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Beginning August 2021, changes will be made to the timing and method of some student award payments to ensure the University is compliant with federal and state regulations. Starting in 2020, a workgroup including members from The Graduate School, Office of Scholarships and Student Aid, University Finance (Accounts Payable, Cashier, Payroll), the Chancellor’s Office, Office of Sponsored Research and Information Technology Services took a comprehensive look at how financial aid payments are made, and they identified some changes that need to be made to ensure compliance. Tracking the payments Students at Carolina are involved in many types of activities and receive opportunities and payments from a variety of sources including federal or state aid, scholarships, training grants and awards. Most of these payments are considered financial aid, and as such, the sum of these payments should not exceed the cost of attendance for that student. If the financial aid a student receives exceeds their cost of attendance, the University is out of compliance. What’s considered financial aid? Any money paid to support a student’s academic progress is considered financial aid unless it is compensation for work performed, like being a teaching assistant or reimbursement of expenses for travel performed on behalf of the University. For example, … Read more
Beginning August 2021, changes will be made to the timing and method of some student award payments to ensure the University is compliant with federal and state regulations. Starting in 2020, a workgroup including members from The Graduate School, Office of Scholarships and Student Aid, University Finance (Accounts Payable, Cashier, Payroll), the Chancellor’s Office, Office of Sponsored Research and Information Technology Services took a comprehensive look at how financial aid payments are made, and they identified some changes that need to be made to ensure compliance. Tracking the payments Students at Carolina are involved in many types of activities and receive opportunities and payments from a variety of sources including federal or state aid, scholarships, training grants and awards. Most of these payments are considered financial aid, and as such, the sum of these payments should not exceed the cost of attendance for that student. If the financial aid a student receives exceeds their cost of attendance, the University is out of compliance. What’s considered financial aid? Any money paid to support a student’s academic progress is considered financial aid unless it is compensation for work performed, like being a teaching assistant or reimbursement of expenses for travel performed on behalf of the University. For example, if a … Read more
Email Communication Send Date: August 26, 2021 From: ConnectCarolina Communications on behalf of Yiwen Wang, Financial Accounting Manager, Accounting Services To: Users who create journal entries Subject: Changes in Correcting Journal Entries for Student Payments Sent on behalf of Yiwen Wang, Financial Accounting Manager, Accounting Services You are receiving this message because you can create journal entries in ConnectCarolina. Beginning August 1, 2021, payments for student stipends, scholarships, fellowships, awards or any other payments that directly benefit education-related expenses for undergraduate or graduate students will be paid through GradStar. Please refer to the Student Payments Moving to GradStar email for more details. To keep GradStar and ConnectCarolina in sync, the following twenty-nine GradStar accounts can no longer be corrected by Correcting JE (Correcting Journal Entry) in ConnectCarolina. Student payments recorded in GradStar should be corrected through the GradStar system if possible. For student payments that cannot be corrected through GradStar, they can be corrected by Other Campus JE (Other Campus Journal Entry) in ConnectCarolina. Please be aware GL account number cannot be changed. Supporting documentation, including copy of original payment transaction, should be attached for justification. You can contact at Yiwen Wang at yiwen_wang@unc.edu or accounting@unc.edu for questions. … Read more
This webinar covers topics such as how students receive money, accounts allowed and not allowed, and some scenarios of student awards paid by voucher. Due to a technical issue, this recording ends in the middle of the last slide. You can also find the slides for the webinar and the answers to the questions that were asked during the webinar posted on CCinfo.unc.edu as well.
ConnectCarolina process improvements continue when a much anticipated Graduate Student Hub launches this summer. If you are a Student Services Manager, you’ll soon see a Graduate Student Hub tile on your ConnectCarolina Admin homepage. “Hub” really says it all. Student academic information, funding information, frequently used ConnectCarolina queries and reports that reside on multiple in ConnectCarolina will now be accessible from one place. One of the most exciting features for student services managers is the Graduate Student Tracking page. It’s easy to search by student or by program and plan and find comprehensive information about students in seven key areas: Student Profile Information: photo, PID, address, program, emergency contact, and an optional area for departments to designate the academic advisor or mentor and an option to add notes about interactions with the student Degree Progress: program details, leave history and key milestones Achievements: memberships, licenses and certifications, student presentations, and so on. Courses Taken: information on completed classes such as hours, course names, and instructors ·Courses Taught: information on classes taught such as section number and enrollment Funding: stipends, tuition awards and other information from GradStar and GSHIP, and other funding Alumni Info: email addresses and employment information for alumni What started out as a … Read more
ConnectCarolina process improvements continue when a much anticipated Graduate Student Hub launches this summer. If you are a Student Services Manager, you’ll soon see a Graduate Student Hub tile on your ConnectCarolina Admin homepage. “Hub” really says it all. Student academic information, funding information, frequently used ConnectCarolina queries and reports that reside on multiple pages within ConnectCarolina will now be accessible from one place. One of the most exciting features for student services managers is the Graduate Student Tracking page. It’s easy to search by student or by program and plan and find comprehensive information about students in seven key areas: Student Profile Information: photo, PID, address, program, emergency contact, and an optional area for departments to designate the academic advisor or mentor and an option to add notes about interactions with the student Degree Progress: program details, leave history and key milestones Achievements: memberships, licenses and certifications, student presentations, and so on Courses Taken: information on completed classes such as hours, course names, and instructors Courses Taught: information on classes taught such as section number and enrollment Funding: stipends, tuition awards and other information from GradStar and GSHIP, and other funding Alumni Info: email addresses and employment information for … Read more
Have you tried out the searchable online help in ConnectCarolina? It contains information from many of the training materials and other resources in a searchable format. You may notice the Help icon when you’re navigating in certain pages in ConnectCarolina.
In August, the timing and method of some student award payments were changed to ensure the University remains compliant with federal and state regulations. Following that successful launch, the team is working on Phase 2, which includes: 1. More Efficient Way to Request Increases to Cost of Attendance In some cases when a student receives a new award, the student’s cost of Attendance (COA) can be increased and that means the new award doesn’t affect the student’s other financial aid. Currently, to request an increase, the awarding department emails the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid who manually adjusts the student’s COA if appropriate. Starting later this year, departments will be able to request a COA increase online and, if appropriate, the request will automatically increase the COA in the Financial Aid system. 2. Capturing Non-Monetary Awards and Pre-Paid Awards Students may be given non-monetary awards, such as computers and supplies, or pre-paid awards like gift cards. These should be considered financial aid but currently aren’t. The system will soon allow departments to enter this information and report it to Financial Aid. 3. Down the Road: Enhanced Reporting Because all departmental student awards are now moving through the same process, it’s a good opportunity to enhance reporting for schools, … Read more
The GradStar session will cover an introduction to the system, the latest updates and enhancements, and how GradStar awards affect a student’s financial aid. To just view the slides from this presentation, click here.
The GradStar session will cover an introduction to the system, the latest updates and enhancements, and how GradStar awards affect a student’s financial aid. To view the live recording of this presentation, click here.
This webinar covers two new error checks that have been put into the Gradstar system, and what you can do to prevent such errors. Going forward, Gradstar won’t be able to process entries with errors, which could affect whether recipients receive their awards.
Slides from the GradStar webinar.
Employees who have access to enter student payments in Accounts Payable (AP) were invited to a Changes to Student Award Payments for Voucher Preparers webinar to learn more about the changes being made to student payments. When UNC-matriculated students receive payment for their academic benefit, it is considered financial aid. Therefore, beginning August 2, all student financial aid must only be entered through GradStar ONLY. When is it OK to use a voucher for a student payment? There are still instances when a student payment is a) not for work performed or b) for the student’s direct academic benefit, and can be paid with a voucher, including the following: The payment is an award or prize for a contest open to the public or to faculty and staff (not just for students). You are reimbursing or prepaying for work on behalf of the University. You are reimbursing the student for travel on behalf of the University (primarily benefiting the University, not the student). Examples: Making a trip to the airport to pick up a visitor to the department or attending a student recruitment event on behalf of the department. Some accounts won’t allow vouchers. The campus voucher system will no longer allow you to enter accounts that are clearly for financial aid. You’ll receive an error and won’t be able to … Read more
Employees who have access to enter student payments in Accounts Payable (AP) were invited to a Changes to Student Award Payments for Voucher Preparers webinar to learn more about the changes being made to student payments. When UNC-matriculated students receive payment for their academic benefit, it is considered financial aid. Therefore, beginning August 2, all student financial aid must only be entered through GradStar ONLY. When is it OK to use a voucher for a student payment? There are still instances when a student payment is a) not for work performed or b) for the student’s direct academic benefit, and can be paid with a voucher, including the following: The payment is an award or prize for a contest open to the public or to faculty and staff (not just for students). You are reimbursing or prepaying for work on behalf of the University. You are reimbursing the student for travel on behalf of the University (primarily benefiting the University, not the student). Examples: Making a trip to the airport to pick up a visitor to the department or attending a student recruitment event on behalf of the department. Some accounts won’t allow vouchers. The campus voucher system will no longer allow you to enter accounts that are clearly for financial aid. You’ll receive an error and won’t be able to … Read more
To: Voucher Preparers, Campus Unit Finance Leads Hello, Over the last few months, we’ve told you that beginning August 1, payments that directly benefit education-related expenses for undergraduate or graduate students will be paid through GradStar. They can no longer be paid through the campus voucher system. Last week, we held a webinar to give you more information about what that looks like as you work with student payments. If you weren’t able to attend the webinar or want to review it for clarification, we’ve included a link to it below, along with some other information you may find useful as you work with student payments. Where you can find more information You may find the following resources useful as you work with student payments: The recording of the Changes to Student Award Payments for Voucher Preparers webinar posted on CCinfo.unc.edu. The slides from the Changes to Student Award Payments for Vouchers Preparers webinar posted on CCinfo.unc.edu. Guidance for Training Awards and GradStar from the Office of Sponsored Research (link will be live on Friday, July 30). Where to get help As Janet Rupert, Director of Accounts Payable and Vendor Services, put it during the webinar “there may be some back and forth at the beginning while we’re … Read more
Email Communications Send Date: July 12, 2021 From: Janet Rupert, Director, Accounts Payable & Vendor Services To: Staff who create vouchers to pay students Subject: Reminder of Student Payments Moving to GradStar You are receiving this message because you have access to create vouchers in ConnectCarolina. Hello, Do you create vouchers to pay students? If so, we invite you to a webinar to learn more about changes coming to student payments. Reminder: Student Payments Moving to GradStar As a reminder, beginning August 1, 2021, payments that directly benefit education-related expenses for undergraduate or graduate students will no longer be paid through the campus voucher system. To ensure the University remains compliant, the system will prevent you from saving your voucher if you use an account that can only be used in GradStar. Join Us for a Webinar to Learn More Join us for the Changes to Student Payments for Voucher Preparers Webinar on Tuesday, July 20 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. In this session, we plan to: Give a high-level overview of student awards and where each type is entered. Discuss the accounts not allowed to be entered as vouchers. Discuss scenarios of payment types to avoid having them rejected. Let you know where you can go to find help. We will … Read more
Email Communication Send Date: April 28, 2021 From: ConnectCarolina Communications on behalf of Janet Rupert, Director, and Justin Hanford, Voucher Supervisor, Accounts Payable and Vendor Services To: Campus Voucher Preparers Subject: Student Payments Moving to GradStar Beginning Aug. 1, 2021, payments for student stipends, scholarships, fellowships, awards or any other payments that directly benefit education-related expenses for undergraduate or graduate students will no longer be paid through Accounts Payable campus vouchers. These payments will be entered in GradStar, the University’s reporting system. This includes chartfield accounts that begin with 568. Award accounts using number 569190 should be entered in GradStar, unless payment is for an award that is also open to faculty, staff or the public outside of the University. Beverly Wyrick, director of finance and administration for the Graduate School, has announced the change in the memo Changes Coming to Student Payments. The upcoming changes will affect student payments previously entered in Accounts Payable campus vouchers as well as all vouchers entered from this point forward. We are sending this now because vouchers created in Accounts Payable for payments due in August 2021 and later will be denied. Therefore, we advise against creating August vouchers for Accounts Payable student payments. Please hold the … Read more
[ 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 … Read more
This self-paced course explains the difference between deleting and inactivating a GradStar award. It also covers the steps you’ll need to take to change a student’s estimated billing units and funding percentage and how to split a student’s award between two departments.
This self-paced course covers the steps you’ll need to take to gain access to GradStar and the different types of financial aid awards. You’ll learn how to view a student’s record in GradStar, mark a student as eligible to receive an award and enter multiple types of awards in the system.