I.  Policy

The student employment program at USC Aiken provides part-time on-campus and community service employment to USC Aiken students.  There are two categories of student employees at USC Aiken:  Federal Work-Study (FWS) students and Institutional Student Employment (ISE) students.  The following procedures should be followed when a department wishes to hire a student employee.

II.  Procedure

a.  Budget

Departments will be allocated specific dollar amounts for FWS and ISE in the departmental budget.  Supervisors will monitor their student workers’ earnings in relation to the departmental budget and the students’ FWS award.

b.  Federal Work-Study

Students seeking employment under the FWS program must apply for financial aid by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  FWS awards will be made by the Office of Financial Aid based on federal regulations.  FWS students will receive a Financial Aid Award Letter listing the student’s FWS award as total expected earnings.

c.  Hiring

Departments wishing to hire student employees should contact the Office of Career Services to post jobs online or on Pacer Career Connection.  Since application procedures vary between departments, students obtain applications and hiring procedures directly from the department they wish to work for.

Once a student is offered and has accepted a position on campus, the hiring supervisor will complete the first half of the form as well as the I-9/E-Verify paperwork, a confidentiality agreement, and a one-time student employment orientation.  Once all paperwork is complete, the student must return the Student Hire Paperwork Checklist to the hiring supervisor.  The student may begin to work at this time, although it will take approximately two weeks for Payroll in Columbia to complete the process of adding the student to the employee database.

Once Payroll has received and processed the student’s hire paperwork, the hiring supervisor can then hire the student in VIP, dating supervision back to the original start date.  The student will be able to access their VIP employee account at this time.

d.  Pay

Hourly student employees are paid semi-monthly according to the Hourly Employee Pay Schedule based on the number of hours worked.  Paychecks will be distributed through paroll direct deposit, so students must set this up as soon as they have access to their VIP employee accounts.  If a student earns a paycheck before the direct deposit account has been set up and verified, then a paper paycheck will be sent from Columbia to Human Resources. 

Student employees must be paid at least current minimum wage.  Higer pay reates may be paid based on the nature and complexity of the duties of the position.

Each hourly student employee must complete a weekly time card to be approved by their supervisor on ITAMS

e.  Stipends and One-Time Pay

Hiring procedures for student employee positions paid by stipend or one-time pay (yearly or at the end of each semester) are the same as hourly FWS and ISE students.  They must complete all paperwork, orientation, and E-Verify prior to beginning work.

Supervisors are responsible for entering one-time payments in VIP once the student’s services are provided.  The payment amount is set forth before the student begins work.

III.  Related Policies

IV.  Reason for Revision

     Annual Review