Student Payroll & Federal Work Study

When hiring and adding a new employee to the university payroll, departments have certain responsibilities and requirements that must be met--some of which are federally mandated.

Requirements for Adding New Employees to Payroll

When Hiring a New Employee

You as the hiring department must send the new employee to the Office of Human Resources (OHR) to complete the federal government's Immigration & Naturalization Services form I-9. It is a federal mandate that each new employee provide proof of identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. prior to the start of employment. If hiring a student, complete the Student Hire Form for the Payroll Office and refer to Student Financial Services for more information.

OHR: Verification of Employment & Eligibility

Instructions for the I-9 process and a list of acceptable identification documents can be found on the official U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website or you can obtain this information from OHR. Report to OHR during scheduled hours with original documents (copies are not acceptable) and OHR will process I-9 forms to establish eligibility and provide further instructions on the employment process. Any subsequent change in immigration status or work authorization must be communicated to OHR prior to the expiration date of the document/s.

If Hiring a Student Employee

Bring the completed Student Hire Form and Tax Residency Status Form (received from OHR) to the Payroll Office counter on the fourth floor of the Administration Building and ask for Student Financial Services. Please refer to Student Financial Services for more information on student employment, including the student employee checklist and helpful student payroll pointers.

Commit Accounting

Commit accounting is the process of setting up an alternative budget to redirect the funding of earnings, taxes and deductions to a source other than the hiring department. This is normally done for three reasons:

  1. When the funding cost center is different from the hiring cost center.
  2. When the funding source is a grant or contract.
  3. When the funding source is federal work study related.

The responsibility for setting up payroll commit accounting depends on the type of employee.

  • For student employees, the set up is completed by the Stratus Financials team in Financial Systems
  • For lecturers, contingent staff, and contingent faculty, the set up is completed by OHR
  • For regular staff and faculty, the set up is completed by the Budget Office
  • If commit accounting is not set up, the payroll costs are charged directly to the hiring department

Coding On-Campus Federal Work Study (FWS) Budgets

Each executive level division on campus has an assigned federal work study (56xxx) number for student employees paid from federal funds. All FWS student employees are charged to a FWS budget that corresponds with a division. The set up includes the re-direct of funding back to the hiring department when the student's federal award is exhausted. Using a common coding for all departments, with some exceptions, within a division alleviates individual departmental concern for a university funded expense while still accounting for the expense on a divisional basis.

The federal work study project ID - see column three below - must be included on the Student Hire Form submitted at the time of hiring for the on-campus FWS student employee.

Division Division Name Project ID for FWS
01  President's Office 56106
01 Athletics 56112
02 Academic Affairs 56051
03 Strategic Partnerships & Applied Research 56110
04 Student Affairs 56100
05 Administration & Finance 56102
05 Auxiliary Services 56113
05 University Child Care 56114
06 University Advancement 56104
09 University Marketing & Communication 56117
11 Office of Inclusion & Institutional Equity 56115

The FWS salary expense is a university expense for which individual state support and non-auxiliary self-support departments are fully funded based upon the actual expense. State support and non-auxiliary self-support accounts are not charged for these expenses in their regular budgets unless the student's earnings exceed his/her FWS award.

Coding Off-Campus Federal Work Study (FWS) Budgets

Each off-campus location has an assigned federal work study number for students working off-campus jobs under federal funding. This number is entered as the funding source for earnings with the federal award as the funding limit. When the federal award has been exhausted, the funding is re-directed back to a selected department number. The funding drawn down as the student works is monitored by the Financial Aid Office.

If you have questions regarding federal work study, please contact your Divisional Budget Officer, the Career Center or the university Financial Aid Office.