[ Click to view a PDF version of this page Student Processing Tips and Reminders ]
Student Processing Tips and Reminders
Student Employment Website: As a reminder, the Student Employment Website was created to answer many questions related to hiring and updating student jobs.
Payroll Guide Available: New student employees should complete payroll documentation through ConnectCarolina Self Service. Note: access to Self Service is not available until the hire effective date has been reached and the Hire ePAR has fully executed. The Payroll Guide for UNC-CH Employees is available to inform employees of Self-Service options in ConnectCarolina. This guide was primarily designed to help orient new employees but also provides valuable information for existing employees. The guide contains an easy-to-follow checklist to ensure employees are taxed as expect
ed and receive their first paycheck via direct deposit.
Student FICA Exemption: To be exempt from having FICA taxes withheld on payroll wages, student employees must be enrolled at least half-time in coursework during the compensated pay period. Additional details.
Hire Effective Date Changes
Changing a Hire Date: In the event you need to change the effective date of an employee’s hire, please submit a ServiceNow/HELP ticket. The effective date cannot be adjusted via an ePAR.
When submitting the HELP ticket:
- Go to unc.edu.
- Ensure you are logged in (note: If you do not see your name in the far right, click the login link).
- Select Request Service (please do not submit using ‘Ask Us’ since this could delay routing to the appropriate team and the request form is different),
- Select Support for Enterprise Administrative Systems.
- Click ConnectCarolina HR Data Changes
- Choose the ‘Hire Date Change’ then from drop down arrow on the ConnectCarolina Data Changes page
ServiceNow Information
When submitting tickets via ServiceNow, please confirm the request includes the first name and last name, and PID (of the person the action is being taken on behalf of) in the description of the request. Including this information in the description reduces processing time for the various groups involved in the resolution.
SHRA Students
SHRA Students: SHRA Students will be terminated based on their Expected Job End Date. Please review the Expected End Date Report from the HR/Payroll Reporting Dashboard and submit an Edit Existing Job Change ePAR to extend their end date, if appropriate.
- The auto-term process occurs daily except during payroll lockout and weekends.
- If a SHRA Student was auto-termed but should not have been, please submit a HELP ticket to have the termination action backed out. The timing of this is important, particularly for TIM – please submit the request to back out the auto-term before the pay period close so that the change is reflected in TIM in the same pay period. Please do not submit a Rehire action.
Please refer to the Quick Reference SHRA Student Summer Employment document for information regarding student employment during the summer.
SHRA Student Transfers: In the event you have a SHRA Work Study student who needs to transition to a SHRA Student or SHRA Temporary or a SHRA Student needs to be hired into a SHRA Temporary position post-graduation, please hire/transfer them into the appropriate position type (i.e., a non-Student Work Study position). This will ensure all other employee data is updated accordingly and employees are paid correctly. Updating the job code of their current position will not update all the necessary fields.
SHRA Work Study: Federal Work-Study (FWS) students may work up until the last day of finals if they have remaining FWS award eligibility. If you receive notification about work-study overages, please initiate a PAAT entry right away.
EHRA Students
EHRA Student Stipend Calculator: The stipend calculator tool can assist users in determining what salary to enter in an ePAR, based on the graduate student’s start/expected job end dates, to ensure the intended amount of pay. The stipend calculator can be found on The Graduate School’s website.
EHRA Student Work Break/Reappointment Timing: EHRA Students will be terminated based on their Expected Job End Date. Please review the Expected End Date Report from the HR/Payroll Dashboard located in the Reports/Queries folder of the HR Work Center in ConnectCarolina and submit an Edit Existing Job Change ePAR to extend their end date or place on Short Work Break, as appropriate. As a reminder, the EHRA Student auto-term process now runs throughout the month.
- From the 1st through the 14th of the month it will run daily and terminate any EHRA Student with an Expected Job End Date of that day or before.
- On the 15th and continuing through the end of the month, anyone with an Expected Job End Date within the current month will be terminated. This process will run earlier in the month of December to adjust for the earlier Payroll deadline that occurs at calendar year end.
- Auto-terminations will not occur during payroll lockout.
- The auto-term process runs around 1am.
- A student will not be auto-termed if there is an ePAR in progress for that Empl Record.
Given the process, if you do not want an EHRA Student to be terminated, please submit a Reappointment or Short Work Break action, and extend their end date prior to their current Expected Job End Date or the 15th of the month, whichever is earlier.
In the event a student is terminated inadvertently, it is important to submit a Service Request/HELP ticket as soon as possible to request the termination be removed. Please do not submit a Rehire action.
Short Work Break: Short Work Break temporarily places an EHRA Student in a payroll status of Work Break, while their HR status remains active. Short Work Break is intended for EHRA Students who will return to work after a summer or semester break. A Short Work Break should not exceed a year or be used to place someone in an unpaid status indefinitely. If the student is not planning to return, please do not use short work break but instead, terminate the appointment.
Return from Work Break: If an EHRA Student is returning from work break, the action / action reason code Return from Work Break / EHRA Reappointment is required to re-start pay. Note: if you submit a Hire ePAR and transfer a student from a job on Short Work Break, the Short Work Break status carries over with the transfer. As such, the student should first be returned from work break before submitting the transfer.
GradStar: There are 6 job codes that send information to GradStar:
- 800169-Graduate Teaching Assistant
- 800170-Graduate Research Assistant
- 800171-Fellow Trainee
- 800172-Graduate Teaching Fellow
- 800183-Senior Teaching Fellow
- 800184-Instructional Assistant
Students with the above job codes will show up in GradStar once their HIRE (or Return from Work Break) ePAR has executed and the date is current. Future dated actions do not appear.
Students who are Teaching: Access to the Faculty Center, where class rosters are accessed and grades are submitted, is contingent on an active job with a current date in one of the 6 job codes. This makes the timing of hires, reappointments, and extensions even more important. If a student who is teaching needs access to the Faculty Center extended to submit grades, you need to extend the Expected End Date on job to reflect a date when grades will be entered by either entering a hire transfer into a non-comp job and updating the Expected End Date or placing the student on Short Work Break and updating the Expected End Date. Either one of these options should move the student back to active status for the Faculty Center but not impact overall pay (assuming payroll deadlines are met).
Reminder – If you hired the student as a Graduate Assistant over the summer and they are now a Graduate Research Assistant or Graduate Teaching Assistant (or other from the list above), you will need to do a HIRE/Transfer action to move them from a Graduate Assistant to a Graduate Research Assistant or Graduate Teaching Assistant. If you use the Edit Existing Job ePAR and change the job code, the student will not show up in GradStar.
Retro Pay for EHRA Hires and Return from Work Break late actions: In the event a hire or return from work break action missed the Payroll deadline, then please submit a ServiceNow/HELP ticket to ensure retro pay is included in the employee’s next pay
Timing of Multiple ePARS
As a reminder, two ePARs should not be out routing for approval that impact the same job for an employee at the same time. For changes to the position, such as a supervisor or FTE, wait until the position ePAR is fully executed in ConnectCarolina before submitting the Edit Existing Job Change ePAR. Then the Edit Existing Job ePAR will pull in the updated and correct information from position (e.g., updated supervisor, FTE) to enable additional changes on job (e.g., TIM approver, updates to compensation).
Terminating Jobs
SHRA Student job: When terminating an SHRA student job, please use an effective date within the current bi-weekly unless you need to enter a retro date for compliance reasons (i.e., for work authorization, student graduated, etc.). Entering a date multiple pay cycles in the past can create an unintended employment gap on other secondary jobs. Please use the UNC Employee Information in the Person Data folder from the HR WorkCenter to see if the individual has any secondary jobs.
EHRA Students on Work Break: EHRA Students who are on a Short Work Break do not need to be returned from work break prior to being terminated. EHRA Students only need to be returned from work break if they are being reappointed or if their job record will be transferring to another appointment.
Action/Action Reasons Guidelines for Student Actions
Updating end date for SHRA students:
- Use action Data Change (DTA) with Expected End Date Change (EED).
- If the student compensation rate is changing, also add a row (click on the +) Pay Rate Change (PAY) with Student/Temp Pay Adjustment (STM) [or FTE Change (FTE) if this is more applicable].
Placing EHRA students on Short Work Break:
- Use the Edit Existing ePAR, update the Expected Job End Date to Fall semester (or later) and use the action Short Work Break (SWB) with EHRA Student Short Work Break (ESW). SWB and ESW will move the student to an inactive payroll status for this job.
Returning EHRA students from Short Work Break:
- Use action Return from Work Break (RWB) with EHRA Student Reappointment (GSR). RWB and GSR moves the student back to an active payroll status for this job. The Payroll Status can be viewed in UNC Employee Information or Job Data.
- If the student compensation rate is changing, also add a row (click on the +) Pay Rate Change (PAY) with Student/Temp Pay Adjustment (STM) [or FTE Change (FTE) if this is more applicable].
Reappointing EHRA students:
- Use action Job Change (JRC) with Reappointment (RAP) for regular reappointments.
- If the student compensation rate is changing, also add a row (click on the +) Pay Rate Change (PAY) with Student/Temp Pay Adjustment (STM) [or FTE Change (FTE) if this is more applicable].
HR/Payroll Reporting Dashboard
The HR/Payroll Reporting Dashboard is a repository of reports located in the Reports/Queries folder of the HR Workcenter in ConnectCarolina and can also be reached by a tile on the ConnectCarolina Admin Home Page.
Reports and queries continue to be added. Reports can be exported to different formats including into Excel for filtering/sorting. Reports in the Data Cleanup folder should be run routinely and corrective ePARs submitted timely.
Expected Job End Date
Monitoring the expected job end dates for Student employees and ensuring individuals have been reappointed or extended prior to their end date is crucial, including students with both SHRA and EHRA jobs. Note: The Expected End Date is not the last day worked; it’s last day +1. Use the Job: Expected End Date report located on the HR/Payroll Reporting Dashboard, which is in real time and includes future date extension information.
Monitoring Pay for Students
Payroll Reports
HR Reps are expected to verify that HR actions processed during the pay period are reflected correctly in employee paychecks prior to payroll confirm. The following two reports are located on the HR/Payroll Reporting Dashboard and should be run every pay period, and specifically the day before confirming for each biweekly and monthly pay-period. If there is a question or issue regarding an employee’s pay, please submit a Service Request/HELP ticket immediately so there is an opportunity to fix the issue before Payroll confirms.
- Payroll Prelim Report: This report is real time and includes TIM details of pay. Note: If there is no information visible on the report (and you are running the report during Payroll lockout and before payroll confirm), it means payroll is currently running a process so re-run the report in an hour.
- Payroll Wage Change Report: This report shows employees with pay increases and decreases, a dock in pay, additional pay, and one-time payments in the current pay cycle.
For detailed instructions on how to use the payroll reports including tips to prevent under and overpayments, refer to the Working with Payroll help document in ConnectCarolina. As a reminder, Payroll calendars can be found on the Payroll website.