TAs and most PAs in line for pay boost
Megan Pease (left), a teaching assistant in the Department of Zoology, advises undergraduates taking an introductory biology class in 2009.
Teaching assistants and most project and program assistants at UW–Madison will receive a 4.67 percent pay increase, bringing their compensation to a level comparable to the amount received by research assistants.
Provost Paul DeLuca says the pay boost will make the university more competitive in attracting the best TA/PA candidates.
“UW–Madison competes with other major universities for the best graduate students,” DeLuca says. “Graduate students contribute significantly to our research and teaching mission, and are vital to our ability to hire and retain the best faculty.”
Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Darrell Bazzell says given the importance of attracting top graduate students, internal general purpose revenue resources will be reallocated to address the problem, along with federal research funding.
“Graduate students contribute significantly to our research and teaching mission, and are vital to our ability to hire and retain the best faculty.”
Paul DeLuca
“We realize this is a fairness issue and have been in discussions with graduate assistants about this situation for about a year,” Bazzell says.
TAs and PAs have not received a raise since June 2009, and their compensation at UW–Madison has been well below market levels. The average for UW–Madison TAs was last among Big Ten schools for 2012-13, and nearly 14 percent below the Big Ten median. Among major research universities nationwide, UW–Madison pay for TAs was 10 percent below the median.
The increase still leaves UW–Madison about 9 percent below the Big Ten median.
Graduate assistants also receive a benefits package at UW–Madison that includes tuition remission.
The new rates are effective Aug. 26 for those on nine-month appointments, and July 1 for those on 12-month appointments.
