Funding and Assistantships

Assistantships

PPPA offers a limited number teaching assistantships to doctoral students. The Graduate Studies Committee and Director of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the Director of the School, make decisions about who is offered an assistantship position. This is typically done alongside the admissions decision process.

Teaching assistantships are typically yearly, renewable appointments which pay a monthly salary for the academic year and normally have tuition waivers. Many of specifics of these positions are governed by a collective bargaining agreement (see: WSU/UAW 2024-2026 Contract).

Assistantships are awarded competitively based on merit. Appointments are made on a yearly basis usually until the student’s fourth year of study. Students on admitted with an assistantship who have successfully defended their prospectus by the end of March in their fourth year may receive a fifth year of funding. In rare instances, such as when a student receives external funding for a portion of their time in the program, students may be funded beyond their fifth year; these instances will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Director, and the terms of this additional funding period will be communicated to the student in writing. Students are expected to work 20 hours per week and to be available at the Pullman campus. Assistantships generally are not available to students in the terminal MA programs.

Graduate students may also seek funding opportunities outside of PPPA. A good resource for finding assistantship positions outside of the School. See Funding Opportunities at the WSU Graduate School.

Professional Development Funding

The School has a limited amount of funding available to assist students who are attending conferences, collecting data, or engaging in other professional development activities. The amount of funding available may vary from year to year Funding of professional development activities is at the discretion of the Director.

To request to use your professional development funds, students must email the following to both the Director of the School and the Director of Graduate Studies:

• A description of the activity and a brief justification
• An itemized budget
• A letter of support from the student’s advisor