Frequently Asked Questions

On this page you will find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about hiring and paying Homewood students. If you have a question that isn’t answered on this page, please contact us.

How to hire a student using work-study (FWS)?

The same as when hiring any new student employee, you must first make certain that you have a vacant position. For this, you can check PPose. Once you confirm that you have a vacant position, you will initiate an ISR New Hire form. When completing the New Hire for a student with work-study, you must enter the PDF Document: FWS Z-Code and award dates. This will trigger the payroll system to automatically charge the correct percentage of the student’s wage to the work-study budget. Once the work-study award is depleted, your budget will be charged 100% for all hours worked.

Before starting the ISR New Hire, be sure to ask the student for their award information (FWS Authorization Form). Using MyJHU, the student will sign into SIS and select the appropriate academic year. Assuming the student has an FWS award, they will click on the Federal Work-Study Authorization Form which they can save as a PDF to provide/email to their campus employer.

What should I do about a returning student (already in SAP with my dept. info) who receives a new work-study award?

This refers to students with Federal Work-Study who will continue to work in the same department/same job either between academic years (or) if you hired the student non-FWS and they now have FWS (within the same year). In either case, you will not complete an ISR. Instead, you must submit an FWS Job Continuation Form. Please note: If the hourly rate of pay is different from what currently exists in SAP, you must also submit an ISR Salary Change.

How do I pay a student on a ‘salaried’ basis using work-study?

Only graduate students may be paid salaried using work-study; undergraduates using work-study must be paid hourly.

The first step is to determine the number of pay-cycles based on the total award divided by the semi-monthly salary. For example, $5000 award/$1000 semi-monthly salary = 5 pays. Next, you must determine the amount to be charged to each budget (FWS/Dept.). For example, $1,000 semi-monthly salary / 70% = $700 to the FWS budget (and) 30% = $300 to the department budget. Both budget lines must be included on the ISR. For this example, the start and end dates will extend over 5 pays.

How do I pay an award or prize money to a student?

Each year, academic departments present cash awards and prizes to their students. The process for these type of payments depend on the nature and/or purpose of the gift. Thus, you must first determine if the nature of the award/prize is employment or non-employment related?

Employment-related: These include the Research Poster Award, Graduate Teaching Awards, the Science Service Award, etc. The payment would be processed through the payroll system in accordance with the university finance/controller web site which states, “in the event that the award or prize is employment-related it would be treated the same as those given to employees—it would be taxable as compensation and must be paid through payroll”
Non-employment-related: These include the Undergraduate Research Award, WSE Convocation Awards, the Dean’s Safety Award, etc. Payments for awards and prizes presented to students in recognition of academic achievements/pursuits and are not directly linked to a wage position would be processed through Accounts Payable. This is in accordance with the university finance/controller website which states, “awards and prizes given to non-employees including students are to be paid through Accounts Payable directly to the recipient of the award”.

What should I do if a student employee gets injured at work?

Should a student sustain a work-related injury, the student’s supervisor must immediately submit a PDF Document: Report of Incident form.

Students injured while working on the Homewood campus must report to the office of Occupational Health Services. Be sure to take a copy of the Report of Incident and your J-Card with you.
Students injured while working on the East Baltimore/Medical campus should report to the Occupational Injury Clinic. Again, be sure to take a copy the Report of Incident and your J-Card or ID badge with you.

Should a student employee sustain an injury on a night shift or weekend, please seek the appropriate medical treatment and follow-up with the office of Occupational Health Services or the Occupational Injury Clinic, whichever office is appropriate, the next business day.

When to terminate a student employee

Departments frequently question if/when to terminate a student, especially if they expect the student to return between semesters, academic years, etc. You do not need to terminate a student between semesters and/or summer break until you know for certain that the student will not be returning to your department. A good rule-of-thumb is to terminate the student when the job ends; graduates; or, is placed on academic LOA.

If the issue is poor performance, before you terminate the student, please be sure to review the suggested guidelines for Addressing Poor Performance.

How to pay notetakers

After much thought and deliberation, the following policy for issuing a monetary “thank-you” to Student Notetakers was established by the Office of Institutional Equity. This new policy is based on expert advice and collaboration of the offices of General Counsel, Risk Management, Accounts Payable, University Experiential Learning, and the JHU Tax Office. It is designed to ensure full compliance as well as to create consistent business practices among all JHU schools.

Dollar Amount

The dollar amount of the monetary “thank you” is based on the student’s year of study; undergraduate notetakers will receive $25 per credit hour, graduate notetakers will receive $50 per credit hour. The method for payment will depend on the student’s enrollment status (school) and citizenship/residency status—please see below:

Method of Payment

Homewood ODS: Homewood notetakers who are enrolled in the class, will receive a monetary thank-you through Petty Cash Voucher. Homewood is the only campus with a cash window. Should it be necessary for Homewood to hire a student who is not enrolled in the class (non-volunteer), the position will be posted through University Experiential Learning and the student will be hired and paid in accordance with state/federal minimum wage regulations. Hours will be tracked and entered into CATS.
Non-Homewood ODS: Notetakers in all other JHU schools will receive a debit card at the end of the semester, once the course has ended. This is regardless of the student’s status in SAP and includes U.S. Citizen, Permanent Resident (LPR) and Resident Alien.
Nonresident Alien: The following applies to all JHU schools. A monetary “thank you” paid to a non-employee who is a nonresident is subject to withholding and is reportable on Form 1042-S. In order to facilitate this required withholding and reporting, nonresident payments must be processed through University payroll. For specific instructions, each school’s ODS should contact their divisional Human Resource Office; for Homewood students, please contact the Office of University Experiential Learning.