RA and TA Tuition Remission and Payroll

Tuition remission assessment and allocation

RA/TA tuition remission is assessed to departments through a flat rate per-semester charge allocated on a per-pay-period basis for each academic term the RA/TA is employed. See the RA/TA calendar for the tuition remission start and end date for the fall, spring and summer semesters.

Graduate students employed under the following job profiles will be assessed for tuition remission:

Graduates under the non-exempt version of the above job codes are charged tuition remission through manual journal entry. Tuition remission does not currently process through payroll for non-exempt grads.

Tuition remission will automatically be charged to departments for any employee working in the above job profiles, regardless of whether a RA/TA tuition award has been processed. Departments should ensure their grads are in the correct job profile to avoid being improperly charged tuition remission.

The tuition remission rate charged each semester is determined by the combined FTE of all RA/TA-eligible jobs the employee worked during the period. Grads working at .5 FTE or greater will receive the full rate, .25-.49 FTE will receive half the rate, and .25 or less will not be assessed tuition remission. Summer session tuition remission is fully assessed to departments regardless of the RA/TA’s FTE.

See the following table for current and prior academic year RA/TA rates:

The timeframe assessed and the amount of tuition remission levied each pay period are based on the expected number of pay periods worked within the RA/TA semester calendar. The expected number of pay periods is derived from the start and end dates of the grad’s period activity pay. If the RA/TA has multiple positions subject to tuition remission, the RA/TA assessment is allocated among the positions based on FTE.

Local programs and sponsored grants are subject to the flat rate charge. RA/TA charges are not allowable on general operating accounts — fund FD1100 or FD1110 — and are automatically redirected to PG99994 (RA), PG99997 (TA) and PG99998 (PS conversion and summer first time) through a monthly financial allocation. Departments that hire an RA/TA after the seventh pay period of the fall or spring semesters are not assessed tuition remission. 

RA/TA tuition remission is processed through payroll utilizing the Tuition Remission Surcharge — TR_SUR — deduction code, which is viewable under the employer-paid benefits section of the paycheck. 

When payroll is completed, the RA/TA expense posts to the general ledger via the Payroll Actual Accrual journal source, ledger account 7111: Employee Related Expenses — Graduate Tuition Benefit and spend categories SC0808: Tuition Benefit — RA, SC0810: Tuition Benefit — TA, and SC1157: Graduate Tuition Benefit. With the implementation of Workday, tuition remission is no longer included in the payroll encumbrance. 

You can use the referenced journal sources, ledgers and spend categories as filters for RA/TA reporting purposes when querying Workday departmental reports and the Financial Data Warehouse, Amazon Redshift.

The health insurance benefit for RA/TAs is charged through the Research/Teaching Associate/Assistant employee-related expenses rate.

Payroll accounting adjustments will not automatically transfer tuition remission along with the related earnings and ERE. To move tuition remission through a payroll accounting adjustment, the Tuition Remission Surcharge deduction code must be manually selected as a pay component when creating the transaction. Refer to the Create Payroll Accounting Adjustments work instruction in Workday for more details. 

For any tuition remission-related questions, contact your Financial Services accountant or your Grant and Contract Officer for inquiries specific to sponsored grants.