Financial Aid ( & Other Opportunities Whilst at RISD MID )
Assistantships
Departmental Assistantships :
The MID Program offers Graduate Assistantships in accordance with the Graduate Commons mission statement for Graduate Departmental Assistantships.
“Graduate departmental assistantships are significant academic and professional work experiences, contribute to the student's graduate education, and are available to all RISD graduate students. Departments assign specific positions in the categories of TEACHING, TECHNICAL, and PROGRAM. Graduate students and Supervisors are accountable for the terms of the assistantship.”
These are different from other Assistantships (such as Graduate Research Assistantships) as they are directed by the student to have relevance to their own interests. Faculty are involved only in a coaching and review capacity.
The Graduate Assistantships are focused into THREE groups :
1. Teaching Assistantships
Reports to the Graduate Director
Graduate Teaching Assistantships are a great way of learning how to communicate complex ideas. A vital skill for any designer. Students are expected to start learning how to do this by leading and delivering sessions within existing Faculty directed courses.
Following that experience, students have the opportunity to propose courses that explore their specific interests whilst challenging the existing ID Department’s curriculum. These courses can start as co-taught weekend workshops and then progress to co-taught, 3 Credit Wintersession courses.
Application Process:
The application deadline for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship is the second week of the Fall Semester and requires you to identify and request a specific Graduate Teaching Assistantship position or propose a Weekend or Wintersession course.
Rate of Pay:
The Graduate Teaching Assistantship roles pay Second Year students $25 an hour and First Year students $20 an hour.
Supporting a Faculty member deliver their course is a workload total of 65 hours and is EQUIVALENT to 5 hours a week over a total of 13 sessions per academic semester or session. This includes preparation and contact time and applies to both 3 and 6 Credit courses.
Proposing and delivering a Weekend Workshop is a co-teaching workload total of 22 hours per student and is EQUIVALENT to 12 hours of preparation and 10 hours of teaching contact time each.
Proposing and delivering a Wintersession Course is a co-teaching workload total of 65 hours per student distributed throughout the 13, 5 hour sessions of the 5 week Wintersession period. This is EQUIVALENT to 32.5 hours of preparation and 32.5 hours of teaching contact time each.
The total hours and rates for these Assistantships are deliberately respectful to our valued community of Adjunct Faculty.
2. Departmental Chair Assistantships
Reports to the Department Chair
One Second Year and one First Year student will investigate and experiment to develop and support the department’s community and website. This role includes inviting guests into the department to give lectures or run workshops. They also connect with Alumni and coordinate external Departmental events and workshops. Importantly Departmental Chair Assistants also have the opportunity to propose activities and methods that explore their specific interests.
3. Admissions Assistantships
Reports to the Graduate Director
One Second Year and one First Year student engage prospective students, coordinate the MID selection procedure and welcome new students. This role includes monitoring well-being and coordinating parts of the department’s website. Again Admissions Assistants have the opportunity to propose activities and methods that explore their specific interests.
Application Process:
The Departmental and Admissions Assistantships are appointed by the Department Chair and the Graduate Program Director respectively.
Rate of Pay:
The Departmental and Admissions Assistantship roles pay Second Year students $25 an hour and First Year students $20 an hour and expects them to handle a workload total of 222 hours. This is EQUIVALENT to 6 hours a week over a total of 37 weeks per academic year.
External Roles and Funding:
There are many roles outside of the department that Graduate Students can apply for and the rates of pay greatly vary.
Fellowships
During the admissions process the Graduate Program Director gives each applicant an admissions ranking. This is done with guidance from the Graduate Admissions Assistants and a panel of ID Faculty and current MID students who all view the applicant folios and accompanying documentation.
Each successful applicant who is offered a place on the MID program is also offered a financial Departmental Fellowship Award. The amount of this varies according to the applicant’s particular admissions ranking. These rankings and the accompanying Departmental Fellowship Award are confidential and are only known to the Graduate Program Director.
When a successful applicant is considering the amount of the Fellowship offer it is important for them to consider the other sources of income available to students when they are in the program. These are outlined in the Assistantships (and Other Opportunities Whilst at RISD MID) section.
The amounts of the Fellowship offers are calculated to fit within the Departments total fixed budget whilst remaining competitive with other institutions (considering their status and rankings).
Due to the admissions process' collaborative ranking it is not possible to reevaluate Fellowship offers after they have been made.
Financial Aid ( via RISD )
RISD’s Financial Aid Office also reviews each successful applicant who is offered a place on the MID program. If the successful applicant is considered to be in need of further support they will also be offered an additional Financial Aid Fellowship Award.