Legal student work — on-campus, CPT and assistantships

State and city minimum wages change, sometimes more than once a year. Check your state department of labor's current minimum wage and your university's posted on-campus pay scale before you plan a budget around any figure here.

1. 1

   Check the student employment portal before arrival

   Most universities post on-campus openings (library, dining hall, IT helpdesk, admissions office, research assistant roles) on a jobs portal you can browse before you fly.

2. 2

   Attend the international student job fair in orientation week

   Many campuses run a dedicated hiring event for dining services, bookstores and department front desks in the first week — arrive with a one-page US-style resume.

3. 3

   Visit departments in person

   Front-desk, grading and lab-assistant roles in your own department are often filled by word of mouth before they're ever posted — introduce yourself to faculty and graduate coordinators early.

4. 4

   Apply for a Social Security Number once you have a written job offer

   You generally need an on-campus job offer letter before applying for an SSN. Bring the offer letter, I-20, passport and visa to the Social Security Administration office; processing can take a few weeks, so apply the moment you're hired.

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  Tuition waiver, full or partial

  Many assistantships waive most or all tuition on top of paying a stipend — check whether fees (not just tuition) are also covered.

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  Monthly stipend

  Paid roughly biweekly or monthly, typically enough to cover rent and food in a moderate cost-of-living city.

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  Counts toward your 20-hour limit

  A 20-hour TA/RA appointment is usually the maximum allowed alongside full-time study.

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  Apply early and directly to faculty

  Many assistantships are awarded by individual professors from grant funding, not just through a central graduate school application — email potential advisors before or right after admission.

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  Health insurance is sometimes included

  Some universities bundle a subsidized health plan with an assistantship — ask explicitly, since it can be worth thousands of dollars a year.

1. 1

   Complete one full academic year first

   With rare exceptions for programs that require immediate practical training, CPT generally becomes available only after you've completed two full semesters (one academic year) of your program.

2. 2

   Get the internship offer, then authorization

   You need a job/internship offer first. Your Designated School Official (DSO) then authorizes CPT on your SEVIS record and issues a new I-20 showing the CPT dates and employer.

3. 3

   Know the full-time CPT trade-off

   Using CPT full-time (over 20 hrs/week) for a total of 12 months or more can eliminate your eligibility for OPT afterward — check the current rule with your DSO before committing to a full-time internship.

OPT requires a separate application to USCIS, filed through your DSO, generally starting up to 90 days before your program end date. Because this guide covers on-campus and CPT work during your studies, see our dedicated OPT & H-1B guide for the full post-graduation pathway, timelines and the STEM extension employer requirements — and always confirm current processing times and fees at uscis.gov.