Financial Aid
Graduate Teaching Assistantships
The Department of Information and Operations Management (INFO) offers a limited number of graduate assistantships each semester. The criteria for selection are based on the department’s need and the student’s qualifications. To hold an assistantship, graduate students must be in good academic standing and maintain full-time student status (9 semester credit hours during the fall or spring semester, 6 semester credit hours in the summer term).
The department automatically considers all prospective students who receive an admission offer to the MS-MIS program for these positions. For prospective students, an applicant’s admissions application also serves as the application for graduate assistantships. Graduate assistant selections are made on a competitive basis and are announced via e-mail in early-to-mid March for incoming students. For continuing MS-MIS students, the Student Services Office solicits applications for graduate assistant positions as they become available each semester.
To serve in a Graduate Assistant – Teaching (GAT) position, the State of Texas requires that international students attain English Language Proficiency Certification. This can be achieved in one of the following ways:
- TOEFL iBT speaking score of 26-30
- TOEFL Essentials speaking score of ≥ 11
- IELTS speaking score of ≥ 8
- ELPE oral score of ≥ 80 (administered at TAMU; http://testing.tamu.edu/Exams/ELPE)
Official test scores (as listed above) are required to be on file by March 1 in order for a student to be considered for an assistantship. (IELTS scores take a minimum of two weeks, and often up to a month, after submission to be reflected in a student’s academic records.)
Graduate assistantships in the department currently include a monthly salary of $1,000 and require 20 hours of work per week. Non-resident students who serve as graduate assistants will receive a non-resident tuition waiver and will be assessed the resident tuition rate, which is significantly lower.
Scholarships
Competitive scholarships for incoming students are typically in the amount of $1,000 – $2,000 and are divided into two equal payments for the first two semesters of study. Non-resident students who are awarded a departmental scholarship also receive a non-resident tuition waiver for each semester of the award and will be assessed the resident tuition rate for those semesters. An applicant’s admissions application also serves as the application for scholarships. Selections are made on a competitive basis and are announced via e-mail in early-to-mid March for incoming students.
Continuing students are invited to apply for scholarships each spring semester for funding in the following fall and/or spring semesters. These continuing students scholarships are provided by corporations, as well as former students and friends of the Department of Information and Operations Management. The scholarship amounts and eligibility criteria differ from one award to the other. Students will be notified via e-mail when the application cycle opens. Awards are usually announced in early April.
Other forms of financial aid are available through Texas A&M’s Scholarships and Financial Aid Office.