Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedures: 
GAPP - Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedure finalized in 2019 provides guidance related to student assistant Teaching Assistant, Project Assistant, and Research Assistant appointments.

Student Assistants have a unique role:
A “Student Assistant” is an employee category used by the University of Wisconsin for UW graduate students. Titles in this group are used for graduate students who: hold a fellowship, scholarship or traineeship; hold an appointment which is intended primarily to further the education and training of the student; are employed to assist with research training or other academic programs or projects; and/or have been assigned teaching responsibilities in an instructional department under the supervision of a faculty member. Titles include Teaching Assistant (TA), Research Assistant (RA), Project Assistant (PA), Fellow, Trainee, Scholar, and Lecturer (SA). 

In addition, Student Assistant titles are available to undergraduate students when no qualified graduate student is available to perform a function that would normally be assigned to graduate students (i.e., Undergraduate Assistant); or when the terms of a supporting grant or contract preclude the use of other normally appropriate titles (Undergraduate Intern). When appointing a an individual other than a graduate student to a role normally reserved for a graduate student (such as a Teaching Assistant, or Reader/Grader), special approval is required.

Graduate students employed in a student assistant appointment have a unique role. Their primary role at UW-Madison is to complete their schooling.

Student Assistant Appointment Limits:

When, how and why are student assistants limited in their appointments?  How is an appointment which has an assigned "FTE" counted towards the appointment limit?  This section explains the 3 different types of appointment limits under graduate school policies:

SA HR Business Partner for assistance; please see: L&S Human Resources/Payroll Office Department Contacts. 

1. General Appointment Limits

2. Appointment Limits while on a concurrent Research Assistant appointment

3. Earnings Limits while on a concurrent Fellowship/Traineeship appointment 

Degree Conferral and Payroll End Dates:
Near the end of each Semester, L&S Payroll Director distributes list of important dates regarding graduation, commencement and conferral dates, with links to Graduate School websites providing more information to assist with determining how long the student employee can remain employed:  
•    https://registrar.wisc.edu/graduation-commencement/ 
•    https://grad.wisc.edu/acadpolicy/?policy=degreeconferralpayrollenddates 

End Dates on payroll:
•    Doctoral candidates: through the end date of dissertation deposit or through the official conferral date of the term
•    Non-thesis master’s candidates: through the completion date stated on the warrant or through the official conferral date of the term
•    Thesis master’s candidates: through the date the thesis is received by the Memorial Library or through the official conferral date of term

Student Hourly positions: 

Student Hourly (“SH”) appointments are NOT “Student Assistant” appointments.  Student Hourly appointments are NOT eligible for (and do not contribute towards): health insurance, tuition remission, or paid sick leave or paid vacation. For that reason, it is very important to hire using the correct title.  If the expertise at the level of a graduate student is needed to carry out the assigned duties, the position should likely be a student assistant appointment and filled by a graduate student. See L&S Student Hourly Positions for more information.  
 
Graduate students can be employed as Student Hourly employees. If they are appointed as Student Hourly, they fall under the same rules as other student hourly staff.  

Student Assistant Leave 
•    See L&S Student Assistant Leave https://kb.wisc.edu/ls/24845

Many student assistant appointments qualify for paid sick leave and paid vacation leave. See the L&B KB for more information on leave eligibility and amounts, using and counting leave, tracking leave, TA sick leave coverage, and leave without pay.  

Research Assistant Rates: 
See https://kb.wisc.edu/ls/28638 for L&S-specific rates. For campus minima refer to the Grad School's website.

Research Assistants are different than other student assistants because per graduate school policy, they are paid at the RA rate of their home academic department and not at the RA rate of their employing department.  This is the process even if the student is no longer on guarantee with that home academic department, and even when this results in them not being paid at the same rate than other RA’s in the department in which they are employed. See Graduate School policy:  https://policy.wisc.edu/library/UW-1238:
•    “All research assistants must be paid at the program specific rate for the program in which they are enrolled.” 

TAs:  Timely Notification of TA Assignments

For all student assistant appointments, the department is required to provide the appointment letter to the student before the start of employment (see “L&S Student Assistant Appointment Letters”).  
Tentative course assignments (if known) are expected to be communicated to TAs no later than:  
•    August 1 for fall semester courses; and 
•    December 1 for spring semester courses   
This notification to a TA can be done via email and does not require a formal appointment letter. 

See Also:
•    L&S KB 22288: Student Assistant Appointment Letters
•    L&S Spoken-English Proficiency for Teaching Assistants  
•    L&S Standard Rates for Short-Term Staff and Student Assistants
•    L&S Student Assistant Leave 
•    L&S Student Hourly Positions