Career
Teaching assistants, postsecondary
Help college professors teach while pursuing a degree.
$42,910
Median pay
+2.7%
Job growth, 2025–35
25,700
Openings a year
Bachelor's degree
Typical education
4 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Teach undergraduate-level courses.
- Evaluate and grade examinations, assignments, or papers, and record grades.
- Lead discussion sections, tutorials, or laboratory sections.
- Develop teaching materials, such as syllabi, visual aids, answer keys, supplementary notes, or course Web sites.
- Inform students of the procedures for completing and submitting class work, such as lab reports.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on people & care, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Teach undergraduate-level courses.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Instructing.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
4 years of education after high school (bachelor's degree), for a median of $42,910 a year and 25,700 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Teaching Assistants/Aides, OtherCIP 13.1599
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Tutors$43,350 · -0.2%
- Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education$72,040 · -0.2%
- Education Teachers, Postsecondary$75,350 · +2.5%
- Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School$65,030 · -0.5%
- Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education$63,970 · -0.4%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.