CS TA Assignment Team
The CS TA Assignment Team is a shared effort between ISG and the CS Graduate Office. The team works to ensure that CS courses are staffed by appropriate TAs/IAs and that eligible graduate students are receiving their TA positions in a clear and fair way.
Due to the size of the School's undergraduate population, there are 300-450 TA units to assign each term across 40-50 courses. Each course covers different topics and specific research areas may lend themselves better to specific courses.
The CS TA Assignment Team itself is small and the work is only made possible through cooperation from graduate students, graduate supervisors, and instructors. We ask that you keep a look out for our emails each month.
TA Assignment Forms
Note for Fall 2026/Winter 2027 TAships
A new collective agreement between the University of Waterloo and CUPE Local 5524.01, a union representing Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) and Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) employees, was approved on February 26, 2026. The collective agreement (retroactively) covers the period from January 12, 2024, to April 30, 2027, and outlines terms and conditions of employment for graduate students working in GTA and GRA roles. More up-to-date information can be found on the Current Graduate Students website.
Information found on the ISG website may be outdated/subject to change as the collective agreement's terms and conditions are implemented.
Winter 2027 TA Process and Timeline
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2026
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Oct
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TA Job Postings become available
Job opportunities for GTA/GRA (and Sessional Instructor) positions are posted on the CUPE 5525 Opportunities website. Students may begin submit applications for the upcoming term. An email will be sent to all CS grads when the job posting is available and to notify students of appropriate deadlines.
Any later TA job postings will be emailed to all graduate students with their respective deadlines as well.
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Any students/supervisors who wish to accept alternative funding in place of a guaranteed TA appointment are asked to submit completed Alternate Funding Elections Forms (AFEF) to csgtaschol@uwaterloo.ca by October 23, 2026 so that GRS funding adjustments can be made in a timely manner.
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Nov
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November 15 Application deadline for Job Posting
The School of Computer Science TA Job Postings will close on November 15, 2026. Please note that other departments/faculties may use different deadlines for their job postings.
CS students with guaranteed appointments that fail to apply to the CS job posting before its deadline, will be considered to have forfeited their guaranteed appointment and the School's funding commitment will be considered fulfilled.
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Tentative/Final TA Assignments posted to Odyssey
The CS TA assignment team will update Odyssey to inform students of which course/position they have been assigned to (and to inform instructors of who is assigned to their courses). No action is required on Odyssey.
Grad students may use this as an opportunity to contact cs-ta@uwaterloo.ca of any status changes (e.g. if they will be declining their TA appointment) or to request a potential course swap. Change requests cannot be guaranteed, but are permitted in special circumstances where all parties agree.
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Dec
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TA Offer Letters Issued on Workday
Once TA assignments have been shared with HR, students will begin to receive offer letters to accept/decline a TA appointment for the upcoming term. An email will be sent to notify students of the process beginning; offer letters may be issued on a rolling basis (e.g. some students may receive them earlier than others).
Students must formally accept/sign the offer letter on Workday within 5 calendar days of being issued. Students who do not have access to Workday should be able to accept the offer on the CUPE 5524 Opportunities website where they initially applied. Once the offer letter is signed, it may be used for your promissory note. Failure to accept/sign the offer letter in time will result in an automatic forfeiture of the TA appointment.
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Oct
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2027
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Jan
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Math TA Contracts and Assignment of Duties Forms
Before/around the start date of the contract, students who have accepted their offer letters will be emailed an additional TA contract to sign that will link them to their course-appropriate Assignment of Duties (AOD) form and relevant supervisor (i.e. course ISC/ISS/coordinator or course instructor(s)).
TAs are to review and agree to the duties and expectations as laid out in the AOD form or may discuss any potential conflicts with the relevant supervisor.
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Start of TA Employment January 4, 2027
The first day of classes for the Winter term is January 11, 2027. Winter 2027 TA employment dates are January 4 to April 30.
New/incoming graduate students will be notified of additional TA training and onboarding support during the CS Graduate Orientation (or via email from cs-ta@uwaterloo.ca).
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Jan
Note that the timeline tends to avoid exact dates to account for potential delays or changes to the process (either initiated by the union, the university, or the grad office). The CS TA Assignment Team will contact graduate students throughout stages of the process to ensure that students are informed of significant actions and deadlines. As always, we thank you for your patience and cooperation.
TA Eligibility
To be eligible to TA, graduate students must be enroled with a full-time course load and on-campus for the duration that they are TAing. TA eligibility is determined by the CS Graduate Office. Students can check Odyssey for their program TA history to date.
New students
New students are generally assigned to marking duties in first/second-year CS courses so that you can focus on adjusting to the university environment.
TA training is provided as part of the CS Graduate Orientation and in Fall and Winter terms, new students are invited to the TA Assignment Info Session (typically held in early October or early February) to be formally introduced to the expectations for all TAs and how to participate in the TA assignment process.
Over-eligible MMath and PhD students
MMath and PhD students who have completed their TA unit requirements or have gone over their time limit are not guaranteed TA units. TA positions for these students are only possible if eligible TAs have all been assigned and a surplus of vacant positions.
MDSAI students
MDSAI students are not entitled to any TA units as part of their program. The MDSAI program is academically demanding and time-intensive. For these reasons, MDSAI students are not encouraged to apply for a TA position unless they are strongly confident that they can manage an additional 80 hours of TA work.