Graduate Student Payroll
The information provided on this page applies only to the hiring and paying of graduate students on monthly payroll. For guidance on hiring and paying graduate students on monthly payroll, please familiarize yourself with the details provided through the links below. If you have questions after reading the information, email Anna Henderson, Administrative Director for Graduate Budgets & Payroll.
A handy through-the-year calendar outlining grad student payroll tasks is available here. Please print a copy for your office.
Graduate Student Payroll Forms
To add a graduate student to monthly payroll or to edit existing payroll information outside of the normal admissions process and new semester process, use the Graduate Student Payroll forms.
- Click here to access Graduate Student Payroll Forms
Graduate Student Employment Policies & Frequently Asked Questions
- Click here to view FAQs and policy information
Definitions
Below you will find a brief list of commonly used terms when discussing graduate student employment and payroll. It may be helpful to familiarize yourself with these terms.
- GA - A GA, for our purposes, refers to a fully funded “Graduate Assistant.” This is a graduate student (either doctoral or master’s) who was admitted to Baylor with a guaranteed, multi-year stipend and 80% student health insurance subsidy as part of the admissions offer. A GA is always paid a monthly rate and does not submit a time card. A GA may not work more than 20 hours per week without special approval from the GPD and the Graduate Dean. (GAs can continue to be paid monthly even when they have moved beyond their guaranteed funding years, if approved and if funding is available. Contact the Graduate School for more information).
- GSEM – Stands for “Graduate Student Employee Monthly”. A GSEM is a non-GA grad student who is performing a job that must be paid monthly. The most common reason for the GSEM position is when a non-GA grad student is working as a Teacher of Record (TOR). A GSEM is paid a flat monthly rate and does not submit a time card. A GSEM must have any existing bi-weekly jobs converted to a monthly salary so as not to be paid on two different payroll cycles. A GSEM may not work more than 29.9 hours per week without special approval from the GPD and the Graduate Dean.
- GSEB – Stands for “Graduate Student Employee Biweekly”. A GSEB is a non-GA who may be working as a Teaching Assistant (not TOR) or performing non-academic work such as an office job, library job, fitness class instructor, camp counselor, event staff, etc. A GSEB is paid bi-weekly at an hourly rate and must fill out a time card to record hours worked.
- TOR – “Teacher of Record.” A TOR is a graduate student (either doctoral or master’s) who is teaching a course at Baylor. The student has sole responsibility for instruction of the course and is listed as the instructor of the course. Graduate students working as TORs must meet certain requirements, receive training, and pass a background check. For details, please visit the Graduate School’s TOR Information Page.
- GPD – Graduate Program Director. Each academic department that offers a graduate degree has at least one GPD to oversee the degree program and its students.
- ICP – Individual Compensation Package. The acronym ICP is used when referring to additional work for additional pay on top of a student’s base assignment. If a student takes on additional hours or a teaching overload, payment for the additional work is usually accomplished by setting up an ICP.
- Base Assignment – A base assignment usually refers to the 20 hour per week position that a GA holds in which the student performs RA, TA, or TOR work for the academic department associated with the student’s degree program.
- Stipend – For our purposes, a stipend refers to a fixed monthly wage paid to graduate students in exchange for work for their academic department usually involving assisting with research, grading papers, assisting with teaching, or teaching undergraduate courses. A stipend may be funded by the university or by an external source.
- Labor Distribution (LD) Report – A report that allows for tracking of the wages being paid to graduate students. This report shows which account(s) or project(s) grad students’ wages are being charged to.