The OE Student Handbook 3. Assistance is offered only to full-time regular graduate students, and is based on merit, need, and performance. Assistance may be withdrawn after fair notice should performance fall below expectation, or should the student's academic program extend beyond normal limits. Assistance, whether new or continuing, is also subject to the availability of financial resources in the particular areas of interest to the student. The granting of assistance, and its withdrawal when necessary, can only be made formally by the Department Head.
All students are encouraged, however, to make their interests and needs known to the faculty.
The substance of a student's effort will be closely related to one or a few faculty members, and will also be reviewed by the faculty as a whole. While the faculty are central to a student desiring or holding some form of assistance, the student is cautioned that formal action must emanate from the Department Head. Research and teaching assistantships are Graduate Student Staff appointments in the Department and are usually related directly to a specific research or teaching area. Specific information on each form of assistantship is discussed in the following paragraphs. The Department of Ocean Engineering normally appoints an RA or TA for one term at a time, although in some cases, appointments do extend to additional terms.