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The differences between teaching assistants and graduate assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a teaching assistant has an average salary of $36,519, which is higher than the $31,704 average annual salary of a graduate assistant.
The top three skills for a teaching assistant include lab experiments, laboratory experiments and TA. The most important skills for a graduate assistant are computer lab, undergraduate courses, and research projects.
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $36,519 | $31,704 |
| Hourly rate | $17.56 | $15.24 |
| Growth rate | - | 20% |
| Number of jobs | 59,465 | 3,026 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Teaching assistants are employees who aid teachers in activities needed to deliver lessons. They are usually junior employees or even students who are doing part-time work. Teaching assistants usually set up classrooms, prepare handouts, and give out these handouts in the classroom. They may also be tapped to help prepare presentation materials, source items for classroom demonstration purposes, and assist in the conduct of the lesson. Teaching assistants also help collect schoolwork from students and may also assist teachers in checking schoolwork.
Graduate assistants are graduate or postgraduate students in a university who work part-time for a researcher, professor, or department in the university. They do a variety of tasks that would help expose them more to the field they are doing their studies in. Graduate assistants help researchers by conducting interviews, testing research tools, encoding and analyzing data, creating presentation materials, and managing the research schedule. They help professors in preparing for lessons, creating and updating presentation materials, and even trying their hand in teaching the professor's students. They help university departments in administrative, clerical, research, and any other task that may be needed.
Teaching assistants and graduate assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Assistant | |
| Average salary | $36,519 | $31,704 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $59,000 | Between $11,000 And $85,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Pace University | Sotheby's Institute of Art |
| Best paying industry | Education | Education |
There are a few differences between a teaching assistant and a graduate assistant in terms of educational background:
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | - | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between teaching assistants' and graduate assistants' demographics:
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Assistant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 42.4% Female, 57.6% | Male, 42.9% Female, 57.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.5% Asian, 11.6% White, 54.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 11.0% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |