Budget Management & Student Payroll
As supervisor for student employees, you must consider how your department will fund student positions, monitor the current student pay rate, and take action if your student employee requires FICA withholding.
Work-study is funded by federal and state allocations that are given to WSU annually to hire students who qualify for the work-study program.
Work-study budgets are not part of your operating budget and do not appear anywhere within the Minnesota State accounting system.
Over 90 departments typically have annual “base” work-study budget allocations.
If your cost center is not funded by the GEN fund, then your cost center will be responsible for the 25% work study match and for any Earned Sick and Safe time used.
Review your work study budgets in the student employment application.
Supervisors are notified in late spring or early summer about work-study budget allocations for the following academic year.
Student help is funded by department operating budgets.
Carefully consider student staffing needs within the department as well as the total operating budget prior to determining how much to allocate to student help.
Review your student help spending in the student employment application.
Earned Sick & Safe Time
The Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) (PDF) is a new benefit to all employees who work in the state of Minnesota that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
Any expenses used for ESST will be charged to the cost center that each student is hired under. Per the State of Minnesota, ESST cannot be expensed to a student’s work study award.
This expense will be shown in object code 0911 – Student Salary – ESST in the cost center.
Student employees are paid at least the minimum hourly rate as determined by WSU. If a job requires a high level of responsibility or a specialized skill, you can choose to offer higher rates of pay.
When you hire a student, indicate the higher pay rate on the student’s Work Authorization Request.
The person in charge of the budget will be notified of the higher rate of pay and directed to contact the supervisor for further information.
To give a current student employee a raise, edit the pay rate on the student’s work authorization request within the Student Employment application.
Keep a record of the students who are on overpay in your department and their hourly pay rates.
When you complete subsequent Work Authorization Requests for these students, you must put the higher rate of pay on the form, or it will be missed in student payroll.
To determine whether FICA and Medicare taxes must be withheld from students’ payroll, the federal government looks at whether an individual is more of a student or an employee at any given time during the semester or year. This determination is based on:
- The number of credits for which the student is enrolled
- The number of hours the student is working per week
During the academic year, student employees:
- are prohibited from working more than 30 hours per week (60 hours per pay period)
- must be enrolled in a number of credits that equates to half-time status (6 undergraduate credits for undergraduate students and 3 graduate credits for graduate students)
If a student meets these requirements, they do not pay FICA tax.
Typically, Social Security and Medicare taxes are not withheld from students’ paychecks during fall and spring semesters.
Because winter break is less than 5 weeks, FICA is not withheld over that break.
During the summer, student employees:
- are allowed to work up to 40 hours per week (80 hours per pay period)
- must be pre-registered for fall semester (but not necessarily enrolled in summer courses
Many student employees in the summer do end up paying FICA and Medicare taxes.
Students will pay FICA tax if:
- they are not enrolled in any summer credits
- they are enrolled in at least 3 credits in the summer and work 60 or more hours per pay period
A student will not pay FICA in the summer if they are enrolled in at least 3 credits and work less than 60 hours per pay period.
If you anticipate that a student employee will work 60+ hours per pay period in the summer, you must complete a FICA Withholding Form (PDF) and email it to studentpayroll@winona.edu for each student meeting this criteria.
FICA withholding cannot be turned off and on throughout the summer. It is not altered based on actual number of hours worked each pay period. FICA will be withheld for the entire timeframe over which this 60+ hours work schedule is projected.
If a student is less than half-time during their final semester at the University, they may be subject to FICA withholding as well.