Academic Policy 1405.18
Summer Sessions Allocation and Appointment Policies and Procedures
Budget
Each fiscal year, the vice provost for academic affairs allocates budget to all colleges and schools for summer teaching. The allocation funds summer teaching for July and August as well as the following May and June of the same fiscal year. Typically, the amount of the allocation reflects the college or school’s average summer enrollments and expenditure totals in recent years. It also includes a percentage addition that represents the previous year’s average faculty salary increase.
Funding is provided for organized, on-campus courses. The only standard exception to this rule is support for study abroad. Units may also request an exception for the instructor of a face-to-face course that is taught off-campus during the summer months to be paid from the summer budget.
When available, funding for summer orientation advising is based on a centrally identified budget and allocated proportionally to participating colleges according to the previous year’s official attendance numbers.
Employee Appointments and Payments
All employees teaching summer courses must be appointed in an appropriate nine-month faculty or graduate student position title. While Fayetteville Policies and Procedures 407.1 allows unit pay for summer teaching, instructors of record should be appointed, unless an exception is approved. Since nine-month positions are not payroll active during the summer session period, any employee appointed for summer only is not benefits eligible. Employment must be ended before the start of the August intersession.
Summer salary is based on the employee’s previous academic year full-time equivalent salary at 2.5% per credit hour. Faculty with a full-time equivalent salary of less than $40,000 should receive a minimum payment of $1,000 per credit hour. For courses with enrollments of seventy or more, the base course payment is approved to be $5,000 for three credit hours or more.
Except for faculty in Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences who may be considered for a change in distribution of salary, twelve-month 100%-appointed faculty who participate in summer teaching should not be paid from the summer budget. Their entry on the workload spreadsheet should reflect no additional compensation. In rare cases, well justified requests for extra compensation will be reviewed by the vice provost for academic affairs.
Twelve-month less-than-100%-appointed faculty for whom teaching is an additional duty should receive an increase in percentage of appointment and a salary adjustment, if needed, with the summer teaching portion of their salary distributed to the appropriate summer school cost center number. Salary distributions should be pre-approved, workload-documented exceptions.
Only salary distributions with a fixed summer end date should be made to the summer cost center numbers. All requests to use this pay method must be justified and pre-approved because the employee must be twelve-month appointed to use this option.
Graduate students should be compensated at their regular monthly rate or as outlined in the workload tab for directions or policy updates/exceptions.
Twelve-month appointed graduate students must have GSIE approval to increase summer teaching in their existing load. A 50%-appointed graduate student should receive an appointment percentage increase to 75% with the addition of one course. If needed, the salary amount should be adjusted. The summer teaching load portion of their salary should be distributed to the appropriate summer cost center number. Instances of graduate student appointment increases and salary distribution must be pre-approved, workload-documented exceptions.
Twelve-month appointed Distinguished Doctoral Fellows (DDF) and Distinguished Academic Fellows (DAF) should engage in research and scholarship during the summer. These graduate students should not receive hourly unit pay or have their twelve-month appointment reduced to nine months in order to receive summer teaching pay.
No payments may be made from summer teaching funds for research or general administrative duties or the directing of individual studies, practicums, theses or dissertations.
Workload Spreadsheet
Each March, an updated workload spreadsheet will be distributed to college budget officers and/or HR or related staff. The first tab will contain updated directions to the college for the current summer’s entries. A second tab will cite any necessary policy specifications and standard procedural considerations for all colleges.
The workload is designed with tabs for each department within a college. Each tab feeds to a summary within itself and to two master summaries for the fiscal year and the session. The departmental tab system allows for data to be pulled from other sources and pasted into the workload. Enrollment estimates can be made for a first submission, but the “Real Enrollment” must be recorded if there will not be subsequent submissions throughout the summer. If subsequent submissions are made, then “Real Enrollment” must be used for every submission after the first in order for the total tuition and net formulas to tally correctly. The columns labeled in red contain formulas and do not require direct entries, except for adjustment under special circumstances.
The comments field in the workload should be used to provide justification for exceptions, information on special approvals, course cross-listing connections, and special pay notes, such as “hourly,” “extra comp,” “salary distribution,” etc.
Each course offering should be, at minimum, revenue neutral. Please note, however, that students do not generate tuition in an equal manner. For example, if the student is a staff member, then the tuition is significantly lower. It is clear that some classes should be offered regardless of net/gain loss. We have a responsibility to offer and staff classes that are needed for degree progress and completion. Therefore, we ask that you review departmental averages as opposed to individual classes per session where appropriate. We encourage you to work with programmatic faculty to analyze the necessary classes; that is, essential courses with offerings reflecting fiscal responsibility within the department.
Timeline
Workload spreadsheets will be distributed by spring break. The first draft using the estimated enrollment columns is due to the Provost’s Office by April 15 of each year. The second draft should include actual enrollments and be submitted right after May 1 or after the first approval is received. In the case of course cancellations and other changes throughout the summer period, the workload must be updated according to the directions tab and resubmitted before BASIS approvals will be completed. A final copy of the workload showing the end-of-summer actual enrollments and expenses should be submitted by the mid-August end-of-summer payroll.
Payment Cost Center Numbers
Nine-month appointed employees should receive summer teaching pay (SUMT) through the BASIS Payroll module. Contact the BASIS team for hands-on training.
Designated cost center numbers for each college are located in the SUMM budgetary unit, which is managed in the Office of the Provost. Cost centers with an 11-function code are used to pay those teaching courses. Cost centers with a 12-function code pay employees who assist with the course without teaching and those who perform directly related administrative functions. These roles are subject to approval. The 16-function code advising cost center numbers are used for summer orientation advising. Paid advising must be directly related to summer orientation.
The current teaching cost centers are:
| Label | Account Numbers |
|---|---|
| Summer Sessions Salaries Agriculture | 0102-04142-11-0000 |
| Summer Sessions Salaries Architecture | 0102-04141-11-0000 |
| Summer Sessions Salaries Arts and Sciences | 0102-04143-11-0000 |
| Summer Sessions Salaries Business | 0102-04144-11-0000 |
| Summer Sessions Salaries Education | 0102-04145-11-0000 |
| Summer Sessions Salaries Engineering | 0102-04146-11-0000 |
| Summer Sessions Salaries Law | 0102-04147-11-0000 |
3/2/17
Reformatted for Web October 9, 2014
11/1/13