To:          Department Heads, Business Managers, and Payroll Representatives

From:     Jennifer Francis, Executive Vice Provost

Subject: Student Employment Spring Semester 2020

Date:      April 10, 2020

A number of efforts have been underway to provide additional support to our undergraduate and graduate students during this unusual time. We wanted to provide an update of the processes related to the student payments through the end of the spring semester. 

Undergraduate Students

Undergraduate students who are able to work remotely should do so, proving their hours worked per the normal process. They will continue to receive payments based upon the hours submitted on their biweekly time records.

Undergraduate students who were working at Duke prior to spring break, but are not able to work remotely now (because of the nature of the job or because of connectivity issues), will receive a payment for the three full pay periods since spring break based upon one of the four following processes. The first payment will be issued with the regular biweekly payroll on Friday, April 24 and the final payment will be issued on Friday, May 8.

  1. Federal Work Study – undergraduate students who were awarded federal work study funds will receive a payment based upon a calculation by the Financial Aid teams using cumulative earnings for the spring semester and remaining dollars on the individual’s federal work study award whichever one is less. 
  2. Duke Work Study – undergraduate students who were awarded Duke work study funds will receive a payment based upon a calculation by the Financial Aid teams using cumulative earnings for the spring semester and remaining dollars on the individual’s Duke work study award whichever one is less. 
  3. Students not using work study awards who were working prior to spring break, but are unable to continue working remotely, will receive a payment based on the calculations below:
    • Payment amount will be calculated as the average of the individual student’s gross earnings over the five Spring term pay periods prior to spring break. Dollars for both primary and secondary positions were included in the calculations. Outliers were reviewed and, as needed, adjusted.
    • Eligibility Criteria:
      • No hours worked were submitted since the pay period (02/17/2020 – 03/01/2020) which paid on 03/13/2020. If students received a payment for time worked during the period of 03/16/2020 – 03/29/2020 for the pay date of April 10, the assumption is that the individual is working remotely with pay described above. 
      • The undergraduate student did not receive federal or Duke work study awards.
      • Minimum average pay calculation is greater than or equal to $25.00.
    • Students in this category will receive a payment on April 24 which will include two pay periods, one for the April 10 pay date and a second for the April 24 pay date. The final payment will be issued on May 8, 2020.
    • A list of the payment amounts will be sent to the management centers who will disperse to the individual departments at the end of this week.

Graduate Students

  1. Payments for graduate students who are paid as non-exempt employees on a biweekly basis will be handled using the same processes noted above for undergraduate students.
  2. Payments for graduate students who are paid as exempt employees on a monthly basis will be processed according to the standard process. If adjustments to pay are necessary, departments can submit iForms to make the necessary changes.

If students need additional financial support, they should apply for the student assistance fund.

Non-Duke Students (students from other universities or high school students)

  1. Non-Duke students who cannot work remotely, but are currently receiving payments may continue to do so through the period ending April 26, pay date of May 8.  They should submit hours for average hours worked through submitting an Electronic Time Record through Duke@Work.
  2. If non-Duke students are working remotely and can continue to do so after the pay period ending April 26, they should submit hours worked using the usual methods to submit time.

For more information: FAQ: Student Employment – Spring 2020