IU Indianapolis Student Academic Appointees (SAA) FAQ
This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document was created in collaboration with the IU Indianapolis Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) and is meant to aid departments and schools on how to attract and fund degree-seeking graduate students. This document is focused on Student Academic Appointees (SAA). Note that some graduate and professional students receive financial aid from their department/school that is not tied to specific duties (SAA) or scholarly pursuits (Graduate Fellowship). See the list of definitions.
Funding Students
Many graduate students receiving support are funded via Graduate Fellowships, SAAs, or staff-temporary-hourly basis. Others are employed on a staff-temporary-hourly basis. Sources of funding include: 1) academic school or campus office funds allocated for financial aid or staff; 2) external grants; 3) or contracts; Indiana University merit-based fellowships; 4) IU Graduate School Indianapolis fellowships; 5) IU Foundation awards; and 6) state and federal financial aid.
For the most part, yes. IU Indianapolis relies on guidance from the University. See the Indianapolis Office of Academic Affairs website for more information.
SAAs are considered Academic Appointments. You can appoint them by the semester or academic year. See the Office of Academic Affairs for more details.
No, SAAs cannot have a summer-only appointment. To have a summer appointment, they must have held a spring/fall appointment or 10-month academic appointment prior to the summer appointment.
Student Academic Appointees must be appointed at a minimum of 37.5% FTE (15 standard hours per week). A 50% FTE appointment is considered full-time, and this equates to 20 hours a week. Anything above 50% FTE must receive approval from OAA (below). See the Office of Academic Affairs for additional details.
International students should confer with the Office of International Affairs (OIA) regarding visa requirements for appointments. Note that most visas allow only 20 hours of work (or 50% FTE). See information on International Students for additional details.
Anything over 20 standard hours (or 50% FTE) requires overload approval from Willie Miller, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs, Office of Academic Affairs. The graduate student’s academic supervisor must email a request that includes the justification for the overload, and the total commitment of courses including other hours worked to confirm the total is below 30 standard hours per week. This request must be emailed to the Office of Academic Affairs at acadhr@iu.edu. See the Overload Teaching Approval Guide, and the subsequent approval from Academic Affairs should be attached to the appropriate HRMS eDoc (see below for details).
During the summer, appointments may be made without special justification up to 100% FTE (40 hours per week). Summer is defined as period between Commencement and the official start of the fall semester.
The IU Indianapolis SAA minimum may vary from IU Bloomington. From the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, the minimum compensation for a 10-month 50% FTE SAA appointment is as follows:
Master Level Students
Doctoral Level Students
FY 2023 Minimum
$12,600
$15,000
FY 2024 Minimum
$13,400
$16,000
FY 2025 Minimum
$14,200
$17,000
FY 2026 Minimum
$15,000
$18,000
The Graduate School and Academic Affairs: These minimums are not static, but rather continually monitor and evaluate stipend levels annually.
For comparison, the IU Graduate School Indianapolis provides a competitive stipend as part of the University and Diversity Fellowship offer packages for highly qualified incoming PhD and master’s students pursuing research-based degrees. The 23-24 academic year IU Indianapolis University Fellows received a first-year stipend (Master’s/ 18K and PhD/22.5K), and health insurance. For these university fellowships, the academic department is responsible for a full fee remission, as well as continued stipend funding at a similar or higher rate for subsequent years.
Although, separate and distinct from SAAs, graduate fellowships are another way to attract students in a highly competitive recruitment landscape. The IU Graduate Office Indianapolis strongly encourages departments and schools to provide a similar level of compensation to their SAAs.
It depends on the student’s FTE percentage. SAA with full-time appointments of 50% FTE, must be awarded a 30 credit hour fee remission with no more than 12 credit hours awarded per semester or combined summer session.
If the SAA is appointed at 37.5% FTE (minimum appointment) or greater the student is automatically enrolled from date of appointment, and insurance coverage activated when the job is entered into IU system. Insurance includes health, dental, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Insurance coverage terminates when the department terminates the position in the IU system, or during IUB VPFAA’s batch termination process each semester.
The waiver request form should be used if the student has existing insurance coverage and does not need the IU-sponsored coverage. The waiver request form must be submitted by the deadlines noted on the form to be approved. This will prevent your account from being billed the premium for insurance the student is not utilizing. IU Human Resources links to the waiver request form under Student Academic Appointees, Appointed Postdoctoral Fellows & Fellowship Recipients on their Student and Scholar Health Insurance website.
If the student meets the eligibility requirements the insurance premium is charged to the account used to fund the SAA’s stipend each semester. Rates/minimums are published each spring for the following fiscal year. Contact your budget office for additional details.
It depends. Coverage for fall SAA appointments is 8/1 – 12/31 annually. Coverage for spring SAA appointments is 1/1 – 7/31 annually, as long as the SAA remains active and a waiver is not submitted. If the SAA is terminated during the year, insurance coverage will end as of the termination date.
Alternatively, if a student’s appointment begins summer term, they are automatically enrolled from date of appointment, and insurance coverage activated when the job entered into IU system. Coverage terminates when department terminates position in HRMS, or during batch term process each semester.
Lauren Greider, Executive Director, IU Indianapolis Office of Student Financial Services, lgreider@iu.edu
Graduate Student Health Insurance Questions.
University Human Resources, studenhc@iu.edu
HRMS eDoc Training for AC3s
Karen Lee, Office of Academic Affairs, acadhr@iu.edu
Overload approval for over 50% FTE (20 hours a week).
Willie Miller, Office of Academic Affairs, acadhr@iu.edu
HRMS eDocs for AC3 Appointments
Effective date must always be the first day of a month and must match the contract begin date.
Contract end date must always be the last day of a month, unless it’s a 10-month appointee who’s being appointed for the full academic year (August-May). In those instances, the contract end date will automatically default to the Monday after BL graduation.
Contract dates for the following periods are listed below:
Fall: 8/1-12/31
Spring: 1/1-5/31
Academic year: 8/1-5/31
A background check and I-9 must be completed prior to final eDoc approval of the hire.
The standard hours must be a minimum of 15 = 37.5% FTE. Anything over 20 standard hours (or 50% FTE) requires overload approval from OOA at acadhr@iu.edu.
Students can only work up to 40 hours per week during the summer without overload approval.
Effective date must always be the first day of a month and must match the agreement start date.
Agreement end date must always be the last day of a month, unless it’s a 10-month appointee who’s being appointed for the full academic year (August-May). In those instances, the contract end date will automatically default to the Monday after BL graduation.
The standard hours must be a minimum of 15 = 37.5% FTE. Anything over 20 standard hours requires overload approval from OOA at acadhr@iu.edu.
An SAA must have a fall or spring appointment to be paid on a Create Summer Pay eDoc.
This eDoc type is only for 10-month appointees who work during the summer, 12-month appointees who work during the summer are paid on a Renew Contract eDoc.
Dates can vary from year-to-year. There’s an option to select Summer Session 1, Summer Session 2 or Irregular Schedule.
If Irregular Schedule is selected, the initiator can input any begin/end date as long as it falls within a summer pay period (May-August).
Definitions
Graduate Fellowships are offered by departments, schools, or the University to selected graduate students. The stipends attached do not require specific duties and are excludable from taxable income to the extent they are actually used to pay for tuition and course-related books and expenses. All fellowship recipients must be degree seeking and enrolled full-time. A full-time course load is defined by each school but may in no case be less than 6 credit hours per semester without special permission. Definition altered for clarity from Bloomington – SAA Handbook.
Student Academic Appointment - (Graduate Assistant, Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant) – Graduate student appointments are offered by academic schools or departments to selected graduate students. The stipends attached to appointments are considered graduate student support and compensation for the academic duties assigned, and as such are considered to be taxable income. These student academic appointments are independent of other possible awards of financial aid. Definition altered for campus clarity from Bloomington – SAA Handbook.
Compensation – payment to an individual (employee or student) for work performed on behalf of the University. Student Academic Appointees are compensated for academic duties assigned.
Stipend – payment to a student to contribute to cost of living, but not for work completed on behalf of the University. Graduate Fellowship recipients receive a stipend.
Fee Remission – Payment of student tuition (does not include G901, mandatory, course-related or miscellaneous fees) by a university component (Campus, RC, School, Unit, etc.). Typically, as a component of a Student Academic Appointment (SAA), but discretion is afforded to university units beyond SAA’s.
