A student in graduate school who receives reimbursement for working to support individual faculty research, departmental functions, or university offices. Typically, graduate assistants can work as instructors, researchers, and assistants to professors, among other tasks, often completing menial work such as facilitating course logistics, while also assisting in lecturing and grading class assignments. It is the belief that the on-the-job experience garnered by a graduate assistant will further her or his career in some fashion.