teaching Associateships are available each year. Once appointed and credentialed, a GTAssociate teaches one or two composition courses per semester as instructor of record. These GTAssociateships include a stipend and a tuition waiver. To apply for a GTAssociateship, a student must have 18 total graduate credit hours in English with a 3.3 GPA or higher, pass ENC 6745 Composition Pedagogy with a grade of B+ or higher, and successfully complete a GTAssistantship. GTAssociates may take 3-9 credit hours of coursework per semester.

These GTAssociateships are awarded competitively, based on the student’s record of academic achievement at the graduate level and achievement in working as a GTAssistant. The English MA Program Coordinator, in consultation with English faculty, the Chair of the Department of Language and Literature and the Director of the Composition Program, tenders the offers for GTAssociateships.

In addition to standard student evaluations, GTAssociates will be evaluated through classroom observations by their faculty mentor, the Composition GTA Coordinator, the Director of Composition and/or the English MA Program Coordinator in each of their two semesters of teaching. Classroom Observation Reports will be submitted to the student teacher as well as the English MA Program Coordinator and the Director of Composition.

  • FAQs

  • Minimum Requirements

  • Responsibilities

  • Stipend and Tuition Waiver