OSU PAY 300: Payment of Graduate Student Employees

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

Types of graduate assistant employment available at OSU include:

• Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA)
• Graduate Research Assistant (GRA)

Graduate 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 stipend plus salary from any location within the Oregon University System shall not exceed the equivalent of .49 FTE for any term.

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

Graduate Assistant – Academic Year Employment
Category	12-Month GRA		9-Month GRA		GTA		Pharmacy	DVM Clinicians	Hourly Student
Position	C62XXX		C62XXX		C60XXX		C68243	C68172	C50XXX
Suffix	00-Acad. 05-Service		00-Acad. 05-Service		00-Acad. 05-Service		00	00	00
Earn Code	GRA	GRF	GRA	GRF	GTA	GTF	GRX	GVM	RST
Acct. Code	10630	10632	10630	10632	10620	10622	10609	10610	10501
Emp E-Class	XB		XB		XB		XB	XB	XB
Job E-Class	XB		XB		XB		XB	XB	XA
Pay Schedule	Monthly		Monthly		Monthly		Monthly	Monthly	Hourly
Job Form	Graduate		Graduate		Graduate		Graduate	Graduate	Student

 

Graduate Assistant – Summer Employment Types
Category	12-Month GRA		Summer Session GRA	Summer Session GTA	Hourly Student Employee	Mo-Sal Student Employee
Summer Enroll Req.	Yes		Yes	Yes	No	No
Position	C62XXX		C62XXX	C60XXX	C50XXX	C50XXX
Suffix	00-Acad. 05-Service		00-Acad. 05-Service	00-Acad. 05-Service	00	55
Earn Code	GRA	GRF	GRS	GTS	RST	REG
Acct. Code	10630	10632	10625	10623	10501	10501
Emp E-Class	XB		XB	XB	XB	XB
Job E-Class	XB		XB>	XB	XA	XA
Pay Schedule	Monthly		Monthly	Monthly	Mid-Monthly	Monthly
Job Form	Graduate		Graduate	Graduate	Student	Student

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301 Graduate Assistant Payments

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.

301-01 Payment Process

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

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301-02  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 Oregon State Central Administrative Resources OSCAR website, scroll down to Recruit/Appoint, click on "Appoint - Graduate Assistant" and complete the appropriate online tasks.
• Job forms should be routed to OHR.

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 OSCAR, scroll down to "Payroll Changes," scroll to and click on "Job Labor Distribution Change" (excel format).
• Labor Distribution forms should be forwarded to OHR for new hires and sent directly to the Payroll Office for changes of labor distributions.

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301-03 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 Pay

For Fall, Winter and Spring only, eligible Graduate Assistants are granted a Graduate Salary Adjustment of $250.00 each term.  This is administered by the Payroll Office.  

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301-04  Social Security Exemption for Student Employees

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

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

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301-05  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.

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302 Distribution of Tuition Remission Charges to Pay Indexes.

Eligibility requirements for tuition remissions are established by the Provost's Tuition Remission Policy and by the collective bargaining agreement between OSU, OUS and the Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE).  See the Graduate School web site for additional information.  Student accounting 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.

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302-01  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, 9 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 9 graduate credits during summer session.  Audit registrations and enrollment in OSU Extended Campus and other self-support programs 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 20% 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 the Oregon University System shall not exceed the equivalent of .49 FTE for any term.

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302-02  Student Accounting Tuition Remission Process

• Graduate Assistant Job forms are completed by employing department.
• Job forms are reviewed and approved by Human Resources and forwarded to Payroll.
• Payroll processes Job forms and completes data entry in Banner.
• Student Accounting 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.

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302-03 Payroll Process for Distributing Tuition Remission

• Set up position C69999 with a job suffix of FR for the Graduate.
• Process a non-cash earn code, “AGF” that allows an employer deduction to process.  This deduction credits the clearing fund and debits the fund used to issue pay.
• If pay index is not prohibited from paying the tuition remission, that index is charged, using account code 10951.
• If the pay index is prohibited from paying the tuition remission, a cost share index is charged, using account code 10952.

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303 Graduate Assistant Health Plans

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 Student Health Services.  For more information, please see the Student Health Services website for Graduate Assistance Insurance.

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Additional Information

• Pharmacy Interns, Residents, and Trainees, and DVM clinicians are not graduate students or graduate assistants.
• Graduate students are prohibited from holding faculty rank (OAR 580-20-005).  Individuals seeking exception to this rule should review the Graduate School web site.

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