Summer Student Employment

Regular & Federal Work Study Student Assistants

Undergraduate students who wish to work as Student Assistants must be enrolled in at least 6 credits to work the entire 15 week summer session to be eligible for FICA exemption, that is not to pay into SERS (Ohio School Retirement and Medicare systems).

Graduate and Law students who wish to work as Student Assistants must be enrolled in at least 5 credits to work the entire 15 week summer session to be eligible for FICA exemption.

Regular student assistants who maintained full time registration during Spring 2013 and will be registered full time during Fall 2013 can work without taking any credit hours during the summer; however, they will pay into SERS (Ohio School Retirement and Medicare systems).

International students are exempt from paying into SERS (Ohio School Employees Retirement System).

Eligible students (both international and domestic) may work not more than 29 hours a week during summer.

Students may begin their summer employment on May 13, 2013.

Students graduating in May 2013 are NOT eligible for summer employment

FICA Exemption

To work with FICA exemption the required credit hours - SIX (6)-  may be taken during any combinations of summer sessions as long as the total number of hours taken during the entire summer period is at least 6 credits and the breaks in enrollment are no longer than five weeks.

Examples: of class session combinations (do not represent all of the possible combinations):

        First 5 week session =  3 hours

       Summer II session = 0 hours

       Third 5 week session = 3 hours

Student may work and be eligible for the FICA exemption during the entire 15 week summer term, since the break in enrollment is equal to, but not longer than 5 weeks.

       First 5 week session = 6 hours

       Second 5 week session = 0 hours

       Third 5 week session = 0 hours

Student is NOT eligible for FICA exemption since the break in enrollment is 10 weeks, i.e. longer than 5 weeks.

       Intersession = 3 hours

       Third 5 week session = 3 hours

Student may work and be eligible for the FICA exemption during the entire 15 week summer term, since the break in enrollment is not longer than 5 weeks.

       First 5 week session = 0 hours

       8 week session = 6 hours (Session 2 begins 4 weeks after the start of the summer term and ends 4 weeks prior to the beginning of the Fall term)

       Third 5 week session = 0 hours

Student may work and be eligible for the FICA exemption during the entire 15 week summer term, since the break in enrollment is not longer than 5 weeks.

Taking six (6) credit hours in the 1^st 5 week or the 3^rd 5 week does not qualify students to work the entire summer, but a combination of 3 credits taken the 1^st and 3^rd 5 week session qualifies.

If students are not enrolled in six or more credit hours during the summer or the breaks in enrollment are longer than 5 weeks, they may still work. However, they must pay into the Ohio retirement and Medicare systems. Once students begin paying into the Ohio retirement and Medicare systems, the University will continue to deduct these contribution from their pay for the duration of their time with the university, regardless of their employment status, unless they complete a SERS exemption form within 30 days of returning to the status of a student employee exempt from FICA (starting fall semester).

SERS participation:

If a student does not have sufficient credit enrollment for Summer he is required to pay into School Employees Retirement System (SERS).

The student must complete an SERS Membership Record Form  and Form SSA-1945-Employment in a Job Not Covered by Social Security

The forms can be found on Payroll web-site: http://www.uakron.edu/busfin/controller/payroll_forms.php

If students are already paying into SERS there is NO need to submit additional forms.

Paying into the SERS system because of inadequate enrollment is not an option for working in the fall/ spring semesters. Regular undergraduate, graduate, and federal work study students must be registered for 12, 9, and 6 credits respectively for fall/spring.

Federal Work Study Program for summer

Students requesting Federal Work Study funds for the summer must have on file in the Office of Student Financial Aid the FAFSA for 2013-2014 and a completed Summer Aid Application which will be available beginning March 20, 2013. 

Encourage your students to apply early, as funds are very limited. Students can work the entire summer as long as the break in enrollment is not longer than five weeks. Example: If the student is registered for 6 credit hours for one of the following sessions and was properly enrolled for the spring term, the following dates may be used for employment. 

For additional information contact the Office of Student Financial Aid at ext. 7201 or ext. 8074.