SEHD Student Hiring Guides

Who to contact about edits needed on this page: SEHD HR

Undergraduate Student Hiring Guide

Job Definition

Student Assistant series positions are for undergraduate students only, in most cases. *if the student is undergraduate/work study, please refer to Student Employment website: (Student Employment (ucdenver.edu))

Limit of Hours Worked

Undergraduate student hourly employees are recommended to work 20 hours a week throughout the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters while classes are in session. The maximum number of hours a student employee may work during the fall and spring semester is 25 hours per week or 50 hours per biweekly payroll period, provided no single week in that period exceeds 40 work hours. However, the maximum number of hours a student employee may work during the summer is 40 hours per week
(Reference student handbook: student-hourly-employment-handbook.pdf (ucdenver.edu)

Student Hourly employees who are graduating may work to the end of the semesters pay period, and do NOT need to end their position after the last day of classes and/or finals week.

We want to especially highlight the limit of hours worked: Effective July 1, 2015, the Student Employee Work Hours Administrative Policy limits the amount of hours students may work each semester across the CU system (Anschutz, Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs) to:

Fall (16 weeks, August – December) – 25 hours/max (or 50 hours per biweekly pay period)

Spring (16 weeks, January – May) – 25 hours/max (or 50 hours per biweekly pay period)

Summer (10 weeks, June – August) – 40 hours/max. In accordance with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regulations, international students may not work more than 20 hours per week—in total , regardless of the number of positions—while classes are in session during the Fall and Spring semesters. Student employees who exceed the work hour limits (across all jobs, across all campuses) may become eligible for employee health benefits under the Affordable Care Act. In the event a student employee becomes eligible for benefits under the Affordable Care Act, employer benefits contributions will be proportionately charged to the department(s) where the student was employed when the limits were exceeded, regardless of where the student is currently employed. Departments may also be subject to additional administrative charges as a violation of this policy subjects the University to additional exposure under the Affordable Care Act. Supervisor Responsibility: Supervisors are responsible for communicating policy to their student employees. Students are responsible for communicating with their supervisor if they are no longer students or are scheduled to work more than the maximum total work hours allowed for all jobs. For biweekly students who track hours worked in MyLeave, the Supervisor will review and approve timesheets in MyLeave. The latest step-by-step guide is found here: https://www.cu.edu/docs/sbs-my-leave-supervisors. If you will be taking leave or time away from work, please set up a proxy for your timesheet approvals to ensure that your student employees are paid in a timely manner. S

Leave Benefits

Student employees are eligible for jury duty pay and sick leave, but not eligible for, or entitled to; fringe benefits such as retirement, vacation, unemployment and/or paid holidays.

As of January 1, 2021, Student positions will accrue sick leave at a rate of 0.034 hours per hour worked with a maximum accrual of 48 hours per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). Students can use sick leave to cover time that they would have normally been working, for reasons listed under the Sick leave tab at this policy statement website: https://www.cu.edu/ope/aps/5062. Supervisors will be asked to approve of the sick leave through the MyLeave timesheet process. There is a row in the student MyLeave dashboard showing their accrued sick leave balance. To review their available balance before approving, please navigate to MyLeave. From your UCD Portal, select the MyLeave tile (clock icon), then use the dropdown menu to select their name. Sick leave should display on the top row of the table under their name and their current balance is in the far right column. If you have questions, please contact your SEHD HR team (sehdhr@ucdenver.edu).

Students may be eligible for FAMLI leave as of January 1, 2024, and will work through the application review process with CU's leave team to determine their options.

Search

Searches are required for most University new hires, but student employees are exempt from required searches at this time. SEHD does have student “pool” postings for each student position (Student Assistant, Graduate, & Research Assistants) that supervisors can review prior to submitting for a new search.
However, if no match is found through the pool posting or a specific need for a program is necessary, SEHD HR can certainly run a search.

Submit the Job Posting – Student Hire form (select it from the drop-down menu)

Upon receipt of the form, the SEHD HR team will post your position to Handshake, UCD’s student and alumni job board.

When selecting “Employment Type” review the Pay Matrix from the latest Student Employment Handbook for assistance.

Note: Nothing you submit is set in stone, if anything looks incorrect, we will contact you for clarification.

There is no formal process for vetting candidates, once you find a student you’d like to hire, proceed to New Hire Request.

Pay Ranges for undergraduate student employees, and job codes

Denver minimum wage $18.81/hour as of 1/1/2025.

CU Denver Pay Rate:

Student Assistant I, job code 4101, $18.81/hr

Student Assistant II, job code 4102, $18.81 - $19.34/hr

Student Assistant III, job code 4103, $18.81 - $20.28/hr

Student Assistant IV, job code 4104, $18.81 - $21.16/hr

Student Assistant V, job code 4105, $18.81 - $22.00/hr

Student Assistant VI, job code 4106, $18.81 - $26.86/hr

Pay Timing Standards

All Student Assistant positions (I-VI) must be paid on an hourly, biweekly basis. This includes submission of timesheets, and the student will receive payment biweekly (according to the pay schedule.)

Here is a link to the student biweekly schedule: 2024-2025-student-employment-bi-weekly-payroll-calendar.pdf (ucdenver.edu). We encourage all students and supervisors to set reoccurring reminders for deadlines.

For students being paid on a biweekly basis, we encourage them to review the MyLeave Guide (How to Use MyLeave - Student Guide.pdf) to set up preferences prior to their first timesheet deadline.

Hiring Process

Your new hire cannot start work until the following requirements have been met:

A background check has been passed

A new hire meeting has been scheduled to complete the I-9 hiring paperwork

Confirmation from SEHD HR with appropriate start date

Upon receipt of the new hire form, the SEHD HR team will begin the hiring paperwork process with the new hire. As the supervisor, you will be copied on initial correspondence with the hire.

Based upon the information submitted in your Hire Request form, the SEHD HR team will create a letter of offer for your student employee and will ask you to review and sign it.

You will also be cc’d on the last piece of hiring email correspondence regarding timesheets (if applicable), required trainings (if applicable) and the student handbook.

New Hire Request

Once you have a student in mind… Please anticipate several weeks for hiring paperwork processing (even if the student is a current employee) – onboarding requirements include completing a background check, employment verification, and other on-boarding steps. Generally, the more advance notice we can have, the smoother the onboarding can be for you and the new colleague.

Submit the Hire Request Form (select Student from the drop-down menu) using your requested details.

The submitted form will automatically notify the SEHD HR team of your hire request.

SEHD HR will review the details you requested and contact you for clarification or recommendation adjustments.

Grant-Funded positions

If the position is grant funded, it is helpful to include a note that the position is contingent upon grant funding. In the past, SEHD HR has used this wording in the letter of offer:
This is a grant-funded position. Continuation of the position and tuition assistance is entirely dependent on the continued availability of the grant funds.

SEHD Students working for other CU Denver Teams

The SEHD approach to the hiring process for SEHD students who may take a position on another CU team is generally that the hiring steps (background check, I-9, payroll, etc.) will be done through the inviting school.

Continuing Employment

Each semester, SEHD HR will notify supervisors for confirmation of continued hiring of student employees. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to inform HR if there are any changes to their student employment status and details. This includes if the student is active, resigned, or graduated; accurate salary; correct speedtype; and hours per week.

Job description standards

Currently in SEHD, available resources regarding job descriptions are in the student handbook (student-hourly-employment-handbook.pdf (ucdenver.edu)) page 28. This provides an overview of the information that could be included in the job description. Additionally, on the Student Hire Formstack (found on SEHD Wiki page) where the job description upload is needed, an example is provided.

Closing out a student position after resignation/termination

After a student resigns (or is terminated) from their position with SEHD, the best practice is to close out any access they may have been granted. If SEHD IT granted the access (ie: Q/T drives, or other programs), a email must be sent to remove the access (send to: sehdhelp@ucdenver.edu).

Additionally, the supervisor is responsible for submitting a checkout notification form. (*This is to be completed if a student is leaving University employment and does not hold a position with another team.)

For other applications/programs granted by the supervisor, the supervisor is responsible for removing the resigned student.

Supervisors should complete this form once a student resigns and/or is terminated.

RA/GA Hiring Guide

Job Titles & Definitions

Student Assistant series positions are for undergraduate students only, in most cases. *if the student is undergraduate/work study, please refer to Student Employment website: (Student Employment (ucdenver.edu))

Teaching Assistant and Graduate Part Time Instructor positions are coordinated by the program lead for each course area based on enrollment. Please refer to the SEHD Wiki Pattern of Administration: https://wiki.cu.studio/handbooks/pattern_of_administration?s[]=teaching%20assistant#teaching_assistantssecondary_instructors

Graduate Assistants (GA): This position is focused on administrative work for a department and is not directly involved in instruction or research.

Research Assistant (RA): This position is focused on research, analyzing data, and writing technical reports.

The Job title (e.g. Student Assistant vs. Graduate Assistant or Research Assistant) is important to align with undergraduate or graduate status as best we can. The reason is because US News asks us to report our number of graduate students annually, and we track those using their job title in our payroll system.

Graduate student appointments must be enrolled full-time, as a regular degree-seeking graduate student on the CU-Denver campus.

In Sept. 2023 we learned that certificate students may also be eligible for student employee roles:

Limit of Hours Worked

generally not eligible for additional work at CU

Refer to the student employment handbook, especially the section on “Work Hour Regulation.” This resource is regularly updated and should be checked first, but as of Nov 2024…

“Undergraduate student employees (Work-Study and Student Hourly) are recommended to work 20 hours a week throughout the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters while classes are in session. The maximum number of hours a student employee may work during the fall and spring semester is 25 hours per week or 50 hours per biweekly payroll period, provided no single week in that period exceeds 40 work hours. However, the maximum number of hours a student employee may work during the summer is 40 hours per week.

Graduate and Professional student employees (Work-Study and Student Hourly) are recommended to work 20 hours a week throughout the Fall, Spring and Summer semesters while classes are in session. The maximum number of hours a student employee may work during the fall and spring semester is 25 hours per week or 50 hours per biweekly payroll period, provided no single week in that period exceeds 40 work hours. However, the maximum number of hours a student employee may work during the summer is 40 hours per week.

International Students: In accordance with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regulations, international students may not work more than 20 hours per week—in total, regardless of the number of positions—while classes are in session during the Fall and Spring semesters. During the Summer semester, and when the University is on an official break and/or no classes are in session, international students may work on campus in a student hourly position, up to, but not more than, 40 hours a week. Additional employment for international students is prohibited under [8 CFR 214.2 (f)(9)(i) and at 22 CFR 62.23 (g)(2)(iii)].“

—

Student Hourly employees who are graduating may work to the end of the semesters pay period, and do NOT need to end their position after the last day of classes and/or finals week.

Fall 2024 pay period ends 12/21/24

Leave Benefits

Graduate student employees are eligible for jury duty pay and sick leave, but not eligible for, or entitled to; fringe benefits such as retirement, vacation, unemployment and/or paid holidays.

As of January 1, 2021, Graduate student positions will accrue sick leave at a rate of 0.034 hours per hour worked with a maximum accrual of 48 hours per fiscal year (July 1 – June 30). Students can use sick leave to cover time that they would have normally been working, for reasons listed under the Sick leave tab at this policy statement website: https://www.cu.edu/ope/aps/5062. Supervisors will be asked to approve of the sick leave through the MyLeave timesheet process. There is a row in the student MyLeave dashboard showing their accrued sick leave balance. To review their available balance before approving, please navigate to MyLeave. From your UCD Portal, select the MyLeave tile (clock icon), then use the dropdown menu to select their name. Sick leave should display on the top row of the table under their name and their current balance is in the far right column. If you have questions, please contact your SEHD HR team (sehdhr@ucdenver.edu).

Graduate students may be eligible for FAMLI leave as of January 1, 2024, and will work through the application review process with CU's leave team to determine their options

Pay Ranges for graduate student employees, and job codes

Common pay rates for SEHD graduate student positions in 2025 are as follows. We must be above the minimum wage at least, which is $18.81 in 2025.
Research Assistant, job code 1505, $20 - $25 per hour

Graduate Assistant, job code 1502, $19 - $23 per hour

Masters level students tend to be more in the $19 + range
Doctoral level students tend to be more in the $20 – 23 range.

For context, minimum wage in Denver increased from

$12.00 –> $12.85 in 2020 –>
$14.77 –> $15.00 in 2021 –>
$15.00 –> $15.87 in 2022 –>
$15.87 –> $17.29 in 2023 –>
$17.29 –> $18.29 in 2024 –>

$18.29 –> $18.81 in 2025

Tuition Reimbursement

Commonly around SEHD, if tuition reimbursement is included in the Graduate student position, this wording is used on the letter of offer:

The starting wage for this position will be $20 per hour effective on 06/15/2021, with a maximum of 9 hours of in-state tuition credits for the fall semester and a maximum of 9 hours of in-state tuition credits for the spring semester. The wage is based on the responsibilities assigned to you, and in accordance with the student employment job class descriptions.

Tuition remission is provided for the purpose of supporting the scholarly pursuits of graduate students who work at least twelve weeks in an academic year semester and maintain satisfactory academic progress toward their degrees.

Typically, the stipend award letter for students working on a grant references the info below. The student will need to pay the fees in most cases, along with books. Fees can vary widely depending on which courses the student takes, but $600 is a good ballpark.

These amounts change routinely, and should be verified using the Graduate tuition & fees rate chart for School of Education & Human Development - https://www.ucdenver.edu/student-finances/tuition-fees/graduate.

Fall/Spring (9 credits)
Tuition Credits = $3,393.00
Fees = $600.00
Hourly rate = $22.00 for 20 hours per week
Total Salary Amount = $7,040.00
Total Dollar Award = $11,033.00
Most of the time, scholarships are given to RAs, because those positions are research oriented, and funds come from a grant. Some scholarships are paid through SEHD for recruitment, reviewed by a committee, from a PhD tuition speedtype.

Sandy Mondragon processes the recruitment and retention scholarships (via email to student employment). SEHD HR should check that the speedtype has the necessary item type (may need to ask the Scholarship Office).

Bolormaa Begzsuren completes the necessary forms including item type for grant scholarships.

Item type information is here: https://olucdenver.sharepoint.com/sites/BursarInterdepartmentalInvoiceandTraineeship/SitePages/Interdepartmental-Invoice-Request-Form.aspx. With questions regarding the item type or the Interdepartmental Invoice process, please email BursarAcct@ucdenver.edu or 303-315-1825.

Grant-Funded positions

If the position is grant funded, it is helpful to include a note that the position is contingent upon grant funding. In the past, SEHD HR has used this wording in the letter of offer:
This is a grant-funded position. Continuation of the position and tuition assistance is entirely dependent on the continued availability of the grant funds.

Advertising for SEHD student positions

General student positions are posted on Handshake and renewed each semester. We use a job ad template which was created in 2021, in collaboration with Sandy Mondragon.

Applications must be received by the semester deadline (July 31 for fall, December 31 for spring, and April 30 for summer) in order to be considered when a position becomes available. Applications will be cleared each semester.

If there is a specific need (approved student position through department/individual budget), a position search can be posted on Handshake. In order to do this, a Formstack must be completed, found here: HR Search Form - Formstack (Select Student from drop down menu).

To Hire a Graduate Student

Once a student has been identified, a few hiring steps need to be taken. Please anticipate several weeks for hiring paperwork processing (even if the student is a current employee). Onboarding requirements include completing a background check, employment verification, and other on-boarding steps. Generally, the more advance notice we can have, the smoother the onboarding can be for you and the new colleague.

Submit the Hire Request Form (select Student from the drop-down menu) using your requested details.

The submitted form will automatically notify the SEHD HR team of your hire request.

SEHD HR will review the details you requested and contact you for clarification or recommendation adjustments.

Once HR has cleared the student for hire, HR will communicate the approved start date with supervisor. A letter of offer is signed and submitted to HR for further processing.

A student may begin work after all the on-boarding steps have been completed and have received notice from SEHD HR.

*Important note regarding start dates: students who are paid monthly must have their official hire date on the first calendar day of a month. This timing sometimes limits us, due to I-9 and background checks required to be clear before the start date.

Students paid biweekly can start as soon as the on-boarding steps are completed.

Students paid on contracts generally begin the first day of the semester, or a shorter contract can be worked out in advance with SEHD HR.

SEHD Students working for other CU Denver Teams

The SEHD approach to the hiring process for SEHD students who may take a position on another CU team is generally that the hiring steps (background check, I-9, payroll, etc.) will be done through the inviting school.

Employees of other CU campuses who wish to also work a student position in SEHD

Example: a working SEHD doctoral student who wants to work as a Teaching Assistant or a GA or RA in SEHD during their studies.

If one position is a student position with a limit of 25 hours on our campus and another position is a staff position at another campus, working both may be possible. SEHD HR should work with the other HR team to confirm the setup details.

SEHD HR would like to receive a copy of confirmation from the supervisor in the other CU department if applicable that they are aware that the employee is also working _#_ hours at CU Denver SEHD in _Title_ work appointment. Positions at Anschutz, in particular, may require a buy-out arrangement and can be a challenge to get approved by the Anschutz side. Staff & PRA positions at Anschutz and less than 100%-time positions at Anschutz may be possible to add an SEHD role.

The intended employee should connect SEHD HR with their HR person at Anschutz/AMC Prior to beginning any work with SEHD. We in SEHD are happy to support these hires, just need to know what actions are required to partner with the AMC policies related to that person, for example letting AMC know what speedtype to charge, etc. Sometimes, for example, we add an appointment here on our side and just pay the additional work above the regular full-time position, if that works for the home HR department.

Pay Increases

Before a student pay increase is approved by SEHD HR, the supervisor should provide justification for the increase. There is no form for this, just a sentence or two in email to SEHD HR will suffice. If there is a change in job duties, an updated job description will also be needed, and will be added to the employee’s file.

Pay increase timing/laddering for student positions is up to the supervisor. In SEHD student positions, it is common to see a $1 increase due to experience/performance/increased responsibilities each year or two.

Pay Timing Standards

There are multiple ways to set pay for student employment. SEHD HR reviews with the supervisor the appropriate pay schedule for a new student.

Example 1 (Academic Year Pay)

The Academic Year standard of pay is 16 weeks in Fall, 16 weeks in Spring, total of 32 weeks paid each month from August through May.

Example 2 (Semester/Monthly Pay)

The semester contract standard of pay is based on 16 weeks. Fall semester (typically) runs mid-August – December; and Spring semester runs mid-January – mid-May. Payment would be on the last business day of the month, as usual; however, both August and December paychecks will be prorated based on the number of days worked. This would be true for the spring semester as well.

If a student starts after the semester, but on the first of a month, SEHD HR will prepare a pay calculation to arrive at the monthly pay amount. HR will communicate the monthly pay with the supervisor to ensure accuracy and available funds.

Example 3 (Biweekly Pay)

If a student starts after the semester, but in the middle of a month, SEHD HR will advise biweekly pay. This includes submission of timesheets, and the student will receive a payment biweekly (according to the pay schedule, see below under “Tracking Work Time”).

Tracking Work Time

GA/RA appointments who are paid monthly, on the last business day of each month, and typically do not submit time sheets in the MyLeave system (although you should ask your GA/RA to be accountable for their hours or work a regular schedule). SEHD HR will calculate monthly pay based on the hourly rate and hours per week.

If the supervisor prefers, HR can set up the position as hourly/biweekly. This means the student will need to submit biweekly timesheets, and the supervisor will need to log in to review and approve timesheets. This option is sometimes used if the work is sporadic and hours vary, or if the supervisor has others using timesheets and wants to simplify the routine for all student workers, etc.

Here is a link to the student biweekly schedule: 2022-2023-student-employment-bi-weekly-payroll-calendar.pdf (ucdenver.edu). We encourage all students and supervisors to set reoccurring reminders for deadlines.

For students being paid on a biweekly basis, we encourage them to review the MyLeave Guide (How to Use MyLeave - Student Guide.pdf) to set up preferences prior to their first timesheet deadline.

For new supervisors (and as a refresher for current supervisors), you may reference this guide on how to acces MyLeave, approve timesheets, and general FAQs: https://www.cu.edu/docs/sbs-my-leave-supervisors

Are you going on vacation? Set up a proxy! This feature allows supervisors to “transfer” timesheet approval to another leader on the team. This comes in handy right around payroll deadline time & has less impact on student pay. See more information here: https://www.cu.edu/docs/sbs-my-leave-supervisors

Continuing Employment

Each semester, SEHD HR will notify supervisors for confirmation of continued hiring of student employees. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to inform HR if there are any changes to their student employment status and details. This includes if the student is active, resigned, or graduated; accurate salary; correct speedtype; and hours per week.

Job description standards

Currently in SEHD, available resources regarding job descriptions are in the student handbook (student-hourly-employment-handbook.pdf (ucdenver.edu)) page 28. This provides an overview of the information that could be included in the job description. Additionally, on the Student Hire Formstack (found on SEHD Wiki page) where the job description upload is needed, an example is provided.

Semester dates for each semester and for summer

HR can check with the Student Employment team to get the specific dates for each semester.

Although this link provides monthly payroll deadlines (https://www.cu.edu/hcm-community/pay-employees/payroll-production-calendars), the student biweekly calendar can be hard to find. It’s a button at the bottom of this page as of 6/28/21: https://www.ucdenver.edu/lynxconnect/career-center/student-employment

Can we hire a GA or RA prior to them starting classes in the fall?

HR can check with the Student Employment team to find out if any policies have changed.

Otherwise, as of April 2021, we were told that:

If you are going to be hiring a new student for the RA position, then they can begin to work in the Summer as long as they have documentation showing they are enrolled in a program for the Fall such as their class schedule or letter of admission. If they are going to be paid by a grant, we recommend that you check the fund agreement or the project officer of the grant for additional details.

Closing out a student position after resignation/termination

After a student resigns (or is terminated) from their position with SEHD, the best practice is to close out any access they may have been granted. If SEHD IT granted the access (ie: Q/T drives, or other programs), a email must be sent to remove the access (send to: sehdhelp@ucdenver.edu).

Additionally, the supervisor is responsible for submitting a checkout notification form. (*This is to be completed if a student is leaving University employment and does not hold a position with another team.)

For other applications/programs granted by the supervisor, the supervisor is responsible for removing the resigned student.

Supervisors should complete this form once a student resigns and/or is terminated.