Need help?

Contact the Office of Human Resources

Student Employment Office

Phone: (E) 956-665-2451

Phone: (B) 956-882-8205

Email: studentemployment@utrgv.edu

Student Employment Quick Links

Student Employment Frequently Asked Questions for Students

Students must be enrolled at UTRGV in order to apply for student employment on campus

  • US citizens or residents must be enrolled at least 6 credit hours (some positions might require more credit hours’ enrollment than others).
  • International students must be enrolled full-time (12 credit hours or more).
  • Undergraduate student employees may work up to 19 hours per week.
  • Graduate students may work up to 20 hours per week under a Graduate Assistantship.

International Students are permitted to work on campus, with a Direct Wage option for undergraduates or assistantships for graduate students. Must be enrolled full time (minimum of 12 credit hours for undergraduate, 9 credit hours for Graduate students).

  • Direct-Wage employment offers the opportunity to work on campus without having a work-study award. Any student enrolled at least half-time (6 credit hours) in UTRGV qualifies to work as a direct wage employee. International students can be hired through direct wage and are required to be enrolled for a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester.
  • Work-Study is a state and/or government-subsidized student employment program designed to assist US citizen or resident students in financing their post-secondary education. First, you must apply for admissions to UTRGV and complete and submit the free application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Then be enrolled at least 6 credit hours per semester and meet the SAP (Satisfactory Academic Performance). Your eligibility for financial aid is determined by a number of factors, which can be discussed with the Financial Aid Office.

No, all Student Employees must work under 19 hours, regardless of Summer, and holidays.

Your supervisor will have access to see where your Hiring Form is currently pending after they have created it. Contact your supervisor to hear about any updates and/or questions prior to your first day of employment.

Prior to employment at the university, all student employees need to fill out a Criminal Background Check (CBC) and an I-9 form. These links will be sent to you via email, either by your supervisor or the Student Employment Office at UTRGV. If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to our office at studentemployment@utrgv.edu.

Student Employment Frequently Asked Questions for Supervisors

A departmental posting is created ONLY when the department has a position that requires unique job duties and when the posting requires specific qualifications necessary to fulfill the position.

The Student Employment Office has created job postings that entail job duties that are generic in nature. These are postings that require standard duties for which students are commonly hired.

The generic job postings have a high number of applicants and any hiring official can view and access the listing of applicants for interviewing and hiring.

For the recruiting of new student employees.

By logging into my.utrgv.edu or utrgv.joinhandshake.com.

All enrolled students should be able to view and apply to the general job postings as well as the posting created by the department. The generic job postings are open to all majors, however not all departmental job postings are open to all majors.

If the student still cannot see these postings, have the student contact studentemployment@utrgv.edu so that a student employment coordinator can review and troubleshoot the issue with him/her.

Sometimes a student may not be able to view a posting because his/her job preferences do not match the requirements for the position. For example, the department may have included a requirement of a 3.0 GPA but the student trying to apply has a GPA of 2.5. In this case, the student will not be able to view that particular job posting.

  1. When the individual being hired for the pertinent semester is not enrolled in the current, past, or upcoming terms.
  2. When a non-student is selected to perform specialized duties that an enrolled student cannot perform since these duties require special training/degree/certification that an enrolled student does not have.
  3. A job posting for PT Non-Student is not required in Handshake, as non-students do not have access to Handshake. Only enrolled students can view Handshake job postings.
  1. The posting can be created in some cases through HR. Please contact HR Recruitment at careers@utrgv.edu for assistance.
  2. Individuals who are not enrolled at UTRGV do not have access to view jobs posted in Handshake but can view postings at https://careers.utrgv.edu/.

No, the student is still considered a student. The Hiring Form should be created under a Student job title (i.e. Student Assistant or Student Academic Assistant, etc.). A student can be hired under a student job title for the summer, as long as they attended Spring and enrolled for the upcoming Fall semester.

Yes, they may be permitted to work up to 39 hours per week during the summer on a case-by-case basis. The maximum number of hours per week during the Spring and Fall is 19 hours. For additional questions, e-mail International Admissions Office at international@utrgv.edu.

No, international students do not qualify for work-study. However, they may qualify for other types of aid. For more information on other types of financial assistance, e-mail International Admissions Office at international@utrgv.edu and/or Financial Aid Office at ucentral@utrgv.edu.

Student employees may work up to 19 hours per week. In select cases, students may be granted an exception to work over the allowed 19 hours per week. Exceptions are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. For more information, please contact studentemployment@utrgv.edu.

Although this is not recommended as it may cause timecard issues, student employees may have two direct wage assignments. Student employees cannot exceed the 19 hours per week in total.

Example: 4 hours per week with Department A, 15 hours per week with Department B. Total 19 hours per week.

There is no minimum credit hour requirement as long as the student is enrolled for the semester that he/she will be working.

For any questions regarding WS status, awards, eligibility, etc, please contact Work Study at 665-2934 or workstudy@utrgv.edu.

Financial Aid Work-Study program will cover 100% of the student's award. For any questions, please contact Work Study at 956-665-2934 or workstudy@utrgv.edu.

 

This depends on the funding source the student is eligible for. State funds and federal funds involve different enrollment requirements.

No, this is not permitted.

A CBC is needed, if there is a break in service of more than 6 months, no CBC submitted in the past 12 months or when a student is a new hire.

The Criminal Background Check Link (CBC), is below:

Criminal Background Check Link (CBC)

It is a two-step process that is needed when a student is a new hire or has had a break from employment for 2 years.

  1. The first step is to complete the online I-9 form and onboarding documents found on the HR website or below:
  2. The second step is for the student to visit HR to certify documents. Where is the Biographical Form Link?
Once the Hiring Form has been reviewed by a Student Employment Coordinator, the links will be provided via email to the creator and the student hire reflected on the Hiring Form. They can also be found in the Student Employment website, under Guides and Resources titled “Hiring Guide”. The Hiring Guide also includes all the steps that need to be followed for hiring a student worker.

This form is used for processing a new candidate. A candidate is usually an individual who is new to the university or has not worked for the university for the last six months. 

This form is used for proposing changes to a current employee's job data such as hiring dates, number of hours per week, position, rate of pay, department, location or room number. 

If the Hiring Form is at the Student Employment approval level, the department can email studentemployment@utrgv.edu or their assigned coordinator for requesting the status.

No, it is the responsibility of the hiring official to contact the Student Employment Office for status on the Hiring Form and in turn inform the student of the status.

No, it is the supervisor’s responsibility to track the NH and CJD workflow approval level by logging in to the HR portal, in order to inform the student of their first day.

No, under no circumstance can the student start working while the Hiring Form is in process. The student can start working when HR has approved the Hiring Form.

The Hiring Form should be submitted no less than two weeks before the proposed start date in order to allow ample time for all the approvers in the workflow to review and approve the request. Starting students before HR approval, will cause a delay in the student payment. It takes several days for Payroll Office to create and provide access to the student's timecard.

By default, all UTRGV employees automatically have access to the HR Portal. If the hiring official cannot access the system, the employee may send an email to HR@utrgv.edu.

If you cannot identify an appropriate existing position, a new position should be requested; send an email to positioncontrol@utrgv.edu.

You can contact the Student Employment Office at studentemployment@utrgv.edu or by calling our HR Office 956-665-2451 or 956-882-8205.

Yes, additional steps would need to be taken when hiring a student worker under 18 years old. For information regarding the limitations, please read Texas Child Labor Law or contact Student Employment at studentemployment@utrgv.edu.