Research & Teaching Assistants

Employment Verification

For NCSU Graduate Teaching & Graduate Research Assistants:

All Graduate Assistantship employment verifications are completed through the Graduate School by the Manager of Graduate Appointments.  To verify graduate assistantship, contact:
Email: gradschool-assistantships@ncsu.edu (for current or previous students only.)
Fax: 919-515-2873 (Fax request must come with a signed release)  

Working Outside of North Carolina

If you are currently being paid by NC State and will continue to work while outside the state of North Carolina for a period of 3 weeks or more (i.e. go home for breaks, collaborating with companies in another state, semester internships, etc.), you must notify University Payroll as there are tax implications to working in a different state. Complete the following Notice of Employee Working Outside of North Carolina form before you leave AND when you return to resume working in NC and submit the form to University Payroll at hrpayroll@ncsu.edu.

Graduate Student Support Plan (GSSP)

Be familiar with your GSSP Benefits; to be GSSP eligible, you must be:

1. Supported on a qualifying graduate assistantship (teaching or research) or fellowship of, at least, $666.67 per month.
2. Meet the minimum enrollment requirement – Full-time, at all times.
3. Enrolled in an on-campus master’s or doctoral program. Distance Education and Graduate Certificate programs do not qualify for the Graduate Student Support Plan.

For more information, please contact the ECE Graduate Office.

NexGen Graduate Appointment System

The NextGen Graduate Appointment System is a completely paperless hiring process that is customizable by departments, colleges and/or non-academic divisions based on a series of roles. This system will allow graduate faculty members or designated staff to electronically initiate transactions on behalf of their students. Transactions will then route to the appropriate human resources and funding approvers as well as create an electronic Terms and Conditions contract based off of the information entered into the tool. The electronic Terms and Conditions contract will route to the student and supervisor for electronic signature and will be archived within MyPack Portal for historical reference. Note: you should NOT begin working until your appointment has been fully approved in the NextGen system. This is also the case if you are being rehired. Appointments cannot be retroactive.

How to View/Print your T&C

A student has full access to all of their signed T&Cs that have been processed through NextGen, for as long as they are a student. To view their signed T&C, they can go to Main Menu > Employee Self Service > Payroll and Compensation > View T&C Documents. They would see a entry for each T&C that was signed through NextGen. They can open to view the T&C and even print it they require a hard copy. For Social Security Number purposes, students will still need to take a printed approved letter and obtain ink signatures before visiting the Social Security Office.

Salary Restrictions

Minimum and Maximum Salary Requirements

The minimum hourly wage for a graduate assistant is the minimum wage for North Carolina, currently at $7.25/hour. The maximum hourly wage for a graduate assistant is $60.00/hour.

Equations for calculating the hourly wage are listed below, sorted by the dollar figure with which you have been provided:

• Annualized Rate: annual rate / 52 weeks per year / # hours per week
• Biweekly Rate: biweekly rate / 2 weeks per biweekly pay period / # hours per week

Work Hour Restrictions

Minimum and Maximum FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) Requirements

International graduate students who are on F-1 and J-1 visas are limited to 20 hours of service per week. This service limit is for all combined appointments across campus. Working more than 20 hours per week may jeopardize the student’s visa status.

Graduate students who are U.S. citizens and/or permanent residents are allowed to work up 29 hours per week, or 0.725 FTE, for all combined appointments across campus during the academic year. If a student’s appointment(s) meets or exceeds 30 hours per week, the student will lose their FICA tax exemption. In rare cases, departments may wish to appoint a student at or above 30 hours per week, or 0.75 FTE. This will require Dean approval which is achieved through the NextGen Graduate Appointment System.

During the summer, from May 16, 20XX to August 15, 20XX, graduate students, regardless of nationality, may work up to 40 hours per week (1.0 FTE) for all combined appointments unless they are enrolled in summer courses. If a foreign national is enrolled in a summer session as their final academic term, they are limited to 20 hours per week as that session is still considered an academic term.

RA/TA employees are typically not allowed to work University holidays, however, you can work ONLY if there is a business need and there needs to be supervision during the time worked. You should reach out to your supervisors for prior approval before working any holiday.

For a list of scheduled University Holidays, visit: https://hr.ncsu.edu/common-tasks/university-holidays-and-closings/

If You are Graduating

International graduate students who are graduating must separate from all on-campus employment as of the date of graduation for the respective semester. The only exception to this policy is if the student holds a Graduate Teaching Assistantship during the semester in which they are graduating. In this case, the student’s appointment should end as of December 31st for the Fall semester or May 15th for the Spring semester. Graduate Teaching Assistants are expected to have completed all work by the last day of class; therefore, they should not perform any work after the last day of class but are compensated for the entire semester, like all other 9-month appointments.

Any F-1 international student who applies for post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT) through OIS based on thesis/dissertation defense date, and whose I-20 is shortened to reflect that defense date, must end all service and payments for any and all campus appointments effective that defense date; the appointment will have to be shortened to reflect the I-20 end date in order to comply with visa and payment regulations and the student may received a prorated tuition bill. For more information, please contact the ECE Graduate Office.

U.S. citizens and permanent residents are allowed to work through December 31st if they are graduating in the Fall semester, and are allowed to work through August 15th if they are graduating in the Spring or Summer semesters.

Tuition and/or Fees

RA/TA appointments do not automatically pay fees or your tuition each semester. You will need to contact your supervisor and have them send an email to request payment of fees and/or tuition to their HR rep (see contact information below). Note: you responsible for any late fee charges and will need to contact the Cashier’s Office directly.

Can fees be paid via payroll deduction?

The Graduate School and Cashier’s Office are pleased to announce that, beginning in Fall 2020, qualifying graduate students may request payroll deduction for student fees. The option will be available through the Student Accounts tile in MyPack Portal by the fall tuition and fees due date of July 28 to August 21. 

Graduate students must meet the following criteria to participate in the payroll deduction for student fees:

1. They must have an active graduate assistantship appointment in the HR System with an effective date on or before August 21, 2020, and the appointment must extend through at least October 30, 2020.

2. They must be in a GSSP eligible position as described at the following website: https://grad.ncsu.edu/students/gssp/.

3. They must select the payroll deduction option by August 21, 2020.

Students can use the payroll deduction option to pay the full amount of student fees and, if applicable, the engineering enhancement fee. See the explanation of student fees at https://studentservices.ncsu.edu/your-money/tuition-and-fees/fees-explanation/.

Payments will be deducted from the student’s stipend starting with the August 22nd paycheck over six pay periods. If the appointment is terminated, any outstanding balance in fees must be paid in full. 

The following is an illustration of per pay period deduction for a typical GA contract for Fall 2020:

Payroll deduction is optional.  Graduate students who do not meet the eligibility requirements to participate in payroll deduction option can take advantage of the monthly payment plan for tuition and fees available through the Cashier’s Office website (https://studentservices.ncsu.edu/your-money/bill/pay-your-bill/enroll-in-a-payment-plan/).

When are department supported tuition and/or fee payments made?

For students whose supervisor has requested to cover tuition and/or fees, the department will process payments after census date of that semester. Please refrain from reaching out inquiring about tuition and/or fee payments until one week after census date to allow our staff time to process your payment. Inquiries at that time should be directed to ece-finance@ncsu.edu.

Who do I contact with questions regarding TA appointments?

Contact the ECE Grad Office (ecegradoffice@ncsu.edu) for all questions regarding TA appointments.

ECE Grad Office Contacts:

• Director: Paul Franzon
• Asst. Director: Ginger Yu
• Graduate Student Services Coordinator (GSSC): Fenile Jones
• Graduate Recruiting & Admissions Specialist: Celeste Barton
• Graduate Administrative Support Associate: Vacant

Who do I contact with questions regarding RA appointments?

Email ece-personnel@ncsu.edu for all questions regarding RA appointments in ECE. Contact the respective HR Rep listed below regarding RA appointments in FREEDM, ASSIST or PowerAmerica.

ECE HR Reps:

• Candice Byrd (ASSIST)
• Heather Carroll (PowerAmerica)
• Kimberly Dickens (EBII)
• Rebecca McLennan (FREEDM)

Shannon Plummer-White – Human Resources Manager
Demonica Hicks – Director, Finance & Administration