UNM Computer Science

Financial Aid

The Department of Computer Science has a limited number of teaching and research assistantship positions to offer. Since the department typically has more applicants than positions, not all applicants can be granted support each year. Most of these positions open up at the beginning of the fall semester and continue through the year, but occasionally some are available starting in the spring semester. The deadline for applying for financial aid is April 1. After this date requests for aid will be considered if additional money becomes available-some money usually becomes available after April 1; it is dependent on the funding cycle of outside agencies to which new research proposals have been submitted.

The department has a very small number of teaching assistantship (TA) positions. The best-qualified incoming students as well as continuing students will be given TA positions. A TA is expected to be enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit hours, maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher, and is limited to working 20 hours per week during the academic semesters. Decisions and awards are made on approximately April 15 for the following academic year and depend on the department's needs and funding availability. We are usually not able to award TA positions to incoming students who start in the spring. There is no separate application form for TA positions. Students applying should express their interest in their cover letter or letter of intent.

The department also supports graduate students with research assistantships (RA), most commonly offered to continuing students. Students seeking an RA position should directly contact the faculty member sharing their area of interest. These positions carry the same academic requirements and work hour limitations as TAs and depend on the faculty's needs and funding availability.

The department also pays full tuition costs for all TAs and RAs.

There are numerous opportunities for other jobs around the university and around Albuquerque, and our graduate students have little trouble obtaining part-time programming jobs. The faculty often know of a few openings and will help a student in starting a job search.