PAF Preparer’s Meeting – July 15, 2013

1. Welcome PAF Preparer’s Meeting – July 15, 2013

2. Introductions Graduate College Staff • Michael Licari • Shoshanna Coon • Susie Schwieger • Janet Witt • Cheryl Nedrow • Lisa Steimel Introductions • Your Name • Department you are with • How long have you been at UNI

3. New Offer Form • User’s concerns/issues with new form? • Reasons why you need to provide correct information when completing offer form. • Email address (need to send offer to correct email address so the student receives offer) • Residency (need correct residency to report to Registrar so non-resident can receive resident rate tuition.) • Ethnicity (If International student need to know for correct letter and information to student) • Semester Admitted & Plan Code (In SIS look at the Graduate-level course that is “Active” or “Admitted” to get correct student information….if a student has an “Applicant” status then an offer cannot be processed) • Plan GPA (Needs to be 3.0 or higher. If less than 3.0 then an offer can’t be made. Review February’s Power Point to know where to find GPA) • If you want to change the funding source of GA award after offer has been made, send “Revised Offer” to GC and use the Notes section(s) to explain. • Do not complete GC Tuition Scholarship section for any scholarships your department is funding. Grad College does not need to know this information and we don’t send out offers for departmental scholarships. Note: If your department is funding a scholarship for an International student then Linda Jernigan will need to be made aware of it.

4. Enrollment Eligibility Requirements Enrollment Eligibility Requirement for Grad Assistantship and/or Graduate College Scholarship is for the student to be enrolled in 9 hours applying to the degree. (Exception for first semester graduate students) • PAF Preparer and/or secretary needs to review each Grad Assistant’s Academic Advisement Report BEFORE submitting PAF (can start looking at these as soon as enrollment is open for the semester). • Department needs to contact student immediately if this requirement is not being met (this can be a long process so urgent attention to this is needed). • Student and department need to work together to register for appropriate classes and/or submit appropriate student requests. This is ultimately the student’s responsibility. • DO NOT submit PAF until YOU have reviewed the student’s current Academic Advisement Report and YOU see 9 program of study hours . Even if you know a student request has been submitted you need to wait until you see it on the AAR before submitting PAF.

5. Bachelor’s Degree and GPA Eligibility Requirement Graduate Assistants must possess a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution prior to the start of the assistantship appointment. • Verify that a student’s final transcript has been received by Admissions. (If not received this would be listed in the student’s “To Do List” In Student Services Center). The GPA Eligibility Requirement for Grad Assistantship and/or Graduate College Scholarship is for the student to have 3.0 or higher GPA. (make sure summer grades have posted, if applicable) • Verify student’s “Plan GPA, Total” located on Student’s Academic Advisement Report • If 1st semester as graduate student use final undergrad cumulative GPA • If 1st semester as a doctoral student use Master’s Plan GPA • If student does not have a Plan GPA and is not a 1st semester graduate student then use the cumulative GPA of at least 8 credit hours of graduate-level courses taken. (this usually happens when student takes graduate-level courses but was not enrolled in a program of study)

6. Timing of Graduate Assistant PAFs The semester start date is August 26th. (This is really late and this does present a problem with processing PAF’s timely for an August paycheck). • PAF has to be approved through the Graduate College by August 15th and new hire paperwork must be completed in HRS by August 21st in order for student to be guaranteed an August paycheck. (August 15th is the HRS cutoff date for August PAF’s .) • If student decides they don’t want assistantship after you process their PAF you need to notify me immediately. August payroll production run is on August 26th which gives us a very small window of time to pull a student’s August paycheck before it is disbursed.

7. How to Prepare a Grad Assistant PAF After you have verified that a student meets requirements then you can initiate the student’s Personnel Action Form (PAF) for the fall semester My Universe > Work @ UNI > My Administrative Access > Personnel Action Form (MW04) • Personnel Action Type: • New Appointment (additional information will be requested by PAF system) • Reappointment/Change Appointment • Effective Date: • Use first day of semester (unless a late start) • UID • Proceed GA PAF examples are available at HRS website http://www.uni.edu/hrs/hris/paf/help/

8. Preparation of GA PAF (continued) Labor Distribution Start Date: “New” PAF-Actual date student begins works or “Reappointment” PAF-Use 1st day of month the student begins work. End Date: 31-Dec-13 or 31-MAY-14 Effective date: The date student starts their GA position. Typically the 1st day of classes Appointment Status Date: The date student starts their GA position. Typically the 1st day of classes 26-AUG-2013 Attention Appointment Expiration Date should be last day of the semester (20-DEC-2013, 09-MAY-2014) Use Additional Information section to provide information if student starts working after first day of classes. Indicate: “Reduce Salary by $xx.xx due to late start date of mm/dd/yy” Appointment Salary should always be full amount (do not reduce if student does not begin work on 1st day of classes) Based on primary duty select appropriate Position Title (e.g., teaching, research, other) Attention

9. Completed PAF Student, Susie 654321 234567

10. Common Errors on PAF Common errors that result in rejected PAF’s • Dates. There are several dates required on PAF’s so make sure you are providing correct date in correct fields. (use HRS examples for help with this) • Submitted GA PAF but the student has not been sent an offer • “New” Appointment PAF submitted when a “Reappointment/Change Appointment” PAF should have been done. Do not use “New” PAF if student was a GA in prior semester. (doesn’t matter if same department or not) • The GA’s supervisor listed incorrectly. Need to provide name of individual supervising the student, not the department head or program coordinator, unless they truly are the supervisor • Assignment Category. For this next semester select “T-Fall” • Wrong funding account code combination provided • PAF’s are submitted before grades are posted and Plan GPA can’t be verified. Do NOT submit PAF until summer semester grades are posted (if student took summer class) • PAF’s do not get rejected if student’s Academic Advisement Report does not have 9 program hours showing but they do not get approved either. If this requirement is not met the student is not able to start working the first week of classes, which will result in a reduction in pay

11. Helpful tools to avoid rejected PAF’s Numerous PAF’s are rejected each semester. Below is helpful information and tools to avoid rejected PAF’s in the future. • Use the HRS website samples to help you prepare your PAF’s. http://www.uni.edu/hrs/hris/paf/help/ • Use the prior Power Point presentations located on the Graduate College website for help in preparing your PAF’s. • Call me if you are not sure or if you want me to look at a PAF before you submit PAF (or you prepare severalPAFs). • Review PAF in full before submitting. Click on “Print Preview” which will bring up the full PAF. • If PAF is rejected look under “History” tab to find comments on errors that need to be corrected. (Only make corrections that are listed in comments.) • Be aware of where your PAF’s are at in the process. Make sure to check your notifications for any rejected PAF’s.

12. When can a Grad Assistant begin work? Grad Assistants are eligible to begin work after: • Grad College approval of PAF by Lisa Steimel and Michael Licari • Approval of PAF by Foundation (if applicable) • All paperwork is turned into HRS for new hires. The PAF system will send emails to the preparer, supervisor and Grad Assistant indicating status • Cannot start prior to the first day of classes

13. Graduate Assistant Supervisors If the student’s supervisor changes send me an email with student name, UID and the name of the new supervisor and effective date. Make sure you are completing the PAF with the correct supervisor’s name. An email from Graduate College will be sent to GA supervisors in early August providing the name of their Grad Assistant and the number of hours the student will be workingfor the semester. This email will also provide a list of the supervisor’s responsibilities, which include review of job description/duties with student on their first day, tracking/be aware of student’s hours and required performance appraisals.

14. Miscellaneous • Don’t forget that there is a Graduate Assistantship handbook for student and departmental use. Refer to it often. http://www.grad.uni.edu/assistantships • What should be told to student if they are inquiring on a GA award prior to an offer being sent to them? A department may inform an applicant that they have been recommended for a Graduate Assistantship, but under no circumstances should it be conveyed to the applicant that he/she has received the award. • Offer forms received by the Grad College after mid-July will be done as time allows since priority will be given to processing of PAF’s. • Graduate Scholarship Hold is a hold on the student’s scholarship until GPA and enrollment can be verified for the semester. This hold does NOT affect the student in registering for classes. • Students receiving a scholarship, no matter what the funding, should not be working for the University for the scholarship funding. Any work being provided should be processed through payroll, not as a scholarship. • If a student decides against their Grad Assistantship and/or Graduate College Scholarship the Graduate College will need something in writing from student declining their offer(s).

15. Questions or Concerns