Overview
As of summer 2024, graduate assistant positions must adhere to the new guidelines outlined by the Office of Graduate Administration & Policy. (See the Related Articles for all graduate student employment types). To qualify as a Graduate Assistant, the position should be primarily funded from external sources like gifts, grants, programs, and other revenue AND the duties of the position must provide professional development related to a students academic program and goals (not to include any teaching assistant duties).
If you have any questions about whether your department, position, or funding qualifies for a GA position, please reach out to the Office of Graduate Administration & Policy.
Annual Timeline: When to Submit Your GA Hire
In order to process your Graduate Assistant's offer letter in a timely manner and give the Office of Financial Aid the information they need about upcoming Graduate Assistants, please submit the information for each individual student in Workday by the following dates:
- Fall - by August 15th
- Spring - by January 15th
- Summer* - by May 15th
- Must be submitted separately each spring (even if a GA is continuing on in the same position)
Hiring a Graduate Assistant in Workday
- In the Workday search bar, search for "Hire Student" and click on the report to open it and begin the process.
- Workday tip: If you hire many students and/or continue to hire throughout the year, consider saving this task/report to your "Favorites" app or shortcut menu!
- A pop-up will appear. Enter the student's name or ID number and your "Supervisory Organization"
- Your Supervisory Organization (sup org) must have "JM" in the title, which indicates that this is specifically for student employees. The name of the sup org will also contain the name of the person who will be supervising the student.
- If no student sup org is listed for the proper supervisor, please submit a ticket to have one created.
- The next screen will show you the details of the student and if they have another position
- Graduate Assistants are not permitted to hold any other positions at the institution, if you see the "Add Job" screen, please reach out to Human Resources to discuss the appropriate next steps and updates.
- If no other position appears, confirm you have the correct student and click "Hire"
- Now you can enter the full details on the "Hire Student" page:
- Hire Date: The hire date should be the first day of the semester in which they are working OR a Monday two weeks in advance (if the hire is submitted after the beginning of the semester) to ensure proper time for processing
- Reason - If this is their first time as a GA, select the reason as "New Hire". If they are a returning GA, select "Re-hire".
- Position Section:
- Employee Type is "Student"
- Location - where the student will be primarily working. You can also enter the appropriate general location ("Lancaster", "Hawk Hill Philadelphia Side/Lower Merion Side" or "University City Main")
- Job Details section:
- Job Profile is "Graduate Assistant"
- Job Title - please update this to reflect your department (eg. "Graduate Assistant - Kinney Center") This will also update the "Business Title" - both titles should reflect the department name.
- Pay Rate Type is hourly
- Additional Job Classifications - enter "GB" to populate the hourly graduate assistant Banner E-Class
- Students are always part-time and hourly
- Adjust the Scheduled Weekly Hours (not to exceed 20 hours per week)
- Click "Submit"
- The next task will be "Propose Compensation Hire". This is where you will add the hourly rate.
- Hourly rates for graduate students can be found in the Related Articles on the sidebar.
- A questionnaire will generate to gather tuition benefit information
- First, please specify the department the student will be working in and the student's last day of employment
- If no last day is entered, the student will be automatically terminated in Workday on the last day of finals in the spring semester
- List the number of credits to be funded for each semester (fall/spring/summer)
- Funding - if the funding for the salary and tuition benefits of this position are coming from the same source, affirm that by clicking "Yes".
- If salary and/or any amount of the tuition benefit of this position is coming from multiple sources, click "No" and enter the secondary source and how much is being funded from each in the open text box.
- Affirm that this position meets all qualifications to be a Graduate Assistant and receive tuition credits by clicking "Agree"
- Please attach a position description (template available here)
- You will see a pop-up at the top of your screen confirming your submission and showing you the next step - "Change Organization Assignments". Click "Open" to continue.
- Enter your Cost Center information and click "Submit"
- If you have any questions about which cost center to choose, please work with your Divisional Workday Budget Resource or email budget@sju.edu.
- Next, you will be taken to a screen called "Assign Costing Allocation for Hire Employee"
- If you are hiring via a grant, gift, or program, you must attach the 033 form on this screen - please see the "Related Articles" for more information and screenshots on how to attach this form.
- Once you have completed the costing allocations, you are finished. The process will route to the appropriate approvers for the gift/grant as well as either Academic Finance or the Budget team for full approval. After the budget has been approved, HR will review and approve the hire.
- Division heads will then receive a task in Workday to review and approve the hire.
Once that is completed, HR will review and send an offer letter to the student through Workday. The student will be alerted that there is a task for them in Workday, and they must log in to accept it.
Once the student reviews and accepts the offer, their information and tuition benefit is sent to the Office of Financial Aid.
- If a student has an issue with a bill or is uncertain about where their hire is in the process, please review the Related Article about how to check on the hire process. If the process is with them, please work with them to log into Workday and accept the offer so that financial aid can process their award.
If you have questions or encounter issues with Workday, please submit a ticket. Questions about whether a position qualifies for a graduate assistantship should be directed to the Office of Graduate Administration & Policy.