Student Employment Forms and Policies

Forms

Off Campus Employees:

Work-Study Authorization Form - Needed with new hire paperwork and at the beginning of each semester. Student employees cannot work until Student Employment has received this form and supervisors have received a Work-Study Confirmation email.

On Campus Employees:

Work-Study Authorization Form is not by default required, but may be required at the discretion of your department supervisor.

Address/Phone/Email Change Form - Only required if Employee needs to update their contact information in HRMS after initially being hired.
Direct Deposit instructions - Direct Deposit should be entered online in the employee portal.
Emergency Contact Worksheet - Student emergency contact information.
Federal I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification - Student must present original verification document/documents to the employer in person. Students will receive an email from HireRight with instructions for completing Section 1 of Federal Form I-9 online to verify eligibility for employment. (NOTE: This form doesn't open in Chrome. Please use another browser.)
Personal Information Worksheet - Student personal information.
University Background Check Form - Students will receive an authorization request email from Support at HireRight, Inc. which asks them to enter personal information. The length of the background check depends on how many counties the candidate has lived in. On average, the report takes between 5 – 7 business days. This form should only be completed by the HR Business Partner.
W-4 Instructions - Use the Internal Revenue Service’s Form W-4 to determine how much federal and state taxes will be withheld from your pay.

The Student Employment Office recommends that all forms be submitted before employers initiate the background check.

New Hire Packet - Read and follow the instructions carefully when completing the forms included in this packet.
Address/Phone/Email Change Form - Used to update student personal information.
Background Check - Student Employment Office will request, via email, a background check request form from the employer indicating which background checks they want completed. Students will receive an email from HireRight, Inc. requesting information and submission of a background check. The student cannot start working until all background checks have cleared.
Direct Deposit instructions - Direct Deposit should be entered online in the employee portal.
Emergency Contact Worksheet - Student emergency contact information.
Federal I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification - Student must present original verification document/documents to Student Employment in person. Students will receive an email from HireRight with instructions for completing Section 1 of Federal Form I-9 online to verify eligibility for employment. (NOTE: This form doesn't open in Chrome. Please use another browser.)
Personal Information Worksheet - Student personal information.
W-4 Instructions - Use the Internal Revenue Service’s Form W-4 to determine how much federal and state taxes will be withheld from your pay.
Work-Study Authorization Form - Needed with new hire paperwork and at the beginning of each semester. Student employees cannot work until Student Employment has received this form and supervisors have received a Work-Study Confirmation email.

2025-2026 Bi-Weekly Payroll Calendar - Bi-Weekly Payroll Calendar for all hourly and work-study students.
Job Description Sample Template (For Employers Only) - According to federal regulations, work-study position job descriptions must include the categories that are listed on the left-hand side of the sample template.
Notice of Separation - Form to submit to the Student Employment office when a student has discontinued employment.
Student Assistant Pay Ranges - The minimum and maximum pay rate for each job class.
Student Evaluation Form - Form to help evaluate student employees within university departments.
Student Termination Form - Form used to terminate a student from an employment position.
2024-2025 Work-Study Hours Tracking Spreadsheet Work-Study Hours Tracking Spreadsheet - Spreadsheet for supervisors track work-study award earnings for work-study employees.
Work Study Designation Quick Reference Guide (For Employers Only) - use this guide to properly designate your new student employee in the HCM system.
PET Request Form - use the Work-Study Payroll Expense Transfer (PET) Request form to transfer earnings from the employing department's speedtype to a work-study speedtype.

Policies

Rules Around Hiring and Getting Hired

Student Hourly Employee Work Policy

The maximum number of hours a student employee at CU Denver|Anschutz may work during a fall or spring semester is 25 hours per week or 50 hours per bi-weekly payroll period, provided no single week in that period exceed 40 work hours.

During the summer the maximum number of hours a student can work is 40 hours per week.

For more information please view the Student Employee Work Hours Policy.

Student Employment Handbook

An annual Student Employee Handbook is available for on-campus and off-campus students and employers.

After gaining employment, it is the sole responsibility of every student employee (work-study & hourly, on or off-campus) to read and understand both the Student Employment Policy and Student Employee Information and Policy sections of the handbook. If a student employee does not understand or has questions regarding any portion of the Handbook, please talk with a department supervisor or contact the Student Employment Office at: StudentEmployment@ucdenver.edu.

All off-campus employers must read, be familiar with, and abide by, the Student Employment Policies and the Off- Campus Employer Responsibilities sections of this handbook, and all on-campus University employers must read, be familiar with, and abide by, the Student Employment Policies and the On-Campus University Employer Responsibilities sections of this handbook. All employers must ensure every student hired has read and understands the Student Employment Policies and Student Employee Information and Policy sections of this handbook.

Background Check Policy

All student employees are subject to the University’s background check policy. Students will receive an email from HireRight, Inc requesting permission to allow the university to complete the background checks. Students will not be hired until the Background Check has been completed and the hiring authority has received results from Human Resources. For further information, view the Background Check Policy statement.

Student Retirement Plan:

Federal law requires that students must be enrolled for a minimum of 6 credit hours as an undergraduate and 3 credit hours as a graduate student for the term in which they are employed to be exempt from the Colorado Student Retirement Plan. The only exception to this Federal law is that any student working in the semester/quarter in which they will graduate, are not held to the above minimum credit hour requirement.

Please contact CU Employee Services at (303) 860-4200 with any questions or for more information about the Student Retirement Program.

Student Termination:

Students are ‘at will’ employees; this means the hiring department can terminate a student at any time. Student employees may also be terminated for performance related or disciplinary reasons, such as:

Lack of performance or attendance
Falsifications of timesheet
Releasing of restricted information
Theft
Unauthorized or fraudulent use of equipment and/or property
Violation of University policies and procedures

At the time of termination, employers must immediately inform Employee Services of the student termination and request, within 6 hours, a hand drawn check must be processed for the hours worked by the terminated student. Please make sure that the student has completely filled out his/her time sheet, including signature, for the hours worked during the pay period at the time of termination.

We recommend that your department develop a termination policy and communicate it to your employees upon hiring. Some things you might want to consider when writing a policy.

Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP):

Federal and state financial aid rules and regulations require students to maintain Satisfactory Academic progress (SAP), in order to be eligible to earn their work-study awards. This progress is assessed at the end of each semester as soon as grades are finalized. There are three types of violations:

Grade Point Average
Completion Rate
Overall attempted credit hour limit

The Student Employment Office will attempt to notify each employer if a student becomes ineligible to earn their award due to a violation of the SAP standards. Once notified the student will either have to stop working for your department or will need to be set up as an hourly student and your department will be responsible for paying 100% of their hourly wage.

Students may appeal their SAP status, if a student had extenuation circumstances for being in this position. If a student’s financial aid eligibility is reinstated, the Student Employment Office will notify employers as soon as possible, so that students may resume earning their work-study.

Time-Entry Regulation:

Supervisors of off-campus work-study students are responsible for facilitating time collection within their departments. The Student Employment Office is responsible for managing the time entry process for all Off-Campus Work-Study Employers. Students must complete bi-weekly time records listing time in & time out for each day worked, with a way in-which supervisor can verify the hours worked.