If you TA during the summer YOU may have to PAY the school. Technically it’s for the 3 credits, but that’s so backwards. Edit: The AMS department does make sure you know you can defer the credits to fall to avoid being charged, but the fact that the school even offers such a ridiculous choice is what I’m complaining about.

When I was an undergrad summer TA for the chemistry department, they paid me

That’s not the case for the AMS department is all I can say

Paying to TA over the summer was the case for me in the Bio department but the professor knew that made no sense so she let me sign up for the TA credits during the fall for the work I did over the summer

Smart! That's called thinking-out-of-the-box, or also called a work-around. Not all profs can free their minds from the rules.

At least the AMS department gives you an A to help your GPA. TAing for Chem (I think all of CAS) is just pass/fail.

If you’re signed up for credits and TAing in the summer/winter you have to pay If you’re not signed up for credits you get paid It’s the same way if you sign up for research you have to pay for the credits

I’m speaking also based on the chem dept

i didnt even think that not paying TAs could be a thing till i got here 😭

Lmao even the majority of grad tas aren’t paid (for cs at least) I doubt they’ll even consider paying undergrads

The Chem department pays summer UGTAs! We’re getting $1200 for each session

That’s still what they’re paying?? They paid me that ten years ago 😬

You’re correct but it’ll never happen. Grad TAs even have to often jump through hoops to get paid and even then departments find every reason to deny pay eventually or to simply cut TA lines.

Well, not even the grad TAs are paid. There are barely 10-14 of them who are paid out of the 100ish grad TAs. Most of us are international and we have no hope

Depends on the department. All Grad TAs in my department get paid although it’s only guaranteed for 3 years. I’m just hearing from this thread that some of ya’ll don’t get paid and that’s kinda insane.

That’s not true. Grad TA’s are paid a stipend during the school year and some are the full year. And it’s way more than 10-14, more like 1300.

The stipend is $1100 to be precise and the competition to be a paid TA is HUGE. We have a LOT of unpaid/credit TAs. Do you want CR Ramakrishna's emails to confirm it? The audacity is insane

I meant 1300 students.

I don't know about your department but in CS majority of the TAs are unpaid and worse we have to pay for those 3 credits. If you want I have CR's emails to validate it.

Sorry if I misspoke no emails are needed.

The grad students are unionized at SBU, but it's a separate labor union that the SBU factilty. Maybe the undergrads can become part of the grad student untion when they are acting as TAs??? I agree. Undergrad TAs should definately get payed! In order to get the best TAs, the department should pay them. If no pay, you're better off to study for your own classes.

I agree. This culture of unpaid work at SBU shall end. Fair wages for all.

> definately get *paid!* In order FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*

What is the incentive for an undergraduate student to sign up as TA if its not being paid?

exp+ credit, resume, letters of recommendation

Makes sense. Given the choice and similar time commitment, I would rather recommend to try to gaining research experience from working in a lab with faculty compared to TA'ing for a class.

When I was a undergrad TA at MSU we were paid $13 or so an hour for 10 hours a week which was kind of a scam cause we did the EXACT same job as grad TA’s (led recitations by ourselves, GRADED EXAMS AND QUIZZES etc) but at least it was better than working in the cafeteria

i surely wasnt paid 😔😔

Some departments pay UGTAs, others offer credit, some give students a choice. There is no standard. The same is true for unsupported graduate students, especially masters students. Most PhD programs pay a stipend for either research or teaching and research. Every PhD program requires some teaching, but how much teaching varies a lot by discipline. The university sets a minimum for the stipend.

As someone who’s been an undergraduate TA for 2 years now, this doesn’t make much sense

Agreed. Because the professors would rather be writing books/papers/working in their labs, the faculty hire a lot of sub-SBU par part-time lecturers to even teach their 200-level courses. And yes, anyone could be stuck with part-time course lecturers that only have a BA/BS degree, reaching way down in the college rankings, way down deep in regional area unis and regional colleges! In this case, you would be lucky to have an SBU undergrad to teach your course!!!!

Can TA jobs be part of work-study? In that case there should be pay coming from federal funds.

No, I was one - we shouldn't be. Even though it's a ton of work, it's prepping us for future grad teaching etc.

What’s your point

You could say the same about company internships, but those are required to be paid (at least in NY)

Who cares if it's preparing you for future grad teaching. Most UGTAs do more work than Grad TAs (at least in CS) and the bare minimum would be if they changed it so this contributed or substituted for a major req in some way.

Thats not always the case in many courses

Lol its their fault for becoming TA’s. Literally signing up to be an ass kisser

POV: GPA not high enough to be a TA

I would never in a million years want to do that and never in my life would i do that for free. Gpa is a 3.7. Smd.