Patterns of support vary by department and year of study within departments. The two principal sources of graduate financial support at Princeton are University-sponsored fellowships and service awards. These maintenance allowances are considered taxable income. Service awards in the form of assistantships in instruction are available in most departments. Service awards in the form of assistantships in research are more common in the natural sciences and engineering departments.
Appointments are frequently for fewer than six semester hours, and compensation is prorated.
This compensation is taxable. An assistantship in instruction always replaces in full or in part a previously awarded University fellowship maintenance allowance. Assistantships in instruction are normally not awarded to first-year students, although some departments make exceptions to this. Graduate students may assist in the teaching of graduate courses, but they may not be the instructor of record in the course or have final responsibility for grading other graduate students. The AI Handbook, which contains valuable information on undergraduate teaching at Princeton, is available in 201 Nassau Hall.