hello folks,

I have an urgent question about placing a graduate student at a local
company which is requiring a security clearance.  Our University does
not have a secure facility, so the corporate sponsor's DoD funder is
requiring that if the student researcher is working at the corporate
site, he must be an employee, covered by the same type of clearance as
other corporate employees.

We could allow the student to work as an employee and cover his tuition
through other university sources, but here's the rub.  The company
doesn't want to increase their employee base for this short period of
time.  They don't want to pay benefits to this guy either.  (They said
it'll become too expensive.)  He cannot be a temporary worker because he
needs benefits and the company cannot squeeze him through as a
"consultant", employed by a "contracting agency" which is the
university.

It has been suggested that, to circumvent the problem, the company would
pay the student directly.  The university could have an assignment
agreement with the student so that he would sign his checks over to us
and we could administer the funding.  In my opinion, this only
complicates the situation.  Although it satisfies the security clearance
issue, there are other concerns regarding benefits, academic
requirements, and tax ramifications.

Everyone really wants this collaboration to work because it would be a
valuable research experience for the student and the company would
benefit greatly from the student's prior corporate experience (he's a
mature returning student with a familty, etc.).

Sorry to be so long-winded, but how can I get this student through the
security clearance gauntlet?  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Matt

======================================================================
 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")
======================================================================