Frequently Asked Questions

What to do if you transition from a GA or TA ship to an hourly employee

1. Consider the cost of tuition
   • When switching from a TA or GA to an hourly employee, if you were receiving tuition remission, this is no longer applicable. The school will be expecting you to pay for any classes that you are taking.
   • If you need to take additional classes or research credits in order to graduate, you must talk about this with your advisor or otherwise be prepared to pay for the cost of tuition.
   • Consider registering for a single zero credit class (e.g. BME Seminar 16:125:605), so that you are still a registered student at Rutgers, but do not have to bear the cost of unnecessary credits.
   • Discuss hourly wages with your advisor and make sure that you are being paid fairly. In most cases, your salary should match the TA/GA salary.
2. Get healthcare
   • As a TA or GA your advisor was paying the school a substantial overhead for your position and this included healthcare benefits through Rutgers UHR.
   • Discuss health insurance with your advisor. Many advisors offer compensation for health insurance either either in full or partial amount.
   • You will need to find healthcare for yourself considering all of the numerous factors which may influence which of the many healthcare plans you will choose.
   • Consider starting here https://www.nj.gov/getcoverednj/getstarted/new/
3. Figure out parking
   • There is no easy solution for this. Previous students have done the following: obtained TA/GA parking permit from a TA or a GA without a car, purchased the student parking pass, purchased daily parking passes, parked off campus, or car pooled.
   • We understand that these options are not practical and can be very expensive, but this is not a departmental issue but rather a campus wide issue that hopefully will be sorted out soon.
   • MEGA will try to match students who need parking permits with students who don't have cars on campus. Please reach out to us.