Student Employment

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Who qualifies as astudent employee? Student employment is available to all full-timestudents of Vanderbilt University. Students who are considered to be infull-time status are those who are charged full-time tuition. Duringperiods of non-enrollment (i.e., semester breaks), employment isrestricted to those students who intend to enroll full-time for thesemester following the non-enrollment period. Individuals enrolled atanother university division or institution should be processed throughthe appropriate divisional office, unless they meet the criteria forvisiting student status. For more information regarding visitingstudents, contact the SEO.

2. What happens aftergraduation? Students who work at Vanderbilt University orVanderbilt Medical Center following completing of degree requirementsmust be removed from student payroll. If these individuals continue toperform the same job at the same rate of pay for a period not to exceedsix months following completion of degree requirements, the situationwill be treated as a change of status.

3. Do students haveto pay taxes on the wages that they earn? Yes, student wages aresubject to Federal taxes. However, student employees normally do nothave to pay FICA (Social Security) taxes if a student is enrolled forat least 12 credit hours and is working 20 hours or less each week.

4. May students havetheir paycheck applied to their student accounts? No, federalregulations prohibit directly crediting a student's paycheck (earnings)to his/her student account. However, students who wish to apply theirpaychecks to their student accounts may take their paychecks to theCashier's Office, 104 University Plaza, and they will apply it to thestudent's account. The Cashier's Office hours are 9:00am - 3:00pm,Monday - Friday.

5. What should astudent do if his/her paycheck is lost or stolen? Students will needto report this immediately to the Vanderbilt Payroll Department at343-6606. They will put a "stop payment" on the check and will thenissue a new check. This process usually takes at least five (5) workingdays.

6. What shouldstudents do if they think an error was made on their paycheck? Havestudents review a copy of their time sheet and check stub with theadministrative assistant responsible for payroll paperwork in theirhome department. If a review of these documents indicates that thestudent was shorted or overpaid, the administrative assistant shouldcontact the payroll office in order to assist the student in resolvingthe problem.

7. Is it possible fora student to work more than one job under the Federal Work Study (FWS)Program? Students may work more than one job under the FWS programas long as they do not work more than 20 hours a week TOTAL for alljobs. Students should be advised to inform all supervisors that theyhave about other FWS jobs. It will be necessary for a student tocomplete FWS contracts for all jobs they hold. Working more than oneFWS job usually means that the student will earn his/her FWS awardsooner, depending on the number of hours he/she works and the totalamount of the award. Both the student and the supervisor(s) will benotified when the student is close to earning his full award. If astudent earns his/her full award before the end of the year, eachdepartment will need to decide whether they can continue to employ thestudent as an institutional student employee and pay 100% of the hourlywage.

8. May a studentwork a non FWS job off-campus in addition to a FWS job? Studentsmay choose to do so. Any income earned from an off-campus job will beconsidered as part of the student's contribution toward meetingeducational expenses for the next award year.

9. Is it possible toincrease a student's FWS award? Generally, all funds under the FWSprogram are committed by the beginning of the academic year, and actualexpenditures during the school year may not allow for an increase in astudent's FWS award. A student should contact their Financial Aid Officerfor more information