Maine Center for Research in STEM Education

All full-time students in the program are supported by assistantships which provide the following benefits:

• Tuition waiver (up to 9 credits per Fall/Spring semester, up to 6 credits per Summer semester)
• Stipend (see Graduate School for current benefits information)
• Payment for half the yearly cost of the University health insurance

Assistantships are either teaching assistantships, where MST students typically instruct or assist in instructing introductory courses or labs, or research assistantships, where MST students work with a professor to collect, analyze, and/or communicate data on a wide range of education research projects. 

Students are expected to spend 20 hours a week on their assistantship responsibilities. Throughout the course of the MST program, students can expect to hold a combination of teaching and research assistantships. Students are supported by assistantships through the summer, but if they wish can choose to only hold assistantships during the academic year (the stipend will be prorated accordingly).

Part-time students are expected to pay for tuition, which may be covered by a teacher’s local school district or education grant. Because full-time students receive teaching or research assistantships, some teachers might find it beneficial to take a year’s sabbatical and spend it on campus completing part of the requirements for the MST, while being supported by a graduate assistantship.