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The differences between teaching assistants and graduate student assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a graduate student assistant has an average salary of $37,164, which is higher than the $36,519 average annual salary of a teaching assistant.
The top three skills for a teaching assistant include lab experiments, laboratory experiments and TA. The most important skills for a graduate student assistant are cell culture, R, and chemistry.
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Student Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $36,519 | $37,164 |
| Hourly rate | $17.56 | $17.87 |
| Growth rate | - | 19% |
| Number of jobs | 59,465 | 20,764 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| 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 student assistants are graduate students who are employed as support personnel in universities. They assist professors as teaching assistants, research assistants, or aides, depending on their assigned instructions. Their duties include assisting professors in administrative tasks, organizing undergraduate events, and conducting research as well as analyzing data. During the assistantship period, instead of wages, they are given a stipend as compensation to the service provided. This graduate assistantship gives graduate students relevant experience and more employment options in the future.
Teaching assistants and graduate student assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Student Assistant | |
| Average salary | $36,519 | $37,164 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $59,000 | Between $21,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | Berkeley, CA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | California |
| Best paying company | Pace University | Los Alamos National Security LLC |
| Best paying industry | Education | Education |
There are a few differences between a teaching assistant and a graduate student assistant in terms of educational background:
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Student Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Biology |
| Most common college | - | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between teaching assistants' and graduate student assistants' demographics:
| Teaching Assistant | Graduate Student Assistant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 42.4% Female, 57.6% | Male, 49.9% Female, 50.1% |
| 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, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.7% Asian, 11.9% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |