Campus Employment Policies and Procedures

Categories of Student Employment

Students who work on campus at Northwestern fall into one of two categories: Campus Employment or Federal Work Study. Students who have financial need based on their FAFSA form can earn Federal Work Study dollars. The U.S. Department of Education gives Northwestern a small allotment of money to assist in funding the Student Employment Program. If a student is not eligible for Federal Work Study dollars, he/she is still eligible to work on campus and will just be working under the Campus Employment category. All hourly positions at Northwestern are eligible for either Campus Employment students or Federal Work Study students.

 

Eligible Students

  1. Undergraduate Students that are registered full-time (12-18 credit hours) and half-time (6-11 credit hours) are eligible for on-campus employment.
  2. Graduate Students that are registered full-time (9+ credits) and half-time (5-8 credit hours) are now eligible for on-campus employment with the following limitations:
    1. The Graduate Student cannot be a Graduate Assistant.
    2. Graduate classes need to be through Northwestern and enrolled at least half-time (5 credit hours).
    3. Graduate Students will be limited to only one job as a student employee (you will be responsible for informing the student you are hiring).
  1. Graduated seniors are NOT eligible to work as student employees unless they are enrolled as a Graduate Student (at least 5 graduate credit hours) at Northwestern College.
  2. Students who have been put on Academic Suspension are not eligible to work for the Student Employment Program. If a student has been put on Academic Probation, he/she will be limited to holding only one on-campus position. If the student successfully appeals Academic Suspension or Probationary status, that student may then be reinstated to work their position(s) again if the position is still available.

 

Staff/Faculty Waiver

Students who receive the staff/faculty waiver are allowed to hold a maximum of two jobs as long as they live on campus. If a commuter student receives the staff/faculty waiver, he/she will be allowed to hold only one job on campus. Students may not work in the same department as their parent or be supervised by someone else in the department that is under the direct supervision of that parent.

 

Pre-Employment Forms

Student employees need to complete pre-employment forms prior to starting their job on campus. These forms only need to be filled out by students one time while they are at

Northwestern College unless the student withdraws from the college. Once complete, these forms need to be turned in to the Human Resources Office.

To look if a student already has their forms complete, supervisors can access the worksheet titled “Campus Employment_xx-xx-xxxx” on the J:Drive/Campus Employment.

Iowa Code 91A.3.3a allows employers in Iowa to enforce Mandatory Direct Deposit for employees. As a condition of student employment at Northwestern, a student needs to have an active United States bank account. If a student employee refuses to turn direct deposit information into the Human Resources Office, that student will not be allowed to continue working.

 

Contracted Jobs on Campus

Student employment positions at Northwestern College should be hourly positions with a Student Employment Contract. This allows for fair wage and hour laws to be applied to our student employees. Supervisors also have the ability to monitor the work and hours their student employees are putting in. Federal Work Study funds will be used for students who meet the criteria for a work-study award.

Contracts for student employment on campus are to be reviewed and evaluated each academic year. All contracts need to be turned in to the Human Resources Office prior to a student starting their job. Working with the Financial Aid Office, the Human Resources Office will load each job into the student employment payroll system which will then produce a timecard for the student on his/her MyNWC portal system under the Workstudy tab. The student will then also show up on the supervisor’s roster of student employees on the TimeCard Approval page under the WorkStudy Tab on their MyNWC.

 

Non-Contract Jobs on Campus

There are very few jobs that are considered non-contract. Non-contract jobs can be held by any student, even if they already have contracted jobs. Please see the list below for jobs that are considered non-contract:

Academic Support

Beacon Writer/Photographer

Athletic Band

Some Grant or Donor Funded Programs (Lily, Templeton Trust/Oxford, Restricted Yoder)

 

Stipend Positions

The Human Resources Office needs to approve any stipend positions. Stipend payments will be allowed if there is sound reasoning as to why the student cannot be paid on an hourly basis. The following criteria must be met for a student to be paid stipend amounts:

  • The student is required to be “on call” for a majority of their time (Resident Advisors, NEXT roommates, Campus Ministry Leaders, Graduate Assistants).
  • The student is receiving a one-time payment for a creative or artistic endeavor.

If a student does hold a stipend position, that position will be considered to be 5 hours per week (RA’s & Next Roommates are considered 10 hours per week). Please take that into account when hiring students who hold multiple on campus jobs.

 

Work Week and Weekly Hours

Northwestern College considers the “Work Week” to be Sunday at 12:00am to Saturday at 11:59pm. Combining all contracted and non-contracted jobs, students must not be working more than 20 hours/week. Please keep this in mind when applying for and accepting jobs on campus. Students are responsible for accurately logging any hours they work.

Per the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), International Students with F-1 or J-1 immigration status are not permitted to work more than a total of 20 hours per week during the academic terms when they are enrolled, and no more than 40 hours per week during school breaks. Working more hours could jeopardize their visa status.

Students are not permitted to work during their scheduled class time even if the class is cancelled. It is the supervisor and student employee’s responsibility to work out a schedule and to communicate potential conflicted with the work schedule.

If a student is consistently going over the weekly limit for all jobs (20 hours/week), that student will get a reminder of the policy. Supervisors will be included in the second reminder if the student continues to go over the weekly limits. After a third violation, the student will be limited to working only one job on campus.

Although students need to be responsible for monitoring their hours, supervisors can also assist by making sure they are not working more hours in a week than their contract indicates/allows. Please touch base with Sara Zomermaand in the Human Resources Office if you have any questions or concerns about your student employees and the total hours they are working each week.

 

Hiring

Before hiring, supervisors will need to determine the number of student employees their office/department will be hiring – this is determined based on their budget and/or the budget report they received.

On-campus job openings should be posted on Handshake as that is where all students are directed to look for job opportunities.

  • Supervisors are welcome to post an opening for themselves and/or their department. If you need assistance in posting, contact Sara Zomermaand in the Human Resources Office.
  • A Handshake Instruction Guide has been completed for supervisors to use if they want to post a job opening and navigate Handshake themselves. This Guide can be found on the J:Drive/Campus Employment/Handshake.

Supervisors are responsible for interviewing and hiring students for their positions. Supervisors are responsible for doing this in a timely fashion AND for communicating with students who they are not hiring in a timely fashion.

  • The following resources are available for supervisors to use while interviewing and hiring student employees: Interviewing Student Workers and Student Applicant Comparison.
  • These resources can be found on MyNWC/Workstudy tab/START HERE (Supervisors) or on the J:Drive/Campus Employment/Helpful Documents for Interviewing & Terminating.

 

Clocking In & Out Procedures

Student employees are required to log their hours worked electronically, either via the clock-in/clock-out station at their job location OR through the TimeCard Entry page under the WorkStudy Tab on the MyNWC portal system.

  • There is a guide for student employees that walks them through how to log their hours. This can be found on the J:Drive/Campus Employment/Time Entry Guides.
  • There is also a brief video walk-through for students on how to log hours that can be found on MyNWC/Workstudy/START HERE (Students).

Supervisors are required to monitor their student’s hours and then submit hours on the first working day of the month (for hours worked the month prior).

  • Supervisors should tell their student employees that all hours need to be logged by midnight on the last day of the month (this helps ensure that supervisors can then view and submit the correct hours on the first working day of the month).
  • There is a guide for supervisors that walks through how to view, edit and submit hours. This guide can be found on the J:Drive/Campus Employment/Time Entry Guides.
  • There is also a brief video walk-through for supervisors on how to view, edit and submit hours that can be found on MyNWC/Workstudy/START HERE (Supervisors).
  • The hours submitted through the MyNWC portal system by supervisors feed directly into the student payroll system. Supervisors need to ensure that the hours they are submitting for students are accurate as this is what their student employees will be paid for.

 

Pay Procedures

Student employees are paid on (approximately) the 10th of every month for hours worked the month prior. For example, student employees would be paid on December 10th for hours worked in November. If the 10th is on a Saturday, student employees would be paid on the 9th. If the 10th is on a Sunday, student employees would be paid on the 11th.

Student employee’s pay is not directly applied to their tuition cost and/or their student bill. Student employee’s pay is directly deposited into their bank account (the bank account they provide on the ACH direct deposit authorization form). Student employees do not receive physical pay stubs; student employees can view a pay stub by going to MyNWC/Workstudy/View My Paystub.

 

Work Performance

Supervisors are responsible for conducting work performance evaluations and informing student employees when criteria and expectations are not being met. Students should not give out confidential information including but not limited to student records and administrative data.

 

Terminating

If a student employee wishes to voluntarily terminate their position, they must inform their supervisor. The supervisor should then inform the Student Employment and Payroll Coordinator as soon as they are informed by the student employee.

If a student employee is not meeting job criteria or expectations, the supervisor of that student employee must meet with the student employee to review the job criteria and expectations. If the student employee continues to not meet the job criteria or expectations, supervisors should give a second or written warning to the student. After receiving two warnings, student employees may be terminated by the supervisor. Documentation of the warnings and termination meetings with the student employee must be turned into the Student Employment and Payroll Coordinator. Supervisors may use Exit Interview – Student Employee as a guide for this documentation. This guide can be found on MyNWC/Workstudy tab/ START HERE (Supervisors) or on the J:Drive/Campus Employment/Helpful Documents for Interviewing & Terminating.

On-Campus Employment Supervisor Responsibilities

Determine the number of student employees your office / department will be hiring. 

  • This is determined based on your budget and/or the budget report you receive.

 

Advertise Positions on NWC's job search site (Handshake)

  • A Handshake Instruction Guide has been created to assist you in creating an employer account and post job openings.  You can find that guide here or on the J:Drive/Campus Employment/Handshake.  If you need assistance posting a job, please contact Sara Zomermaand, Student Employment & Payroll Coordinator. 
  • Current job descriptions for your department can be found on the J:Drive/Campus Employment/WS Job Descriptions
  • If you want students to complete a resume, application or submit additional documents with their Handshake application, you can add this right in to the Handshake posting.
  • Post jobs between April 1 and May 1 for upperclassmen (only 2/3 of your job openings)
  • Post jobs June 1 until filled for incoming freshman (1/3 of your job openings)

 

Hire your student workers (graduated seniors are not eligible)

  • Students should apply for your job via Handshake.
  • Review and sign a contract with student employees for all contracted jobs.  Contracts can be found on J:Drive/Campus Employment/Student Employment Contracts or on MyNWC/Workstudy/Campus Employment.
  • Send contracts of your hired student employees to the Human Resources Office (lower level in Zwemer Hall). 
    • Please note:  students are only loaded into the timecard entry/approval system and into the student employee and payroll database and payroll system by turning in their job contract to HR.  

 

Before a student can work for you, please ensure the following is complete:

  • Check to make sure all their pre-employment forms are filled out.  Forms needed before a student employee can start work and before they can be paid are:  I-9 Form, W-4 Federal Form, W-4 State Form, and Direct Deposit Authorization Form.
    • To see if a student has his/her forms complete, look on the excel spreadsheet entitled "Campus Employment_xx_xx_xxxx" on J:Drive/Campus Employment.
    •  If students have not yet completed their forms, direct them to their MyChecklist on their MyNWC or MyNWC/Workstudy/Campus Employment Forms or you can print forms for them from the J:Drive/Campus Employment/Pre-Employment Forms.  Forms can also be picked up in the Human Resources Office.
  • Ensure you have a signed contract with the student.
    • Student employment contracts are annual contracts. Contracts with students need to be reviewed and evaluated annually.  If a student is returning to the same job next year, he/she needs to complete a new contract for that job.
    • Student employees are uploaded into the student payroll database once their contract is turned in and their pre-employment forms are completed.  This then opens a timecard for them to log their hours and allows you to see them on your department roster in the timecard approval page on the Workstudy tab on your MyNWC page.  

 

Supervisors will need to submit hours their student employees logged every month through the timecard approval page in the Workstudy tab.  Instructions for how to submit hours can be found here.  Supervisors can also view the video guide in the Start Here (Supervisors) section for a quick demonstration on how to submit hours.  

  • Supervisors will submit hours on the 1st working day of the month for hours worked by their student employees the month prior.  For example, supervisors will submit September hours worked by their student employees on October 1st. 
  • Student employees cannot be paid for their hours worked unless they are submitted by their supervisor on the 1st of the month.  

 

 

 

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REQUIRED FORMS

Prior to processing any student payroll, all pre-employment forms need to be completed.  Required forms are the direct deposit authorization agreement, federal and state W-4's and the I-9.  Along with completed I-9 form, two valid forms of ID will need to be shown (examples of what can be shown are given on page 2 of the I-9).  

Direct Deposit Authorization Agreement - Student

Federal W-4, 2024

Iowa W-4, 2024

I-9 Form

 

Once students obtain employment on campus, it is required of students to electronically log their hours worked.  This is done through the WorkStudy Tab found on the MyNWC portal system.  After hours are logged for the month and students finalize their hours, supervisors will submit their student employee's hours through the timecard approval system.