Graduate Assistantship Contracts and Payment

You will receive your assistantship position contract via Workday. After receiving a Workday email notification, log on right away to read and accept your contract.

If you choose to not accept the offered assignment or need the contract assignment adjusted, please inform your graduate program director as well as Student Employment.

To access your contract in Workday (e.g., if you need to access it after signing or do not receive notification that a contract is ready for signing), log in and then do the following:

1. From the Workday menu, select the "Personal Information" icon.
2. Click "More" at the bottom of the Personal Information page.
3. Under the "View" column, select "Worker Documents" to find your contract. 

Follow these instructions to learn how to view and print your payslip in Workday.

To find additional payment information in Workday (activity dates, payment to date, etc.), follow these steps: 

1. Type “Period Activity Pay Assignments” into the search bar and select the “Period Activity Pay Assignments Report”.
2. On the following screen, enter your name in the “Employee” box.
3. Select "Grad Assistantship" in the “Position” box.
4. In the section titled “Time Period or Date Range for this Report”, navigate to the right side and, in the “Date range” section, enter a date range for the entire academic/fiscal year (e.g. from 7/01/23 to 6/30/24) and click OK to open “Assignment details”.
5. In assignment details, you may find information such as contract text, activity dates, total amount scheduled to be paid and (if applicable) payment to date.
6. Click the "View with Payment Details" button to see each scheduled payroll for your contract.

To learn more, see Grad Assistantship Activity Pay and Contracts in Workday

Graduate assistantship payments are generally subject to applicable federal and state income tax withholding. The amount withheld depends on the information students provide in Workday, including W-4 and RI W-4 forms.

International students may have additional tax steps, including reviewing US tax obligations and, when applicable, completing a tax treaty analysis through Sprintax Calculus. For more information about tax withholding, annual filing requirements, tax treaty benefits and Sprintax Calculus, see International Student Employment.

Please note that RISD staff cannot provide professional tax advice. You should review available tax documents carefully and consult a tax professional or appropriate tax resources for support.