COLA Student Employment Guidelines for Spring 2025 Term

1 Dates & Deadlines
2 Business Processes (BPs) to Use for Spring 2025 
- 2.1 Things to Keep in Mind for All Student BPs
3 Work-Study Student Appointments
- 3.1 Appointment Dates
- 3.2 Student Eligibility
- 3.3 Processing Info
- 3.4 Relevant Webpages
- 3.5 Required BP Comments
4 Undergraduate Student Appointments 
- 4.1 Appointment Dates
- 4.2 Student Eligibility
- 4.3 Undergraduate Student Sporadic Jobs
- 4.4 Related Webpages
- 4.5 Required BP Comments
5 Graduate Student Appointments 
6 Professional Student Appointments 
- 6.1 Appointment Dates
- 6.2 Student Eligibility
- 6.3 Relevant Webpages
- 6.4 Required BP Comments
7 Mass End Employment Date Extension Process
8 Mass Transaction Submission System (MTSS)
9 HUMAN RESOURCES/GRADUATE SCHOOL/TEXAS GLOBAL
- 9.1 MASS PROCESSES
- 9.2 WORKDAY

Dates & Deadlines

Business Processes (BPs) affecting pay for Hourly Jobs:

Effective January 1-15: routed to COLA by noon on Wednesday, January 15.

Effective January 16-31: routed to COLA by noon on Friday, January 31.

Effective February 1-15: routed to COLA by noon on Thursday, February 13.

Business Processes (BPs) affecting pay for Monthly Jobs:

Effective January 2025: routed to COLA by noon on Tuesday, January 21.

Effective February 2025: routed to COLA by noon on Tuesday, February 18.

Work-Study Processing Deadline: 7 days prior to Hire (or Reassignment) date.
- Students should not begin working in their work-study job prior to the approval of their appointment in Workday.
Deadline for Mass End Employment Date Extension submissions: Monday, January 6.
Undergraduate Student Tuition Payment Deadline*: Monday, January 6 at 5 PM.
Graduate Student Tuition Payment Deadline*: Thursday, January 16 at 5 PM
International Graduate Student Insurance Waiver Deadline: Monday, January 27 at 5pm.
TRB Awards are programmatically cancelled for students that don’t meet eligibility: Wednesday, January 29.
Deadline for Onboarding and Benefits Selection (for benefits-eligible 1/1 new hires): Thursday, January 30.
Last day a department may hire a Work-Study student: May 1.

*Registration is a requirement for student enrollment. Grad students with $0 tuition bill must still confirm attendance to complete their registration/avoid being dropped

Automated Mass End Job/Termination Process Dates:

First Mass End Job/Termination run date for Academic Graduate Student jobs with an End Employment Date of 12/31/24 or earlier: January 3.
- Any business processes for impacted positions must be completed by noon on Tuesday, December 17.
Mass End Job/Termination run date for all other jobs with an End Employment Date of 12/31/2024 or earlier: January 10.
- Any business processes for impacted positions must be completed by noon on Tuesday, January 7.

Priority List for Processing Student Employment

All jobs for benefits-eligible international students
All jobs involving/affecting benefits (TA, AI, GRA)
All Work-Study jobs
Current hourly workers continuing into spring.
New workers.
Current workers who will not be working in spring.

Business Processes (BPs) to Use for Spring 2025 

Please use Change Job (Transfer) when there is no break in service. Please DO NOT use Add Job.

Effective date for the Change Job must be the day AFTER the end employment date when students transition between semesters.

When hiring a student, it is important to go to the student’s profile > Job tab > All Jobs to determine what process to use to hire your student worker.

Student Business Process Matrix: Use this matrix to help you determine which BP to use or if you can use one of the mass processes: [https://utexas.box.com/s/2zitxcgs8ofuy6a6p79v1rg37y969ljs]

Student Business Process Matrix: Use this matrix to help you determine which BP to use or if you can use one of the mass processes: [https://utexas.box.com/s/2zitxcgs8ofuy6a6p79v1rg37y969ljs]

Scenarios	Business Process
Extend end employment date for an active position with or without changes to scheduled weekly hours, business title and/or position title	Mass End Employment Date Extension Process (Central Guidance / COLA Wiki)
Extend end employment date for an active position with changes to Job Profile or Sup Org	Start Job Change > Student: Change Job Details (WIG)
Making any changes to active position without extending end employment date.	Start Job Change > Student: Change Job Details (WIG)
Adding a non-Work-Study student job for a current employee who is continuing in their current position	Mass Transaction Submission System (MTSS) (Central Guidance / COLA Wiki)
Adding a Work-Study job for a current employee	Add Job (WIG)
Hiring/rehiring a student into a non-Work-Study student job profile	Mass Transaction Submission System (MTSS) (Central Guidance / COLA Wiki) or Hire (WIG)
Hire/rehire a student into a Work-Study job profile	Hire (WIG)

return to top

Things to Keep in Mind for All Student BPs

It is required to have an offer letter or other written documentation (ex: an email) to the student that includes their employment information (employment dates, weekly hours, pay rate). The offer letter should be attached to the hire BP.
- Offer letters for appointments processed or extended through the Mass End Date Extension Process or Mass Transaction Submission System should be uploaded to our student offer letter submissions portal.
- Graduate student employee and non-exempt student employee offer letter templates can be found here.
- Student offer letter powerforms are automatically uploaded to our submissions portal once they are completed:
Salary/Wage Increases: Pay rates for continuing student employees can only be increased effective August 16 unless there is a change in job duties/position.
Students need to meet minimum eligibility requirements for their student employment.
Student Resignations: If student resigns prior to their original End Employment Date, use termination reason “Resignation” and attach the resignation letter.
Graduate academic student titles cannot be combined with non-academic student titles, staff titles, faculty titles, or non-employee titles towards eligibility for insurance benefits.
Student employees who will have an additional job for 31 days or less should be appointed with the Variable employee type at 0 SWH. This will help prevent any AGS/benefits-eligible student employees from having their insurance PT/FT status change for these short-term sporadic jobs.
Monitor the weekly student ineligibility report and take action to remedy the ineligibility reason, request an exception from the Graduate School or Central HR (SEED@austin.utexas.edu), or terminate the student’s employment.
Background checks must be authorized before the appointment is processed in Workday and cleared before the student may start working.

Work-Study Student Appointments

Appointment Dates

Between 1/1 – 5/31
- Last day to hire work-study employee: 5/1
- Begin hiring process in Workday no more than a month prior to employment start date

Student Eligibility

Be awarded Federal Work-Study on the Work-Study Verification (WSV).
Meet Satisfactory Academic Progress Policy standards as set by the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.
Must be enrolled in appropriate credit hours as required by the student’s academic or non-academic title. Additional rules may apply in cases where stricter enrollment is required for Work-Study funds.

Processing Info

Students may be hired for the academic year (August 16-May 31) if the student was awarded Work-Study for the included terms.
Attach Work-Study Verification Form to the BP. If hiring for the academic year, attach the Work-Study Award for all terms.
When changing from a non-Work-Study job to a Work-Study job, must process as an Add Job if the student is staying with the same manager. If changing managers, can process as Change Job.
In the Costing Allocation step, only enter the departmental account numbers. The Work-Study team will enter their accounts once the BP routes to them.
Questions regarding Work-Study should be directed to work.study@austin.utexas.edu.

Relevant Webpages

return to top

Required BP Comments Brief description of job duties Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours Dates of Assignment Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required. Proposed rate Attachment: Work-Study Verification Form If hiring/adding job retroactively, please state the reason.

Required BP Comments Brief description of job duties Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours Dates of Assignment Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required. Proposed rate Attachment: Work-Study Verification Form If hiring/adding job retroactively, please state the reason.

Undergraduate Student Appointments 

Appointment Dates

Between 1/1 - 5/15

Student Eligibility

Students must meet the minimum enrollment requirements for student job titles.
- Email Student Employee Excellence & Development (SEED)(SEED@austin.utexas.edu), for exception requests.

Undergraduate Student Sporadic Jobs

Sporadic employment is temporary work that will be performed inside or outside an employee's department for a limited time period (≤ 31 days), when the student is already assigned to their maximum allowable scheduled weekly hours. (see Student Eligibility to Work: Enrollment Requirements, Limits on Work Hours)

Undergraduate student sporadic employment must be approved by Student Employee Excellence & Development (SEED)(SEED@austin.utexas.edu) before the student can be hired for any type of sporadic employment.

Related Webpages

return to top

Required BP Comments

Brief description of job duties
Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours
Dates of Assignment
Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required.
Proposed rate
For Academic Titles, also include:
- Name of supervising faculty member
Funding information (account(s), including end date(s) for 26 accounts)
If sporadic work: Attach (approved) Student Employee Sporadic Additional Job Form

Required BP Comments

Brief description of job duties
Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours
Dates of Assignment
Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required.
Proposed rate
For Academic Titles, also include:
- Name of supervising faculty member
Funding information (account(s), including end date(s) for 26 accounts)
If sporadic work: Attach (approved) Student Employee Sporadic Additional Job Form

Graduate Student Appointments 

Appointment Dates

Between 1/1 - 5/15

Student Eligibility

Students must meet the minimum enrollment requirements for student job titles.
- An exception to the 6-hour enrollment requirement for non-academic titles is available for students who are on track to graduate at the end of the current term and who need fewer than 6 hours to graduate.
- The only exceptions allowed for the 9-hour enrollment requirement for academic titles are accommodations by the D&A office, Dual-degree, or taking the CPA exam
- Email the Graduate School at GS-Approvals@austin.utexas.edu for exception requests.

--

Academic Graduate Student Employee Insurance

See the Academic Graduate Student Employee Insurance Options page for details on benefits eligibility criteria. It is critical to review all jobs for AGS employees to correctly determine their eligibility and ensure AGS jobs have the correct employee type in Workday.

New AGS employees have 31 calendar days from the hire date to make additional insurance elections.

Part-Time (PT) & Full-Time (FT) Insurance Status is based on total SWH (Scheduled Weekly Hours) in Workday

Additional jobs, even if non-benefits eligible, impact PT/FT insurance status
- PT AGS employees are scheduled for 20-29 total SWH, with at least 20 SWH in AGS job titles
- FT AGS employees are scheduled for 30+ total SWH, with at least 20 SWH in AGS job titles
Supervisors and/or administrative personnel should check the All Jobs tab in Workday to be aware of possible insurance changes
PT/FT changes that occur on the first of the month impact insurance enrollment effective that date
PT/FT changes that occur mid-month (after the first), impact insurance enrollment effective the first of the following month
Please let the student know that their insurance will be changing if you are adding a job that will cause them to have 30+ total scheduled weekly hours (SWH)

For more information:

Academic Graduate Student Employee Insurance Options

TA/AI Requirements

College policy prohibits funding beyond a student’s sixth year, whether or not the student is from the employing department or another department. Requests for TA/AI assignments for students beyond the 6^th year must be submitted by the student’s home department and pre- approved by the Associate Dean for Graduate Education. The approval and date must be referenced in the Workday BP.
TA/AIs should be assigned to a maximum of one course per long session. Prior approval is required from the Liberal Arts Office of the Associate Dean for Graduate Education for a TA or AI to be assigned to multiple courses.

Graduate Academic Student Rates

The rates in bold are the amounts to be input into Workday so that the student receives the intended stipend.

***Please note that these rates will prorate based on the entered scheduled weekly hours.

TA: $4,613.33 monthly ($41,520 annual) - $10,380 total stipend
- Non-COLA TA: $3,555.56 monthly ($32,000.04 annual) - $8,000.01 total stipend
AI: $5,110 monthly ($45,990 annual) - $11,497.50 total stipend
- Non-COLA AI: $4,000 monthly ($36,000 annual) - $9,000 total stipend
GRA: Minimum $55,360 annual – 12 months at 100% FTE (40 SWH)
- Non-COLA GRA: Minimum $42,666.72 annual

Any non-standard (adjusted hours, different dates, etc.) TA/AI/GRA job for COLA students must include approval information from the Liberal Arts Office of the Associate Dean for Graduate Education. The approval and date must be referenced in the Workday BP. The purpose of this is to ensure that students are not being put in a status that denies them health insurance/benefits and that they are not being overworked. With these two things in mind, in the request, include the student’s EID, justify the need for a non-standard appointment, and include any other support or funding (work appointments or fellowship, etc.) the student is receiving. Please confirm that student’s graduate advisor has approved this request as well.

Funding Source for TA/AI Assignments

All COLA PhD students will still be paid via the student’s home department with a cohort-specific Graduate Cohort TA/AI account (14-16XX-24XX). COLA PhD departments now have multiple Graduate Cohort TA/AI accounts, so if hiring a COLA PhD student, make sure to use the account that matches that student’s cohort. *Unless the student is employed outside COLA or assigned to a Signature Course.
All non-COLA students, MA students, PhDs beyond the 6th year, and Signature Course TAs, will be paid via the employing unit’s regular Soft Money TA/AI account (20-16XX-2002).

Converting Stipends to 12-month Rates for GRAs:

Use the all-in-one JCT to calculate stipends.

Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) Requirements

GRA assignments can be processed for full academic year assuming funds are available. At a minimum, GRA assignments are expected to be for the full term.
GRAs appointed for at least 20 Scheduled Weekly Hours (either the GRA appointment itself, or in combination with other AGS positions) for a long term (4.5 months or longer) are considered benefits-eligible and should be appointed with the Employee Type: Regular Benefits Eligible – Graduate Student Academic (Fixed Term).
It is required that departments hiring benefits-eligible GRAs will cover the cost of the graduate student’s tuition, or the relevant proportion of the tuition when a student has simultaneous benefits-eligible TA/AI and GRA employment. GRAs appointed on 26-accounts may receive annual rate increases effective August 16 as allowable by the terms of those project(s).
Graduate student pay rates must remain consistent within the same job throughout the academic year.

Graduate Student Sporadic Jobs

Student employees who will have an additional job for 31, or fewer, days should be appointed with the Variable employee type at 0 SWH. This will help any AGS/benefits-eligible student employees from having their insurance PT/FT status change for these short-term sporadic jobs.

If the additional employment will last more than 31 days (32 days or more), use the relevant employee type and average number of Scheduled Weekly Hours (e.g. non-benefits eligible fixed term, 10 SWH).

Graduate student sporadic employment must be approved by the Graduate School (GS-Approvals@austin.utexas.edu) and from the College of Liberal Arts Associate Dean for Graduate Education (email Jason Abrevaya at abrevaya@austin.utexas and copy in Jessica Luhn at jluhn@ausint.utexas) before the student can be hired for any type of sporadic employment.

Graduate Student Relevant Webpages

return to top

Required BP Comments

Brief description of job duties
Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours
Dates of Assignment
Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required.
Proposed rate (or stipend, for GRAs):
- Please be sure to note when a student is a non-COLA student for TA/AI rates. If no comment is made about this, we will assume the student is a COLA student.
- For GRAs: Providing the intended stipend for a GRA will help COLA HR determine the entered annual rate is correct.
For Academic Titles, also include:
- Course ID & Unique Number (except for GRAs)
- Name of Instructor/Faculty Supervisor
- GRAs only: Funding information (account(s), including end date(s) for 26 accounts)
For COLA PhD graduate student hiring, include student’s home department and student’s PhD cohort year.
Approval for non-standard appointment (if applicable)
Attached approved petition (if applicable)

Required BP Comments

Brief description of job duties
Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours
Dates of Assignment
Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required.
Proposed rate (or stipend, for GRAs):
- Please be sure to note when a student is a non-COLA student for TA/AI rates. If no comment is made about this, we will assume the student is a COLA student.
- For GRAs: Providing the intended stipend for a GRA will help COLA HR determine the entered annual rate is correct.
For Academic Titles, also include:
- Course ID & Unique Number (except for GRAs)
- Name of Instructor/Faculty Supervisor
- GRAs only: Funding information (account(s), including end date(s) for 26 accounts)
For COLA PhD graduate student hiring, include student’s home department and student’s PhD cohort year.
Approval for non-standard appointment (if applicable)
Attached approved petition (if applicable)

Professional Student Appointments 

The Professional Student – Academic and Professional Student – Non-Academic job families were created for students who are seeking a JD, MD, or PharmD. These students are no longer eligible to be appointed to a graduate student job profile, including the TA and AI job profiles, unless they are a dual degree student where one of their degree programs is a graduate degree.

Appointment Dates

Professional student academic assignments: 1/1 – 5/15
Non-academic assignments: 1/1 – 5/15

Student Eligibility

Students must meet the minimum enrollment requirements for student job titles.
To request an exception for a student in a Professional Student Academic job profile to work over the 20-hour limit:
- Email Student Employee Excellence & Development (SEED)(SEED@austin.utexas.edu) with justification for the work hours and an email from their academic advisor supporting the work hours.

Relevant Webpages

return to top

Required BP Comments Brief description of job duties Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours Dates of Assignment Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required. Proposed rate For Academic Titles, also include: Name of Instructor/Faculty Supervisor

Required BP Comments Brief description of job duties Number of Scheduled Weekly Hours Dates of Assignment Date background check request was authorized, or note that a new check was not required. Proposed rate For Academic Titles, also include: Name of Instructor/Faculty Supervisor

Mass End Employment Date Extension Process

Important Things to Remember

Prioritize the AGS population since the first Mass End Additional Job/Termination process will run for the AGS population on Friday, January 3, 2025.
Deadline for Mass End Employment Date Extension submissions: Monday, January 6.
It is required to have an offer letter or other written documentation (ex: an email) to the student that includes their employment information (employment dates, weekly hours, pay rate). Offer letters for appointments being extended through the Mass End Date Extension Process should be uploaded to our student offer letter submissions portal.
Students moving between job profiles or moving between Supervisory Organizations must be processed manually (Ex: TA to AI, TA/AI to GRA, etc.).
Current End Employment Date: The current end employment date for a job must be on or between 12/1 and 1/15.
Proposed End Employment Date: The proposed end employment date must be on or after 1/16.
Proposed Monthly Amount (NOT Prorated by FTE): This field is used to change the compensation amount for the extended job. It is available for any job being extended, including the transition of a summer anchor job to paid status in the fall semester. Enter the non-prorated amount using the same frequency as the current compensation on the job (hourly, monthly, or annual). Workday will automatically prorate the amount when the mass extension process runs.
- REMINDER: Pay rates for continuing student employees can only be increased effective August 16 unless there is a change in job duties/position.
Units can still participate in the Mass Extend process if they have fewer than 10 student appointments to extend; COLA HR will combine spreadsheets weekly before submitting to eBITS.

return to top

Mass Transaction Submission System (MTSS)

Important Things to Remember

The MTSS is for student new hires and additional jobs only.
It is required to have an offer letter or other written documentation (ex: an email) to the student that includes their employment information (employment dates, weekly hours, pay rate). Offer letters for appointments processed through the Mass Transaction Submission System should be uploaded to our student offer letter submissions portal.
MTSS requires at least 5 rows of jobs per batch; if you have fewer than 5 jobs, you can submit the spreadsheet to COLA HR to be combined with another unit’s batch.
MTSS bypasses some Student Eligibility Audits (SEE) and will allow student employees to go over 100% FTS across all of their jobs, so units must be diligent in monitoring the Student Eligibility Reports that are sent to Managers and HR Partners/Associates/Assistants.
Actions you can take on a batch:
- Validate: Check for errors
- Submit for Approval: Route batch to the approver
- Reupload Spreadsheet: Re-upload and re-validate a batch after correcting issues
- Delete Batch: Deletes batch in order to start over from scratch
- Recall from Approver: Moves batch from the Approver to the Creator
Please remember to send MTSS batches to approver jh76572 (Jasmine Howard).