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Friends, Most of you are probably aware that when a graduate student receives RA support from a grant during the summer, the grant is normally charged 8% of the student's stipend, and Social Security and Medicare taxes are deducted from the student's pay. It turns out that both the extra charge to the grant and the deductions from the student's pay can be avoided, if the student is working on a project that directly benefits his/her progress towards the degree. Many thanks to Shannon for figuring out how to invoke the exemption. As best she's been able to determine, here's what you have to do: Instructions for
ensuring no
benefit charges for graduate students working over the summer on
projects directly
benefiting their degrees (ie thesis work): 1.
Faculty
member should identify
students who fall into this category. 2.
Faculty
member should inform
students that they must register for summer class: 406-RA – no
fees should
be incurred unless student also signs up for other regular summer
classes. 3.
Faculty
member should email
Shannon the names of these students by mid-May to ensure time for
processing. 4.
Shannon
will verify
students have registered for class and will email confirmed list to
Graduate
Student Office. 5.
Graduate
Student Office
will follow up with HR to request HR code these students as active
&
full-time thus avoiding benefits charges. 6.
Shannon
will monitor
expenses and follow up with HR if problems arise. Since this involves coordination between the academic and personnel arms of the University, which often don't speak the same language, there may be some glitches. Let Shannon know if you run into any. Again, thanks are due to Shannon for figuring this out -- it took a lot of phone calls and emails. Roger
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