The Graduate School offers Academic Achievement Graduate Assistantships to help graduate programs recruit and then retain graduate students who have been accepted into a master’s or a doctoral degree program and whose enrollment will support our commitment to inclusive excellence and contribute to the academic strength of their program.
Because this is a recruitment assistantship, departments can decide to offer the AAGA recipient a teaching or research assistantship during his/her first Graduate School-funded year in the program. Note: for the 2026-2027 AAGA cycle, recipients do not have to be incoming students and can be current/returning MSU graduate students. Current/returning students are eligible whether they have previously received an AAGA or not. However, these students will be subject to the same funding expectations as other AAGA recipients. The Graduate School recognizes the different opportunities and responsibilities of assistantships across graduate programs.
TA appointments are bound by the GEU contract. Units are encouraged to offer AAGAs to admitted applicants whom they expect to receive offers of financial assistance from other universities or who have externally funded fellowships.
Note: In accordance with federal and state law, the selection process “shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, national origin, or any other protected characteristic.”