Graduate Assistantships for International Students at NAU 2026

A graduate assistantship at Northern Arizona University is one of the more substantial funding routes available to Indian students applying for a master's in the US, since it combines a full tuition waiver with a working stipend rather than offering a one time award. NAU runs these positions through individual academic departments rather than as a single centralized scholarship, so once you have an offer, the next step is finding out which assistantship openings your specific program has, not filling out one common application form.

For Indian applicants weighing the cost of a US master's against a loan, this is worth researching early, ideally before you accept an offer, since departments differ in how many assistantship positions they have and how competitive they are. Subraxo recommends reaching out to your prospective department's graduate coordinator directly once you're admitted, rather than assuming a waiver is guaranteed simply because you're an international student.

To be considered for a graduate assistantship at NAU, you'll need to:

• Be admitted as an international student into a graduate degree program at NAU
• Hold an unconditional offer letter. Students admitted conditionally because their GPA fell below 3.0 are not eligible for a graduate assistantship
• Maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher

Beyond meeting these baseline conditions, actually securing a position depends on your department having assistantship openings available and selecting you for one. Not every academic unit at NAU offers a tuition waiver through this route, so it's worth confirming directly with your program before counting on it as part of your funding plan.

Partial Funding , 100% tuition waiver, USD 15,000 stipend

Assistantships come in two forms, and the value depends on how many hours a week you commit to working for the university:

Full-time assistantships (20 hours a week) come with a 100 percent tuition waiver, a refund of the health insurance premium, and a stipend, which recent cycles have set around USD 15,000 for master's students. Part-time assistantships (10 hours a week) come with a 50 percent tuition waiver, excluding university and program fees, plus a stipend at a lower rate. Since stipend amounts are set by the individual office or department rather than the university as a whole, treat the figures above as a useful benchmark rather than a fixed promise, and confirm the exact number with your program once you're exploring assistantship openings. You'll find more USA funding options like this one on Subraxo as you build out your application shortlist.