Hiring & Supervision

All GRAs and GTAs must be enrolled full time, which is at least 12 credit hours.

All graduate student employees should be registered. The minimum registration for a GA is three credit hours. If the student has no registration options, they must be hired as an hourly Student Assistant in pay group 03C.

We recommend that you ask the student to provide proof of registration (if you are using a graduate student employment status and do not have access to Banner).

Yes. All grant budgets approved before May 2015 will be honored with regard to approved graduate student employment status. To request an exception, send a scan of the budget documents that show the approval to vpgefd@gatech.edu. Be sure to include the student’s name and GTID, and the term of the exception. Note: Graduate students must be registered for a minimum of 3 credit hours to be hired as a GA. If the student is temporarily not registered for classes but will be enrolled the following semester, they can be employed as an hourly Student Assistant (SA).

Special pay or one-time compensation may only be used in very limited situations for graduate students. It may not be used for work related to the student’s thesis or dissertation, or for work in support of academic progress. Special pay may only be used for one-time projects that are clearly defined (i.e., conference coordination, photography or graphic work for a specific project or event, administrative work, etc.) and are valued less than $2,000.

The simple answer is no. All fellowship questions should be directed to the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.

It is not necessary to hire a student as a Tech Temp unless they have graduated or they will not be enrolled in classes two semesters or more.  Talk to your unit’s human resources contact about how to hire a Tech Temp if you plan to hire a student who has graduated or will not be taking classes for two semesters or more. The Georgia Tech Human Resources (GTHR) website outlines all of the steps needed to hire someone on a temporary basis.

Note: Students who are not registered for classes for a semester but will be enrolled the following semester can be hired as an hourly Student assistant (SA). These students will be subject to income tax and deductions (Medicare and Georgia Define Contribution Plan) because they will not meet the IRS student exclusion criteria. Please visit the Graduate Student Enrollment and Employment Policy for more information.

You don’t. A student funded on a project as a GRA should remain a GRA throughout their involvement on the project. See the Graduate Student Enrollment and Employment Policy.

No. Graduate students who are enrolled in less than three credit hours during the summer or not registered for classes at all should be hired as an hourly Student Assistant (SA) and can work up to 40 hours per week. Check with human resources for limitations on the total number of hours an individual can work in a temporary status during a one-year period (to be sure this individual will not exceed the maximum during the time they work for you).

No. The student is not yet enrolled and should not be hired in a student employment category.

The student should be hired as a GRA and use schedule flexibility to make up the hours of work missed when they are away from campus.

For less than 10 hours per week, a graduate student can be hired as a GA to do a variety of tasks including, but not limited to, classroom support, grading, research, and administrative work. The student must be registered for a minimum of three credit hours and will not receive a tuition waiver.

A student may work as a GA in their approved one-credit hour term. The student must meet the one-hour stipulation of being in their term of graduation, and the one-hour reduction from normal minimum course load may only be used once. (Note: If applicable, coverage under the voluntary student health insurance plan requires enrollment in more than four credit hours, which the student will have to pay her/himself.) Alternatively, the student could remain working as a GRA with full-time course enrollment and the tuition waiver applied.

No. The student has completed all degree requirements and will not be enrolled in coursework, therefore he or she should not be employed in a student category.

No. After the student has received a degree, he should not be employed in a student category.

There may be. Contact the Office of International Education and/or Global Human Resources to ensure you are in compliance.

To request an exemption to the Policy Library's Graduate Student Enrollment and Employment Policy, email vpgefd@gatech.edu. Please include student name, GTID, and the specific reason for the exception.

You can — and should — check hiring status in TechWorks. You are responsible for making sure that the tuition waivers allocated to your school are used appropriately. The student should be registered for research or teaching credits to reflect the work done in the other unit. The hiring unit should identify a faculty member in your school to provide academic supervision for the research or teaching credits.

Our department considers teaching assignments to be part of the educational process and students may spend three to five hours per week on TA duties, up to a limited number of assignments. Please consult with the Office of Sponsored Programs about the specific terms of the grant in question. Remember that small teaching assignments may be built into a student’s educational program for credit rather than pay.