CUPPA
Graduate, Research, and Teaching Assistant FAQ
Overview
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CUPPA Career Web
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Preliminary paperwork
1. Make sure
you have your letter of invitation for your assistantship, fellowship, or
scholarship for your appointment from the unit, professor, or researcher who
has offered it to you.
2. DO NOT begin work until the person offering your assistantship has given you
your invitation for your assistantship appointment IN WRITING (e-mail is OK). A sure
sign that your appointment letter has not been processed is that you haven’t
received it. Not having an appointment
letter will almost certainly delay your pay.
3. Then, please notify the personnel manager in the CUPPA unit that has offered
you the appointment that you would like to activate your appointment. SIGN YOUR
APPOINTMENT LETTER.
4. Please bring 1) your passport if you have one or 2) your driver’s
license and social security card in order to complete your I-9. If you cannot
produce one of these two sets of identification, speak with the personnel
manager in your department to determine other forms you might use. You will
then be given the following forms to fill out or sign:
All students:
-
- Drug Free Workplace form
- I-9 form. (NB: under federal law, your I-9 form must be filled out
within three working days of your start date).
- Request for
Exception to Limit on Summer Appointment form (only if you are being appointed
to 3 summer months)
International students beginning their first CUPPA appointment will also
have to complete:
- Work authorization form
- Employee Clearance form
If you wish, make copies of these for yourself, and submit the originals to the
personnel manager of your appointing unit.
5. The personnel manager* will then use a UIC personnel software system called
DART to activate an electronic form for you to fill out on a system called
NESSIE. You will receive an automatic email message that will include the web
address and a password to log into NESSIE online at--https://nessie.uihr.uillinois.edu/cf/index.cfm.
Save your NESSIE password. You can use it to check your appointment later!
See below for VERY IMPORTANT POINTS regarding NESSIE. See the CUPPA Quick Guide to NESSIE.
*CUPPA Unit
personnel managers:
For CUPPA Academic
Programs:
Public Administration: Sean Kennelly, sean@uic.edu, or Sophia Radlowski, sophiar@uic.edu
Urban Planning and
Policy: Wei Liu, weiliu@uic.edu
For
Center for Urban
Economic Development, Yibing Li, yibingli@uic.edu
Great Cities
Institute, Joy Pamintuan, joyp@uic.edu
Institute for
Research on Race and Public Policy, Marilyn Miller, msmiller@uic.edu
Survey Research
Lab, Marguerite Harris, margh@uic.edu
Urban Data
Visualization Lab, Wei Liu, weiliu@uic.edu
CUPPA Dean’s
Office, Jennifer Pietka, pietka@uic.edu
6. Once you have completed filling out your information in NESSIE, and you have
clicked your final OK, an e-mail automatically gets sent to the personnel
manager in your appointing unit, letting him or her know a form called the
Personnel Information Transmittal Report (PITR) has been started for you.
7. Into the PITR form the personnel manager enters the dates of your
appointment, your pay rate, and the university account responsible for paying
you and related information, and submits it for approval through the UIC Human
Resources system. You should be able to check your appointment in NESSIE
within a week or two after the unit personnel manager has submitted it electonically
to the Dean's office.
IMPORTANT NESSIE POINTS
Log onto NESSIE and fill out the forms. International students and
students who still formally reside in states with reciprocal taxing agreements
with Illinois, such as Wisconsin residents, MUST go to UIC Payroll to fill out
a paper W4 form, and can't do so on NESSIE. In order to fill out a
W4 at Payroll, an appointment is necessary. Please call 312-996-0706, or
312-996-1922, to make an appointment to fill out your W4. The room where
you fill out your W4 form is Rm. 118,
Direct payroll deposit is the default choice for receiving your pay.
Please indicate your deposit account of choice in NESSIE. We urge you to
do so! This puts the money in your account the morning of payday, and saves
time and worry. If you don't have an account yet in
A NESSIE SNAFU to avoid: Please note that your college degree and date
field is not required by NESSIE, but is required by U of I Human Resources, or
else they won't process your appointment. Please make sure
you fill in your college degree and date before you click the final NESSIE box.
Also, CUPPA requires that you fill out your emergency contact name and phone
numbers in NESSIE. Please make sure you do so before clicking your final
NESSIE "OK."
Make sure you have completed all the information in NESSIE, and have clicked
the final box. Not clicking the final box is the most common reason for
delays in processing your appointment!
Once you've filled out NESSIE, you usually do not have to fill it out again if
you have an assistantship in the next year, nor do you have to fill out forms
2, 3, and 4 above again if your assistantship continues to the next year.
Renewal
Renewals must be negotiated
with the assistantship supervisor each year and for summer sessions. Some
assistantships are part of special programs which commit an assistantship to
you for a specific period, but even in these cases certain conditions may have
to be met that are particular to the specific program. It is always good to
communicate early with your assistantship supervisor about the renewals of your
assistantship. SEE YOUR APPOINTMENT LETTER FOR SPECIFIC DATES OF YOUR
APPOINTMENT.
Please let your CUPPA appointing unit human
resources manager know immediately if you were previously paid in the
If you were an undergraduate
employee at either
UIUC, UIC, or UIS, you still have to fill out NESSIE per
information above.
Working off campus
Generally, students cannot work
full-time outside campus and still have an assistantship.The faculty of CUPPA
would like you to take part in college and campus life, and if you have a 50%
appointment (meaning, 20 hours weekly of time spent on the assistantship), plus
a full time job, plus three classes, you are "burning the candle at both
ends" and not going to benefit as much from your graduate experience as
you might. Please consult with your academic advisor on this question. In
some isolated cases, advanced PhD students who are ABD (all their degree work
completed but their dissertation) may be working outside the university and
also teaching a class as a graduate assistant, but this case is usually
short-term, and one for which we examine other more suitable alternatives.
By Federal Law, international
students on visas with graduate assistantships cannot work outside the
university except under "practical training" or other conditions
subject to the US Immigration and Naturalization Act.
Appointment percentages
During the period from beginning of the term to the end of exams, the Dean's
office can ask the Graduate College to approve under extraordinary conditions
an exception to the 50% to 67% limit (note that 50% is recommended and 67% is
the absolute limit), but this is only with the recommendation of the student's academic
advisor and academic director, and subject to the availability of
funds.
Ending an assistantship early
Please see the Assistant Dean for
Student Services first before you do anything. You must tender a written
resignation. But if you resign at the wrong time, you may owe tuition. So
get good advice before resigning.
Holidays and vacation
If your assistantship runs from 8/16/xx
through 12/31/xx or 5/15/xx or 8/15/xx in a given academic year, you must work
on the assistantship on all days but official
university holidays.
If you are planning to take
vacation days during your assistantship appointment--and this includes Spring
or Winter Break--it is best to notify your assistantship director of these
dates and accept a small reduction in your stipend accordingly, or make an agreement
with your assistantship supervisor to "make up your hours" by working
either before or after the break or vacation. Money not paid to you because of
your vacation time can then be used to benefit other students if you elect not
to work during certain weeks, but it is best to make these arrangements in
advance.
With the prior approval (preferably
written) of your assistantship supervisor only, you may with their consent
arrange to "make up your hours" before or after your absence if you
are going to be away during certain days of your assistantship. A director or
CUPPA unit may have a policy against this practice, and unit policies take
precedence in this case.
There is sometimes confusion
because Spring and Winter Breaks are breaks in the
academic schedule, but not in university employment. CUPPA is very willing
to make reasonable arrangements for you to take time off, but at the same time,
there are no paid vacations for students. You must either make up assistantship
time you miss if paid, or elect not to be paid for assistantship time you know
you will miss.
Stipend
Research assistants are paid stipends
according to a scale called the Campus Stipend Minima For Graduate Assistantship [not yet posted for Academic
2006-7 as of 7/11/06] set by the UIC campus each year. This scale
determines minimum stipend. Students with advanced skills can be paid
more according to college practice if the assistantship position is advanced
technology specific. Each year, the campus pay scale is increased, some
years to match inflation, some years to go beyond inflation. An
explanatory section at the bottom of the Stipend Minima web page lets you know
that you must work 91 days in a given semester, 41 in summer semester, in order
to obtain a tuition and fee waiver.
Payment dates
Graduate research assistants receive
their stipends on the sixteenth (16th) of the month, at the END of a month of
previous work, according to the UIC
Payroll Schedule. If you look at the Payroll Schedule closely, you'll
note that the pay periods that last one month apply to you. Each
pay date has a "calc," or calculation date about two weeks before the
pay date, which is the deadline for the computer to have received your
completed PITR. If your appoinment is processed and fully approved by the
University before "calc," you should get your paycheck at the latest
by the beginning of the next month. Typically, students whose
assistantships are fully approved "in the system" by the first few
days of the semester should see their first check on September 16 for the fall,
or January 16 for the Spring. In some cases, you
will see your first paycheck on the "pay adjustment" pay date, which
is each Friday. This means you may get your first paycheck in mid-September (if
Fall semester) or mid-January (if Spring semester),
but this is not guaranteed. However, if the processing of your
appointment is delayed and the "calc" date is missed, your pay won't
come until the next pay adjustment date, usually the first or second Friday
after the 16th of the month.
Bi-weekly time sheets
Research assistants must
complete time
sheets on a bi-weekly (every other week) basis. The reason for filling out
time sheets is that funders of research and other university activity can
demand evidence of "time and effort" spent on the project, and
sometimes audit a funded research project or event after the fact to make sure
there is evidence that the people who were supposed to be working on a project
actually did. Please fill them out every two weeks and submit them to your
supervisor.
Missed payments
If you don't get your stipend check or direct
deposit on the anticipated pay date, please notify your appointing unit
personnel manager immediately. If they are not available, please contact the
Dean's office. In some cases of extreme need or University error, you can ask
for a "pay adjustment". These are paid each Friday if processed
by noon the previous Tuesday.
Direct deposit, tax withholdings and more
You can change your payroll direct deposit,
your tax withholding, or make other payroll changes online in NESSIE. If it
does not work, please contact your appointing unit personnel manager. They can
provide you with the proper form to make these changes. See the CUPPA Quick Guide to
NESSIE.
Minimum
percentage appointment for tuition and fee waiver
You must have a minimum
25%, or 10 hour a week assistantship, for 91 days of a Spring or Fall semester
(41 days if Summer) to receive a tuition and fee waiver. The deadline for
accepting a research assistantship for Tuition and Service Fee Waiver purposes
for the Fall, 2007 semester is September 15, 2007 (in this case, the 91 day
appointment must run through 12/14/07), and for Spring, 2008 semester is
February 9, 2008 (in this case, the 91 day appointment must run through 5/9/08).
The case for international students
is different. International graduate students in their first year of
assistantship must meet the required level of financial responsibility for
their assistantship. If international students cannot declare any other
financial support for their entry to the
Little known fact: If you have an
assistantship in the Spring semester that carries a tuition and fee waiver, you
also get a base tuition and fee waiver (in most cases, the tuition differential
is not covered) for the Summer term immediately following, even if you don't
have a Summer assistantship, but you must register for at least 3 course hours
in the Summer.
Minimum graduate course hours to maintain tuition and fee waiver
For
non-international students, the minimum graduate course hours one can register
for during the Fall or Spring semester and still keep a graduate assistantship
with the standard tuition and fee waiver per CUPPA’s internal
requirements for both PA and UPP is twelve (12) hours effective the 2007-8
Academic Year.
CUPPA graduate tuition differential amounts
Fall and Spring Semesters
Students taking 12 or more semester hours of course work: $2,000
Students taking 6–11 semester hours of course work: $1,333
Students taking 1–5 semester hours of course work: $667
Students registered for zero hours: $333
Students taking 6 or more semester
hours of course work: $1,000
Students taking 3–11 semester hours of course work: $667
Students taking 1–2 semester hours of course work: $333
Students registered for zero hours: $167
Which assistantships cover tuition differential charges
- Abraham Lincoln Fellowships
- Board of Trustees Tuition and Service Fee Waivers
- Dean’s Scholar Fellowships
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarships
- University Fellowships
Receiving tuition bills
If you receive a tuition
bill in September (during Fall semester) or January (during Spring semester),
the best thing to do is wait until your next tuition statement in October
(during Fall term) or February (during Spring term), when the Student Accounts
Receivable system usually updates and "finds" your assistantship. You
should be able to check NESSIE to see if your assistantship is really there.
You can also check your online student bill using UIC Web for Student to view
your student bill and credits posted to your account.
If you want to make sure that you
never get such a tuition notice, your assistantship generally has to be
approved "in the system" a full month before the first day of the
term.
If you keep getting the tuition
notices, and you wish to put an end to them, you can ask your appointing unit
personnel manager to print out a copy of your RA appointment information from
the PITR form and bring it to the office at Student Accounts Receivable that is
sending you the notices. This should put a stop to the notices.
For further information on your
student tuition account, check the website of UIC
Student Financial Services, which has a number of online pay and query
services.
Waiving student health insurance fees
If you have
comparable coverage through an employer or a family member, you can have the
fee permanently waived by completing a waiver form, as indicated below, but you
must meet the deadline for the semester in question.
Students have the option to waive
the insurance coverage by completing a waiver form and presenting evidence of
other comparable insurance coverage.
Tip: If you do waive your insurance coverage one semester, and then activate it the next, please check each semester to make sure that your insurance is in force.
The CampusCare website
includes:
- Waiver Form, Reinstatement Application Form, and Dependent Enrollment Form
- A description of covered benefits, premium rates, CampusCare Health Center
Physicians, FAQs and more
Tuition
and fee deferment as taxable income
Whether your tuition and fee deferments are
considered taxable income depends on what kind of assistantship you have. See:
http://www.obfs.uillinois.edu/obfshome.cfm?level=2&Path=earnings&XMLData=gradtaxes
Applying
If you are a
Complete information on the FWS Program and how it relates to other forms of
federal financial aid can be found at-- http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/Stud_guide.pdf.
Should you decide to apply for any federal aid next year, please visit the Office of Financial Aid's website
for step-by-step instructions.
If you already have a processed FAFSA on file with the UIC Office of Financial
Aid and would like to be considered for the FWS Program as well as loans,
please contact your financial aid adviser immediately. If you are interested,
please submit your FAFSA as soon as possible, and
speake with your home Academic Unit program staff (in UPP or PA) as soon as
possible.
Are available at—
http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/admin/secure/students
Students cannot start their
graduate assistantships and receive a tuition and fee waiver along with a
stipend until they get a permanent SSN. Please go the UIC Office of International Services (OIS),
and they will help you get your SSN. Sometimes, OIS needs you to make an
appointment, so call them first before heading over to OIS. OIS may ask you
to bring your Employee Clearance Form (see the next FAQ below) from your
appointing unit with you, so they can take care that form and your I-9 (bring
the needed identification from the next FAQ below) in one visit, but the UIC
Human Resources will not let us start your appointment, and you cannot receive
a stipend for any date previous to the date you get your permanent SSN. You
must be registered for 12 semester hours initially for your SSN to be
processed. Thereafter, you can maintain an assistantship with a minimum of
8 semester hours.
Also, check the FAQ at the OIS
website. They are very helpful for international students.
Permanent SSN
Once you have your SSN,
report back to the personnel manager in your appointing unit (the one
which is giving you your letter of appointment; if you do your assistantship
research, for example, at CUED, but are a UPP student, see the personnel
manager at CUED), fill out an Employee Clearance form, and bring it to OIS with
your passport and identification. OIS will help you fill out your I-9
form and sign the Employee Clearance form. Bring the completed Employee
Clearance and the I-9 forms back to the personnel manager in your appointing
unit.
SEVIS
Please see the 6/4/03
memo.
Problems
with research assistantship supervisors
If you begin to have a problem with your
supervisor, speak with your him or her first and try to work it out. If
this does not work, make an appointment with the CUPPA Assistant Dean for
Student Services, Valerie Werner, vwerne1@uic.edu,
312-413-2292, or the Director of your academic program, either UPP or PA.
If you have tried this already, and you need to go beyond this level, make an
appointment with the Associate Dean or Dean.
CUPPA observes the UIC policies against sexual
harassment and against
discrimination. If you have a sexual harassment or discrimination
complaint, please bring it immediately to the attention of the Director of your
academic program, the Assistant Dean for Student Services, or the Dean's
office if necessary. You can also make your complaint directly to the UIC Office of Access and Equity.
Academic grievances
See the UIC Academic Grievance
Policy page .
Problems with other students
Please contact your academic program director, or
the CUPPA Assistant Dean for Student Services if you are having a problem with
another student. You also have a right to lodge a complaint with the Dean
of Student Affairs for the UIC campus.
Americans
with Disabilities Act
The University of Illinois
at
The UIC
Office of Access and Equity also provides resources for
Reporting building issues
Please see the CUPPA How To page on
reporting building and safety issues.
Technical assistance
Contact the CUPPATECH team
at cuppatech@uic.edu, or 6-2009 from any
UIC campus phone for assistance with computer or other technical equipment
problems that occur in CUPPA Hall or CUPPA space in Art & Design Hall,
including classrooms 2232, 2234, 2236.
Safety concerns
In the case of an
emergency such as flood, fire, power failure, or police matter, call 6-HELP
from any UIC campus phone. Then call the Dean's office at 3-8088, or
6-2177. Please see the CUPPA
Emergency Procedures page.
If there is an intruder or suspicious person in the UIC building where you are, call the UIC Police at 6-HELP from any UIC campus phone immediately.
Students rights and duties
are listed in the Student
Disciplinary Code.
UIC Computing Acceptable Use Policy
Conditions For Use of
Academic Computing and Communications Center (ACCC) Services & Facilities
Revised 8/17/07
For suggested corrections and additions to this page, please e-mail: cuppa@uic.edu