Fiscal Policy Program

* This information replaces PAY 300 Payment of Graduate Student Employees & FIS 403 Graduate Assistant Employed by Non-Academic Unit

Payment of Graduate Student Employees

Effective: 01/01/2001
Revised: 11/14/2019

Section 300 covers payments made to Graduate Assistants and explains how graduate tuition remission expenses are distributed to department funds.

There are several “Graduate” employee types at OSU.; Only the Teaching and Research Assistants are eligible for tuition remissions.

1. Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA)
2. Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)
3. Clinical Fellows
4. Postdoctoral Scholar

Graduate assistant students may also work as student employees during summer session and the academic year in addition to their Graduate Assistantship.  If a graduate assistant on less than .49 FTE takes on extra duties, the total assistantship plus salary or hourly pay from any location within Oregon State University shall not exceed the equivalent of .49 FTE for any term.  Doing so jeopardizes the student’s assistantship eligibility.

The following charts provide summaries of data for Graduate Employment positions during the academic year and summer.

301: Graduate Assistant Payments

Effective: 01/01/2001
Revised: 11/14/2019

To be eligible for a Graduate Assistantship appointment, students must meet specific eligibility requirements established by the Graduate School and monitored by the Office of Human Resources.  See OSU Graduate Assistantships on the Graduate School website for additional information.

Graduate assistant students may also work as student employees during summer session and the academic year in addition to their Graduate Assistantship.  If a graduate assistant on less than .49 FTE takes on extra duties, the total assistantship plus salary or hourly pay from any location within Oregon State University shall not exceed the equivalent of .49 FTE for any term.  Doing so jeopardizes the student’s assistantship eligibility.

301A OTHER SPECIALIZED GRADUATE EMPLOYEE TYPES

Clinical Fellows are found in the Vet Med and Pharmacy Schools, as well as CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services) and Athletics. See the Health and Science or Auxiliaries and Activities Business Centers for more information.

Postdoctoral Scholars are employed by all Business Centers.  Contact the Graduate School for any policy issues.

Payment Process

After logging in on the Benny Hire website, scroll down to Recruit/Appoint, click on "Appoint - Graduate Assistant", or Oregon State Central Administrative Resources (OSCAR) website, scroll down to Recruit/Appoint, click on "Appoint - Postdoctoral Scholar" and complete the appropriate online tasks to hire the Graduate.

Job and Labor Distribution Forms

301-02A JOB FORM

• The Job Form is used to authorize pay for initial appointments, report changes of appointment %, and to report changes in contract length during the fiscal year.
• To obtain this form, log onto the Benny Hire website, scroll down to Recruit/Appoint, click on "Appoint - Graduate Assistant", or Oregon State Central Administrative Resources OSCAR website, scroll down to Recruit/Appoint, click on "Appoint - Postdoctoral Scholar" and complete the appropriate online tasks.
• Job forms should be routed as normal within the Business Centers.

301-02B LABOR DISTRIBUTION FORM

• The Labor Distribution Form is used to report changes to prior, current, or future distributions
• To obtain this form, go to the Controllers Office, scroll down to "Payroll", scroll to and click on "Labor Distribution".
• Labor Distribution forms for the current fiscal year should be entered and archived by Business Center personnel. Labor Distributions for prior fiscal years must be sent to Central Payroll for processing.

Pay Method - Default/Unit Pay

301-03A DEFAULT PAY

Pay is issued for the period from the 1st of the month through the end of the month.  Refer to Graduate Student Earn Codes for the correct Earn Codes and Account Codes to use.

301-03B UNIT BASED PAY

For Fall, Winter and Spring only, eligible Graduate Assistants are granted a Graduate Salary Adjustment as determined per contract.  This is administered by the Payroll Office.  

FICA Exemption for Student Employees

Student employees, enrolled in Oregon State University, at least half-time, are exempt from both Social Security and Medicare withholding tax, (FICA) based on Federal regulations.  Half-time enrollment is defined as:

• Undergraduate Students – 6 credit hours per term
• Graduate Students – 5 credit hours per term

Generally, Clinical Fellows and Postdoctoral Scholars are full time employees and ineligible for the student FICA exemption.

Accounting for Labor Charges

Labor is charged to specific indexes and account codes.  Use of activity codes is the choice of the department.

301-05A INDEX  

• Department/Grant index must be an open index owned by the employing department.
• Department/grant index must remain open through the last day of the month payment is received by the employee.
• Redistributions of payroll charges should also include redistributions of tuition remissions.

301-05B ACCOUNT CODE

Refer to Graduate Student Earn Codes for account code information.

302: Distribution of Tuition Remission Charges to Pay Indexes

Effective: 01/01/2001
Revised: 11/14/2019

Eligibility requirements for tuition remissions are established by the Provost's Tuition Remission Policy and by the collective bargaining agreement between OSU and the Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE).  See the Graduate School web site for additional information.  Student Accounts processes tuition remissions and charges the expense to a clearing fund.  It is Payroll’s responsibility to distribute those charges from the clearing fund to the appropriate department and/or grant funds.

Eligibility Requirements to Receive Tuition Remission

• Be a regularly admitted, conditionally admitted, or provisionally admitted graduate degree-seeking student at Oregon State University.
• Enrollment in a minimum of 12 credit hours each term of the appointment during the academic year, and 3 credit hours during summer session (see Graduate School website for additional information). Graduate assistants who are members of the Coalition of Graduate Employees, American Federation of Teachers, Local 6069 must enroll for a minimum of 12 graduate credits each term of the appointment during the academic year, and 3 graduate credits during summer session.  Audit registrations, course withdrawals, and enrollment in INTO OSU may not be used to satisfy enrollment requirements for graduate assistant salary/stipend, tuition remission, or health and wellness benefits. 
• Assistantship appointment per 13-week term of at least 30% and not more than 49%.
• A graduate assistant on less than .49 FTE may take on extra duties; however, the total stipend plus salary from Oregon State University shall not exceed the equivalent of .49 FTE for any term.

Student Accounting Tuition Remission Process

• Graduate Assistant Job forms are completed by Business Center (BC) or employing department.
• Job forms are reviewed and approved by BC Human Resources, then forwarded to BC Payroll.
• BC Payroll processes Job forms and completes data entry in Banner.
• Student Accounts runs a process that verifies the student’s enrollment and posts the tuition remission to the student’s account.  This process charges the cost of the tuition remission to a clearing fund.

Payroll Process for Distributing Tuition Remission

• Set up position C69999 with a job suffix of FR for the graduate.
• Payroll enters a non-cash earn code, AGF, that allows the deduction code, IGF, to charge the C69999 Labor Distribution, crediting the clearing fund associated with the tuition remission on the student's account.
• Tuition remission is paid from the same source as the salary unless:
  • the pay index prohibits the payment of tuition remission, in which case a tuition cost share index with account code 10952 must be used.
  • requested to be paid from another allowable funding source such as ARF, OSUF, other gift funds or E&G, including SWPS, appropriated funds.
• Note:  Exceptions to decouple the funding source for salaries and tuition remissions are not allowed when paid by self-support funds or grants from granting agencies that allow the payment of tuition, as all operating costs should be expensed to those funding sources.
• All other tuition remission should be charged using account code 10951.

303: Graduate Health Plans

Effective: 01/01/2001
Revised: 11/14/2019

Beginning Fall 2004, graduate assistants with at least 0.2 FTE are required to enroll in the mandatory health insurance plan, unless they can properly secure a waiver. The health insurance plan is administered by OSU Office of Human Resources.  For more information, please see the Graduate Student Insurance website for Graduate Assistance Insurance information.

Additional Information

• Pharmacy Interns, Residents, and Trainees, DVM Clinicians and Postdoctoral Scholars while not considered graduate students or graduate assistants, are eligible for health insurance administered through OSU Office of Human Resources.
• Graduate students are prohibited from holding faculty rank (OAR 580-20-005).  Individuals seeking exception to this rule should review the Graduate School website.

Graduate Assistant Employed by Non-Academic Unit

Effective: 06/08/2006 
Revised: 04/15/2013

Per OSU Graduate School, all graduate assistant appointments are made by the Graduate School or an academic department.  Administrative and student support units are required to partner with an academic unit when hiring a graduate assistant.  The academic unit is responsible for paying the student from the appropriate academic department’s general fund index.  When a graduate assistant is working in an administrative or other unit, the academic department must be reimbursed for the costs incurred by them. 

For graduate appointments supported by OSU general fund 001100, a journal voucher must be processed debiting the administrative/support unit and crediting the academic unit’s general fund index for the amount of both wages/stipends, differentials, and OPE.  In the absence of a contrary policy in the academic unit, OPE should be calculated at $9 per term plus any applicable benefits for those covered by the bargaining unit agreement.  Since tuition remission follows the salary index, it will be reimbursed by the institution. 

For graduate appointments supported by Statewide Public Service and other funds (non-001100 E&G, Designated Operations, Service Units, Auxiliaries, and Restricted Funds), partnering of the funding unit with an appropriate academic unit will be required to gain authority to offer tuition remission.  For all of these funds (ranges 001101-019999, 030000 – 039999, 050000 – 199999, 200000 – 499999, and A00000 – ZZZZZZ), the wage/stipend, OPE and tuition remission continue to be a direct cost of the Statewide Public Service or other fund operation.  Coordination between the academic unit graduate student coordinator and the business center of both units is essential.  These administrative units will need to provide their index to the appropriate academic department, which in turn will initiate the appointment paper.  The Business Center Human Resources Office will only accept appointments from the Graduate School or academic units.

PROCEDURE:

The following procedure should be used by administrative units to reimburse academic departments for wages/stipends and OPE of graduate assistants working in their unit.

For graduate appointments supported by OSU general fund 001100, a journal voucher (3BCx rule code) must be processed:

            Debit  Administrative/support unit index – using account 24999
            Credit  Academic unit’s general fund index – account 79302

The amount of the JV should include both wages/stipends, differentials, and OPE.  Instructional Tuition Remission and Health Insurance subsidy is not included in the amount because the institution will reimburse the 001100 general operating fund for this cost.

For graduate appointments supported by Statewide Public Service and other funds (non-001100 E&G, Designated Operations, Service Units, Auxiliaries, and Restricted/Grant Funds) the cost is paid directly from those funds.  There is no journal voucher necessary, nor is there a reimbursement for tuition remission.

ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:

See "Guidelines for Accounting & Reimbursement – GA Tuition Remission" on the Graduate School website.