Readers

Background

New in 2024-2025, the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences adjusted our TA and Reader assignments for each class to best align with the tasks involved in each job. TAs instruct a discussion, lab, or field session; hold office hours; grade assignments; provide course support; and more as listed in the position description. Readers may do any of the same tasks except for instruction and office hours.

TAs and Readers are both supported by Earth and Planetary Sciences Graduate Program Fellowships to ensure each student’s funding guarantee is met. Therefore, students will be assigned a combination of TA or Reader positions without needing to worry about the difference in pay between those titles.

Position Descriptions

Students are responsible for the duties listed in the position descriptions, which also list the estimated amount of time for each duty.

Readers will often be assigned to multiple classes in order to add up to their percentage appointment, and responsible for the duties in all those classes’ position descriptions.

Fee remission

Service periods are about 11 weeks long: 10 weeks of class plus finals week and any grading that happens after finals.

Readers get fee remission as long as:

  • The appointment is entered for the full quarter (for example, 10/1 or earlier through 12/31) – which it will be; and
  • They report at least 110 hours on their timesheets for the quarter.

Timesheets

TAs are paid a monthly stipend and don’t need to report their pay on timesheets in order to receive their paycheck. Readers are paid hourly (on a biweekly or monthly timesheet) and must report working hours on a timesheet in order to receive their reader pay.

Readers will be offered a percent appointment, such as 25% (10 hours per week), 37.5% (15 hours per week), or 50% (20 hours per week). These percentages are minimums, meaning that they will be paid for at least that many hours per week.

Note: biweekly timesheets cover two weeks, so another way to check it is 20 hours on average per timesheet for a 25% position or 40 hours on average per timesheet for a 50% position.

  • What if I can’t reach 10 hours per week minimum?

  • This is an average, but your reported hours need to add up to 110 for a 25% appointment at a minimum. So you might report 12 hours one week and 8 another, and that’s fine.

    If your work is not on track to reach that minimum amount total (110), policy states you must be paid in lieu of that work. In practice, this means that you will need to report hours on your timesheet to get yourself to 10 average for 11 weeks, even if you didn’t quite work that many hours.

  • What if I need to go over my 10 or 15 hours per week minimum?
  • Please communicate with your course instructor before this happens. It might be possible to go a little over, it might just reduce the time you spend a different week, or we might need to adjust the duties in your position descriptions.
  • What if I’m getting close to the 20 hours per week maximum?
  • You cannot go over 20 hours per week (220 hours per quarter). Please communicate with your supervisor(s) to wrap up your work within 20 hours per week maximum.

FAQ

  • What are student readers responsible for?
  • Your job for the quarter is outlined in the position description. If you are assigned multiple classes, you’re responsible for managing the workload between them and keeping in good communication with the course instructors. You are also responsible for submitting your timesheet, and making sure you report enough hours for your appointment percentage. You will not be paid in payroll if you do not submit your timesheet.
  • What are course instructors responsible for?
  • Supervising your readers, working with the other course instructors that student might be a reader for to ensure the work is reasonably distributed, and approving timesheets on time – checking the student has submitted the minimum hours needed to meet their appointment.

Updated July 2025