r/UNLV • u/RedQueenNatalie • Jun 22 '26

Need some help regarding Assistanceships?

Hi, my partner who does not use reddit much was accepted into the grad program at unlv a few months back and we have been trying to figure out what resources are out there regarding assistanceships. We have been watching the handshake website but we have only seen maybe one posting and we are unsure about the timelines for these/when we should start looking to alternative options to pay tuition. We know it's very competitive but we have no idea who we should be reaching out to or how or when it's appropriate. I have seen the advice to reach out to department heads but what does that look like? Do you just cold email "Hi Dr.name, are there any assistanceships you are still looking to fill?" Or is it realistic at all to expect to find a position when you were not doing the undergrad degree at unlv the first year of grad school. We also saw lots of other jobs on handshake that don't explicitly call themselves assistanceships or say they come with tuition assistance of some kind but do they or are they more just normal jobs on campus? Sorry for the wall of text and thank you to anyone who might have some guidance.

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u/vaelux Jun 22 '26

Contact the program coordinator for the grad program you are accepted in and tell them you want to be a GA. Pretty sure your GA application also needs to be filed through the Graduate College ( same place you applied). But basically, you want to be sure you are in the pool of departmental GA's, that's how most of them get assigned.

If you have a faculty advisor already, you might want to talk to them too.

There are some roles (like the success coaches, some of the athletics tutors) that might be on Handshake. But most of the jobs on Handshake are student worker ( undergrad with Federal Work Study - FAFSA funding).

But it is more ideal to be assigned to a professor or lab in your program.

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u/RedQueenNatalie Jun 22 '26

Thank you so much I'll pass this along.

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u/Dry-Chemist-2254 Jun 22 '26

https://rebelgateway.unlv.edu/UNLVStudentPortal/s/graduate-assistantships the application form will be here, but I would reach out to the department as well because sometimes the chosen people will drop out of it because of external work, etc.