<p>What’s meant by this?</p>
<p>You will have to spend 25% of your hours there as a TA/RA. That will probably mean teaching a class, or a recitation, or a lab.</p>
<p>No, it means that your workload (and pay) will be 25% that of a full time employee. At most schools - that equates to 10 hours per week (assuming a 40-hour week).</p>
<p>oldccuser is right. Your part-time employment status will define your relationship with the university in several ways. For example, at my university we need to be employed at 50% full-time equivalent to qualify for health insurance benefits. (That’s why TAs in my department are hired at 50% FTE even though the typical work-load is 5-10 hours per week.)</p>
<p>25% is essentially half of a full funding offer (though full funding offers often have additional perks like health coverage, which a 25% may not). As others have mentioned, this is technically a 10 hour/week work requirement, but in reality the time commitment can vary substantially.</p>