Academic Year 24-25 Undergraduate Student Payroll Processing

Outstanding Summer appointments (5/19/24 - 8/31/24)

Rapid Student Hire (RSH) templates for for summer student appointments will no longer be available after Monday, August 12, 2024. 8/12/24, is your last day to data enter these appointments.

After 8/12/24, if you still have to appoint a student for work performed from 5/19/24 through 8/31/24, you must complete a Student Personnel Action Form (SPAF) and upload it to Human Resources or deliver it to Tami O’Malley at the Human Resources Employee Service Center in room 325 Whitmore Administration Building. (If student never worked on campus before see Hiring a Brand-New Undergraduate Student Employee.

All current summer student appointments will end on Saturday, August 31, 2024.

2024-25 Academic Year student employment information (9/1/24 through 5/17/25)

The Rapid Student Hire (RSH) templates for summer will be available for data entry on Wednesday, August 14, 2024.

Selecting a template (ANWS/SNWS or AWS3/SWS3) will bring in the default dates for the hiring period we are in.  When inserting a new row please change the begin date and/or end date of the appointment to reflect the start and end date.  

The minimum hourly wage is currently $15.00.

Pre-processing Requirements

Please remember to include the following information when submitting an SPAF:

  1. Appointment Type (Non-Work Study, Work Study or Student Contract)
  2. HR Direct EmpID: if they have never worked on campus and you are unable to hire via RSH please enter their Spire ID (to make sure we hire the correct student for you)
  3. Rec #: enter this for changes to an existing employee record i.e. change of funding or pay rate change (leave empty for brand new employees, or those new to your department). This is not the same as Seq # from the RSH panel. The Rec # for active student employees can be found on active Timesheets, Job Data or Review FERPA Display panels.
  4. Begin and End Date of appointment.
  5. Department Information(Dept Name and HR Dept ID) Please note the HR Dept ID format is A####00
  6. HR DeptID may be different from the DeptID connected to the chart string of who is paying the wages. HR DeptID tells us what HR department will be reporting the hours it may not be as the same as who pays the wages.
  7. HR Account Code (aka HR Combo Code, who is paying the wages)
  8. Hourly Rate (or Biweekly rate for contracts only)
  9. Mail Drop ID, 8 characters long (AKA Check Distribution Code, and is still required)
  10. Appropriate Signatures (Dept. Head, Appointing Authority, PI)
  11. Contact Information of person preparing the form (Name, E-mail, Phone)

Processing procedures

Important: Student Personnel Action Forms should be delivered to Tami O’Malley in Room 325 Whitmore Administration Building or uploaded using this link.

After you have the hire packet in your possession, use Rapid Student Hire (RSH) to create academic year appointments, selecting either ANWS (Academic Non-Work Study) or AWS3 (Academic Work Study Student) as the Hire Template.

For all new student hires (never worked on campus before) you must have their completed Undergraduate Hire Packet in hand (including original I-9 form) before processing their hire.

The RSH process cannot be used to create appointments under any of the following circumstances.

  • If the hourly rate is more than $18.00 per hour. A brief description of the job duties is required on the bottom of the SPAF or attached. All appointments with an hourly rate more than $18.00 should be scanned and emailed directly to: Paula Wetherby (email: wetherby [at] finaid [dot] umass [dot] edu (wetherby[at]finaid[dot]umass[dot]edu)). The Student Employment Office (SEO) will review the job description and if approved forward the SPAF to HR for processing.
  • If the individual shows on “Review FERPA Display” with an EmpID, but “Employee” is not checked, this means they have never had a job at UMA (they may have a Contingent Worker or Person of Interest record, but never hired as an employee).
  • The individual being hired is a graduate student, Contact the Graduate Assistantship Office (GAO) for their forms. All graduate hourly appointments must go directly to the GAO, 517 Goodell Building. GAO will send to HR if approved for processing.
  • Summer Student Contract (SSC)
  • Student is not a U.S. Citizen: If RSH gives you any type of a VISA error message, this person was not a U.S. citizen when they applied to the University. Please review the International Employee Information also included with this email.

If you are unable to hire your new domestic student employee using RSH; complete a Student PAF staple it to the top of the entire New Student Hire Packet (forms only) REMEMBER you still need to send the original I-9 form (section 1 completed by student, section 2 completed by you, and copies of the document(s) used to complete section 2) to Student Payroll, Tami O'Malley, 325 Whitmore Admin. Bldg. We are unable to process the hire into HR Direct until we have all necessary documents in our possession including the original I-9 form with copies of supporting documents.

Required Documentation

If an employee is brand new or has had a break in service of a year or more see Hiring a Brand New Undergraduate Student Employee for more information.

The employing department is responsible for receiving, reviewing, and forwarding the completed new employment forms for all U.S. citizens to Human Resources within 7 days after processing the appointment on RSH.

The department will be notified if any documents are missing or incomplete and they will be responsible for having them redone and resubmitting them to HR, 325 Whitmore.

All paperwork must be in HR by the Pay Friday before an employee’s start date in order to ensure timely payment (sooner is always appreciated).

Previous Employment

  • Students who have been off payroll for more than 17 weeks should complete a new Direct Deposit form. (Note: summer break is 16 weeks so if the student worked through the end of spring, is returning for the first part of fall and has not changed their bank, no new forms will be needed.)
  • Students who are planning on, or have already, changed banks should notify Central HR immediately (before closing their bank account) by updating their direct deposit information online (while active employee) or completing a new Direct Deposit form.
  • Students may choose to adjust their withholding allowances if they claimed Student Exemption from Federal Taxes in 2024 and have not yet re-filed for that exemption in the current academic year. They may update the information in HR Direct once they are an active employee or submit new tax forms to Central HR.
  • Students need to notify Central HR of any change in address, while active employees they may update the information in HR Direct themselves. Updates made in SPIRE or Sprintax do not update HR Direct.

Work Study Information

If you are submitting a student work-study SPAF, email it directly to Paula Wetherby (email: wetherby [at] finaid [dot] umass [dot] edu (wetherby[at]finaid[dot]umass[dot]edu) ). Once approved, the Student Employment Office (SEO) will forward it to Human Resources for processing.

Please keep in mind that it is a Federal regulation to maintain accurate weekly timesheets of all hours performed using work-study awards. Weekly timesheets must be signed by both the student employee and supervisor.

Helpful Resources

Frequently Used Acronyms

  • ASC – Academic Student Contract
  • GAO – Graduate Assistantship Office HR – Human Resources
  • RSH – Rapid Student Hire
  • SEO – Student Employment Office
  • SPAF - Student Personnel Action Form (SPAF)

Contacts by Topic:

  • Student payroll processing
    Tami O’Malley Phone: 413-545-6120
    Email: tomalley [at] umass [dot] edu (tomalley[at]umass[dot]edu)
     
  • Student time reporting
    Time and Labor Phone: 413-545-0391
    Email: timeandlabor [at] umass [dot] edu (timeandlabor[at]umass[dot]edu)
     
  • Work-study
    Paula Wetherby 
    Email: wetherby [at] finaid [dot] umass [dot] edu (wetherby[at]finaid[dot]umass[dot]edu)
     
  • Sprintax (International Employees)
    Jessica Guernsey Phone: 413-545-7743
    Email: guernsey [at] umass [dot] edu (guernsey[at]umass[dot]edu)
     
  • Graduate Student Hourly forms 
    Graduate Assistantship Office
    517 Goodell Building
    Phone: (413)-545-5287
    Email: gradappt [at] grad [dot] umass [dot] edu (gradappt[at]grad[dot]umass[dot]edu)