Student Payroll.

Student Employment allows for students to gain professional experience, supplement their income, and provides support to SPH’s operations. Doctoral, masters, and undergraduate students may be hired for positions based on specific criteria and regulations. Limitations for student employment include the number of hours a student can work, the registration status of a student, and may include restrictions based on the student’s funding or institutional support. The School of Public Health depends on student employees to fill a variety of roles. The hiring process for student employment positions depends on the position and will be described in the following section.

Common student employment positions include:

• Teaching assistant/co-instructor– assists instructor with all aspects of course management
• Tutor and peer coaches – provides academic peer-to-peer student support
• Research assistant – assists faculty member with aspects of research
• Graduate research assistant – Ph.D. students who carry out research, normally as part of pre-doctoral training
• Office assistant – assists staff with daily responsibilities for a department, unit, or center

Student employment is processed through the Boston University Student Employment Office (SEO).

Work hours

The Office of the Provost guides the number of hours students can work based on their registered designation, as follows:

1. All full-time students may work no more than 1,500 hours in University employment during a fiscal year.
2. Undergraduate and all part-time students should not work more than 20 hours per week while attending classes and should not work more than 40 hours per week during official University break periods, such as Intersessions, spring break, and summer.
3. Full-time graduate students should not work more than 20 hours per week during any academic period and not more than 40 hours per week during official University break periods or during an academic period in which a student is not classified as full-time.
4. Faculty and staff cannot be paid as student employees.

International students must adhere to limitations and requirements based on immigration status and authorization from the International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO).

Budget Considerations

The hiring and paying of student employees have structural and budgeting cost implications. As you consider the appropriate hiring needs, you will also need to determine the resources available to hire student employees and evaluate the hiring impact on your budgets.

The expectation is that all units should identify their needs and budget appropriately before hiring student employees. If there is a need to hire additional student employees, the first step is to discuss the matter with your department director and chair, establish a funding source for the position, and ensure that there are sufficient funds available to support a student employee.

Note: A fully approved requisition is required before any student employee is authorized to begin work, and it is the budget administrator’s responsibility to ensure that there are adequate funds in the proper accounts to pay student wages.

The hiring procedures in this document assume that approvals have been granted and that funds are available for paying student employees.

Helpful Links
BU Policy on Student Work Hours

Before hiring a student for employment, all necessary paperwork must be completed to ensure eligibility and compliance. Students must complete federal forms I-9 and W-4, as well as the University’s FERPA, student confidentiality, and intellectual property agreements.

The I-9

The I-9 form verifies the identity and eligibility of an employee. Students who have never worked at Boston University need to complete the electronic I-9 form. A supervisor or payroll coordinator can verify if a student has completed the I-9 as follows

• Enter the student’s UID and current semester and year in the Student Employee Information section of the Business Link.
• If the student record appears, the I-9 is on file at the identified I-9 mail code.
• If the I-9 mail code is PRBI9 or an error message “not found on the Student Employment file” appears, the student needs to complete an I-9.

The I-9 form must be completed before or on the first day of employment. The form contains two sections that are completed using the University’s I-9 electronic system. Student employee I-9s, for both domestic and international students, are completed with the hiring department. Each academic department has an authorized staff member to process student I-9s, and there are several authorized staff within BUSPH central administration to process student I-9s for central SPH units. For any questions or concerns related to student I-9 system access, please contact the Director of People Services.

Helpful Links
BU Student Employee Form I-9 Portal
Instructions for Completing the Student Employee Form I-9
Key Points for Completing Form I-9

The W-4

The W-4 and M-4 forms mandate how much in taxes Payroll should be withholding from each paycheck. While not required, each student has different financial circumstances that can be reflected in the W-4. Please note that if a student does not submit a W-4 reflecting their circumstances, the University will default to withholding the maximum amount at their income bracket: single with zero dependencies.

Depending on a student’s eligibility, they may be exempt from a number of taxes.

Domestic students working on-campus positions are able to update their federal (W-4) and state (M-4, specifically Massachusetts) tax withholding certificates through Employee Self-Service in the BUworks Central Portal.

International students working on-campus positions should follow the International Taxation Set-Up process.

Note from the Student Employment Office: Do not give students tax advice or tell them how to complete the W-4 or M-4 form. If students have questions about what to claim, suggest they talk to their parents or guardian or seek out tax information from a professional. Free tax help options can be found here under Student Payroll.

Helpful Links
Student Employment Office: Tax Information and Procedures
Student Employment Office: Tax Information for International Students

Additional Forms

The following forms should be completed by the student employee and stored within the hiring department. Boston University Student Employment Office does not require a copy of these forms.

• FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) – All student employees must review and sign the FERPA Non-Disclosure Agreement. FERPA is a federal law that guarantees the confidentiality of student records and general information.
• Confidentiality Policy – All student employees must review and sign the University’s Student Employment Confidentiality Policy. Students must agree to respect the confidentiality of work-related and student record information outlined in the policy.
• IPP (Intellectual Property Policy) – Any student involved in University-supported research must-read Boston University’s patent policy and sign the agreement form.

Helpful Links
FERPA
Confidentiality Policy
Intellectual Property Policy
Student Employment – Required Paperwork

All student employee hires are processed through the Student Employment section of the Business Link. This section provides a brief description of the most common student employment jobs at SPH, as well as guidance on how to process a hire for each job.

Helpful Links
Hiring Departmentally-Paid Students
Hiring Work-Study Students

Tutors and Peer Coaches

The Office of Graduate Student Life (GSL) at SPH offers free peer tutoring and coaching to MPH program students. The core course tutoring program is a free peer tutoring program for MPH students who are at risk of failing to meet the minimum grade required (B-) in the MPH core courses. Peer coaches assist MPH program students in strengthening their public health writing skills and presentation skills.

Graduate Student Life selects students eligible to work as tutors and peer coaches, and SPH Finance processes all tutor and peer coach hires in the Business Link.

Research Assistants

Research Assistants engage in research activities with a faculty member and are hired within the faculty member’s department. Non-PhD students are eligible to serve as research assistants. Part-time student research assistants are hired by the department through the Student Employment Office and process and some of these positions may meet the criteria for student practicums. For more information contact sphpract@bu.edu. Full-time permanent research assistant positions are approved, posted, and hired through the regular staff hiring process described in Section VI. Hiring and Managing a Team.

Faculty members should identify their needs and budget appropriately before hiring a student research assistant. Department Administrators in the department where the faculty member resides are responsible for hiring research assistants.

Note: Research Assistants should be paid with funds from a grant or discretionary account and not from the department’s unrestricted account.

Graduate Research Assistants

Graduate Research Assistants or Fellows (GRAs/GRFs) are doctoral students engaging in research activities with a faculty member that is a critical part of their pre-doctoral training. These payments are considered service stipends, and students receive a fixed salary amount each week. Funding for graduate research assistants can come from research grants, such as R01, but not T-32 grants. Department Administrators are responsible for hiring GRAs for academic departments. Please note that only service stipend payments are processed through Student Employment (not stipend tuition, health insurance, or fees).

GRAs work 20 hours per week and may not work any other student employment jobs, with the exception that they may work as a teaching assistant once per year. Please note that international students may not work more than 20 hours per week during academic periods, per University policy.

Office Assistants

Office Assistants provide administrative support to central and academic departments. Department Administrators should identify their needs and budget appropriately before hiring a student office assistant. Department or Unit Administrators are responsible for hiring office assistants for their departments.

Work-Study Jobs

Students may receive a federal work-study award as part of their financial package from Boston University. Not all students receive work-study awards, and only students with work-study awards may be hired to work-study jobs. If you would like to hire a student who does not have a work-study award, you must choose to hire type “departmental.”

Boston University departments that hire work-study students incur a charge of 30% of those students’ earnings and the federal work-study program funds the remaining 70%. Students who receive work-study awards are only paid for hours worked and are not obligated to earn their entire award.

If a student’s work-study award runs out before they have finished working for the semester, you may opt to hire them to a new departmental job to continue paying them. Once work-study funds are exhausted for the semester, the department will fully fund the student.

The process for paying a student with a work-study award differs from departmental student hiring. Before the student can be hired, a work-study job number must be issued by the Student Employment Office. This number is unique to your department and is based on your unit/dept codes, job title, and supervisor. Department or Unit Administrators are responsible for hiring office assistants for their departments.

Helpful Links
Student Employment – Posting a Work-Study Job   

Changes and Corrections

Occasionally, changes must be made to a student’s job during the semester, such as a change to pay rate, a change in the estimated number of hours worked, or a change to a student employee’s salary distribution. Department Administrators can make these types of changes in the Student Employment section of the Business Link.

Helpful Links
Student Employment Pay Rate Change Instructions
Student Employment Estimated Hours Change Instructions
Student Salary Distribution changes (current week)
Student Salary Distribution Adjustment Request Form (retroactive changes)

Hourly paid students must submit a timesheet each week to be paid. Timesheets are submitted online via the Employee Time Entry function under the Work tab in the Student Link. A student may enter their hours for a given week from 12:01 am on Monday through 11:59 pm on Sunday to be paid the following Friday. If a student forgets to enter hours during this time, their supervisor or payroll coordinator may enter the hours on the student’s behalf up until 10 am on Tuesday. Only hourly students complete timesheets; weekly-salaried student employees do not need to complete timesheets. Students should consult with their immediate supervisor or department administrator to clarify whether they are hourly paid or weekly-salaried employees.

Helpful Links
Student Time Entry Process

Manager Approval of Student Timesheets

Managers are required to review and approve student employee timesheets every week through the Supervisor Approval of Student Time Entry function, accessible through both the Business Link and the Faculty Link. Managers must approve student employee timesheets by 10 am on Tuesday for the student employee to be paid on Friday.

Helpful Links
Supervisor Approval of Student Time Entry – Business Link
Supervisor Approval of Student Time Entry – Faculty Link

All student employees are eligible to be paid weekly, regardless of whether their job is hourly paid, weekly-salaried, or a one-time payment. Hourly and weekly-salaried student employees are paid every Friday. One-time payments are made on the Friday following the week worked.

Student employees are encouraged to set up a direct deposit account for their paycheck. This can be done by accessing Employee Self-Service (ESS) through BUWorks. Once students have set up a direct deposit, they will be able to view their salary statements online. On their designated payday, student employees will receive an email providing notification that they have been paid.

New student employees can set up direct deposit once their record has been established in SAP. This will typically be on Thursday after the student has been hired into the Student Payroll system and often means that the student’s first payment will be issued as a paper check (domestic students’ checks will be mailed to their home address and international students’ checks will be mailed to their local address). Please note that a student is required to have a Social Security Number to set up a direct deposit.

Should there be a discrepancy with a student employee’s paycheck, please contact the department administrator.

Helpful Links
BUworks
Student Employment – How to Set Up Direct Deposit
ISSO – Applying for a Social Security Number