Graduate Assistantship Contracts and Payment

Learn more about what to expect when you start your graduate assistantship.

Accepting your contract

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. 

View or print your payslip

To view or print your payslip in Workday, select the “Pay” (wallet) icon from the main menu. If you do not see the Pay icon, do the following:

  1. Click “+Add apps” from the menu.
  2. Enter “Pay” into the “Find apps” search bar and click the + symbol next to the Pay icon.

From the Pay page, select “Payslips” from the View column. From there, you can view or print individual payslips.

Additional payment details

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

Taxes

Graduate assistant stipends are subject to income taxes with few exceptions. Stipends are not subject to Social Security (FICA/Medicare) taxes if the appointment does not meet or exceed 30 hours per week and you are enrolled at least half-time. All applicable taxes are withheld from stipends at the time of disbursement. The amount of federal and state tax withholdings is based on the information you provide on your W-4 and RI W-4 withholding forms.

Please note that RISD staff cannot provide professional tax advice. You should review available tax documents and make your own decisions on reporting income and filing any required tax funds.

For more information on filing your taxes, see Employee Rights and Responsibilities