Re: paying students Farnsworth, Franci 23 Dec 2003 09:36 EST
From the perspective of a small liberal arts college: All undergraduates doing collaborative research with faculty in the summer are paid as "employees" (with appropriate withholdings and FICA contributions). For grant such as NSF-REU's, where students are budgeted as "participants", we include "fringe benefits" at our "payroll taxes rate" as an "OTHER" expense within the participant section of the budget. My understanding is that our tax advisors believe that we must treat students doing summer research as employees (although I'm not sure if anyone has ever explored other options based on the educational aspects of these experiences). Because the role of REU students is no different than that of most other students paid with college and grant funds to do research with faculty, accounting standards and A-21 mandate that we treat their pay in the same way. Frances Vinal Farnsworth Coordinator of Sponsored Research Munford House Middlebury College Middlebury, VT 05753 Tel: 802-443-5889 Fax: 802-443-2081 Email: xxxxxx@middlebury.edu Web: http://www.middlebury.edu/~grants/ -----Original Message----- From: Shannon Davis [mailto:xxxxxx@UARK.EDU] Sent: Mon, December 22, 2003 5:21 PM To: xxxxxx@HRINET.ORG Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] RESADM-L Digest - 18 Dec 2003 to 19 Dec 2003 (#2003-248) Happy holidays. I have a set of questions related to paying students receiving funds for participation in REU training programs and other similar programs. Can you tell me how you pay your REU students and other students who are receiving funds while in a program that is specifically designed to be training oriented and not employment by the institution? Do you pay them straight stipends with no deductions or do you enter them in the payroll as employees and deduct withholding, fringes etc.? Which approach do you believe benefits the students most? What do your institutional tax experts tell you about handling these types of payments to students? Any information on how you handle this situation at your institutions would be helpful. Shannon G. Davis Ph.D., CRA Assistant Director Research Support and Sponsored Programs University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 479.575.3845 xxxxxx@uark.edu ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ====================================================================== ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================