L&S Standard Rates for Short-term Instructional Staff (STS) and Student Assistants

This documents lists minimum base rates for short-term instructional and student assistant appointments in the College of Letters & Science. This page was updated in May 2025.

Effective Dates

Please note that the effective date for rate changes depends on the pay basis of staff. The following effective dates apply to Short-Term Staff, Lecturer (Student Assistants), and Student assistants. 

Academic year rate changes (C-Basis) are effective in the fall semester (e.g., summer appointments in 2025 will follow the academic year 2024-25 rates).

Annual rate changes (A-Basis & H-Basis) are effective with the fiscal year.

Rate effective dates for 2025-2026:

  • Annual (A-Basis and H-Basis): 6/30/2025
  • Academic (C-Basis): 8/18/2025

Short-term Instructional Staff (STS)

The standard rates for short-term staff in L&S are below. The term 'short-term staff' or 'STS' refers to instructors with fixed-term terminal continuity. These instructors are evaluated for the appropriate rate by L&S Human Resources with each offer.

There is a pay range for academic staff instructional titles, and a minimum rate for Lecturer(SA) title, which is used for current graduate students acting as a Lecturer.

Academic Staff Rates

Academic Staff Rates
Title Employee Category 2025-26 C-Basis Rate

Lecturer
Teaching Faculty
Visiting Faculty
Teaching Specialist
Professor Emeritus
Adjunct Instructor

 Academic Staff Minimum Maximum
$50,000 $70,000

Departments have flexibility to set individual STS salaries within this range as needed, these titles. L&S Admin approval is required to compensate these STS employees outside this pre-approved range; please contact L&S HR to initiate the request process.

Lecturer(SA) Rates

Lecturer(SA) Rates
Title Employee Category 2025-26 C-Basis Rate
Lecturer(SA) or LSA Student Assistant $63,950

 

Student Assistants

The following are College-specific rates. For campus minima refer to the Grad School's website.

For Lecturer(SA) or 'LSA', see section above.

Teaching Assistant

TA Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2025-26 C-Basis Rate
Teaching Assistant (graduate student) $58,314
Undergraduate Assistant - TA $41,865

Grader / Reader

Grader/Reader Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2025-26 H-Basis Rate
Project Assistant - Grader/Reader $28.41
Undergraduate Assistant - Grader/Reader $28.41

Project Assistant

PA Rates
Pay-Basis Type 2025-26 Rate
C-Basis (exempt/salaried) $58,314
C-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $37.38
A-Basis (exempt/salaried) $71,272
A-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $34.27
H-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $34.27

Research Assistant

Research Assistants are paid at the home department rate.

RA Rates
Pay-Basis Type 2025-26 Rate
C-Basis RA

$58,314
A-Basis RA

$71,272

Previous Years

2024-2025

Academic Staff Rates

Academic Staff Rates
Title Employee Category 2024-25 C-Basis Rate

Lecturer
Teaching Faculty
Visiting Faculty
Teaching Specialist
Professor Emeritus
Adjunct Instructor

 Academic Staff Minimum Maximum
$50,000 $70,000

Departments have flexibility to set individual STS salaries within this range as needed, these titles. L&S Admin approval is required to compensate these STS employees outside this pre-approved range; please contact L&S HR to initiate the request process.

Lecturer(SA) Rates

Lecturer(SA) Rates
Title Employee Category 2024-25 C-Basis Rate
Lecturer(SA) or LSA Student Assistant $58,150

Teaching Assistant

TA Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2024-25 C-Basis Rate
Teaching Assistant (graduate student) $53,050
Undergraduate Assistant - TA $49,088

Grader / Reader

Grader/Reader Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2024-25 H-Basis Rate
Project Assistant - Grader/Reader $25.83
Undergraduate Assistant - Grader/Reader $25.83

Project Assistant

PA Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2024-25 Rate
C-Basis (exempt/salaried) $53,050
C-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $34.01
A-Basis (exempt/salaried) $64,850
A-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $31.18
H-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $31.18

Research Assistant

Research Assistants are paid at the home department rate.

RA Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2024-25 Rate
C-Basis RA

Tier 1: $53,050

Tier 2: $58,350
A-Basis RA

Tier 1: $64,850

Tier 2: $71,700

 

2023-2024

Lecturers

There are three standard base rates for the Lecturer title, based on the lecturer's number of semesters of teaching experience.

Academic Staff Lecturer Rates
Prior semesters of teaching experience 2023-24 C-Basis Rate
0-8 semesters $47,727
9-19 semesters $56,015
20+ semesters $61,619

Definition of 'Experience'

  • Experience must be gained as a lecturer or equivalent or higher.
  • Experience as a TA or other comparable instructional role does not count as lecturer experience.
  • Experience must be gained in for-credit instruction in a higher education setting.
  • Experience need not be gained in consecutive semesters.
  • Appointments in Summer Term will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and typically count as one semester of teaching experience.
  • Current graduate students will be hired with the 'Lecturer (SA)' title; see Student Assistant rates below.

Other Short-term Instructional Staff

Other Instructional Staff STS Rates
Title Employee Category 2023-24 C-Basis Rate
Lecturer (SA) or LSA Student Assistant $51,000
$56,100
Teaching Faculty I Academic Staff $48,863
Teaching Specialist Academic Staff $45,478
Professor Emeritus Academic Staff $61,619

Teaching Assistant

TA Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2023-24 C-Basis Rate
Teaching Assistant (graduate student) Tier 1 (standard): $46,460
Tier 2: $51,110
Undergraduate Assistant - TA $45,478

Grader / Reader

Grader/Reader Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2023-24 H-Basis Rate
Project Assistant - Grader/Reader $22.66
Undergraduate Assistant - Grader/Reader $22.66

Project Assistant

PA Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2023-24 Rate
C-Basis (exempt/salaried) $46,460
C-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $29.78
A-Basis (exempt/salaried) $56,784
A-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $27.30
H-Basis (non-exempt/hourly) $27.30

Research Assistant

Research Assistants are paid at the home department rate.

RA Rates
HR / Payroll Title 2023-24 Rate
C-Basis RA

$46,460
A-Basis RA $56,784

 

Contacts for L&S Administration

See Also


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Doc ID:
28638
Owned by:
Rob S. in L&S KB
Created:
2013-02-14
Updated:
2025-05-27
Sites:
L&S KB
Clean URL:
https://kb.wisc.edu/rates