U. changes student payroll system

The University has changed the payroll system for work-study students, officials said Friday. The result for students: a paycheck every week, instead of one every two weeks. The result for Student Employment officials: less administrative hassle. Last Friday was the first time the University's 3,000 work-study students were paid two weeks in a row. Officials decided to merge the work-study payroll with the payroll for regular University employees after a review by a total quality management team last year concluded that the separate payroll system used in the past was unnecessary, Student Employment Manager John Rudolph said. Now, individual departments who hire work-study students will be responsible for making sure those students get paid. The central Student Employment Office will be responsible for monitoring and auditing work-study programs, as well as making sure student employment practices conform to federal guidelines, Associate Vice President for Finance Frank Claus said. Under the federal work-study program, the federal government pays for 75 percent of the funding. The department hiring the student pays the other 25 percent, Claus said. The new system is probably not going to be a big money-saver for the University, Claus said. In fact, it may cost the University a little bit more to make out checks every week. But Claus said he hopes the new system will free the Student Employment Office from "the administrative hassle of doing the student payroll." Apart from being an "administrative hassle," the old system was also slow and error-prone, Claus said. Claus said he hopes that under the new system, the two Student Employment workers whose job it is to process the student payroll will have the opportunity to do other things. He said his "dream goal" is for them to create a database of jobs around the country and display the database on PennNet, so that students can line up summer jobs before they actually go home.

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