Academic Policy 1405.18
Summer Sessions Allocation and Appointment Policies and Procedures
Budget
Each fiscal year, the vice provost for academic affairs allocates a 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. An update for the first summer session is usually given in February.
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 will be based on a centrally identified budget and allocated proportionally to participating colleges according to either the previous year’s official orientation attendance numbers or other relevant criteria, such as past expenditures.
Employee Appointments and Payments
Faculty or graduate assistants teaching summer courses must be appointed in an appropriate nine-month faculty title or as a graduate assistant with the default position salary distribution set to the regular academic year departmental worktag. Individuals hired temporarily for summer teaching, including adjunct faculty and appointed University staff members, may be paid by period activity pay according to Fayetteville Policies and Procedures 407.1.. Employment must be ended before the start of the August intersession.
Summer salary is calculated based on the following for instructors of record assigned to summer courses:
- For 50%-100% appointed faculty, salary is based on the instructor’s previous academic year full-time equivalent salary at 2.5% per credit hour. Appointed faculty teaching a summer course shall be compensated no less than $5,000 for a three-credit hour course or $1,666.67 per credit hour.
- For adjunct faculty or University staff appointed to teach a course, salary is calculated on a per-course basis and set by the college/department based on the instructors’ qualifications, experience, and projected enrollment of the course. Instructors in this category should be compensated at no less than $4,000 for a three-credit hour course or $1333.33 per credit hour.
- For nine-month appointed graduate assistants assigned to teach a summer course, a different base wage rate formula is detailed below.
Any other special pay situations or variations from the above should be submitted to the Office of the Provost for approval. Approved exceptions are reviewed annually. In all cases, total compensation for summer employment may not exceed 33 1/3 percent of the previous nine-month salary and is subject to applicable line-item maximum restrictions as per Board Policy 435.1.
Interdisciplinary cross-college efforts should be reported on the workload form by the home college of the instructor. If there are multiple instructors teaching a course, contact the Office of the Provost for guidance on the distribution of instructor pay.
No payments may be made from summer teaching funds for research, general administrative duties, directing of individual or independent studies/readings courses, low-enrollment practicums, theses or dissertation hours.. Payment for supervision of internships must be pre-approved by the Office of the Provost annually. There should be no compensation for courses that do not pay during the academic year.
Twelve-Month Appointed Faculty
Except for faculty in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, 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 for twelve-month faculty may be approved by the Office of the Provost. Administrators with the title of chancellor, vice chancellor, or dean are not eligible for additional compensation from the summer budget.
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 temporarily distributed to the appropriate summer school worktag. The faculty member must be twelve-month appointed and a fixed summer end date should be made to the summer worktags to use the salary distribution option. Salary distributions and workload documented exceptions should be pre-approved by the Office of the Provost.
Graduate Assistants
Nine-month appointed graduate assistants are compensated for summer teaching using a formula that factors in their regular monthly base wage rate as set by their college/department and the number of weeks assigned to teach.. The Office of the Provost, in consultation with the Graduate School, will publish guidance each year outlining the details for graduate assistants’ summer pay.
With approval from the Office of the Provost, non-teaching instructional support (for example, graduate assistants assigned to support a course’s instructor of record) may be compensated provided the course(s) they are assigned to generate(s) sufficient revenue to cover both instructor costs and instructional support costs. Graduate assistants assigned as non-teaching instructional support should be compensated at the same monthly base wage rate for the period they are assigned to work during the summer semester as they were during the prior academic year.
Graduate assistants, as per the Graduate School's enrollment requirements, must be enrolled in at least three hours of coursework during May intersession or any summer term to qualify to receive wages as a graduate assistant during the summer and must be provided a tuition waiver by the unit that employs them.
Twelve-month appointed graduate assistants may be assigned to teach a course as an instructor of record as part of their normal workload. In those cases, no extra compensation shall be paid. A twelve-month appointed graduate assistant may teach up to one three-credit summer course in addition to their existing load as an overload. This may be paid as a period activity pay according to appropriate college policies. The summer teaching load portion of their salary should be entered using the appropriate summer worktag.
A unit may request to compensate a graduate assistant at a higher rate based on the type of class taught, experience of the graduate assistant, and other relevant factors. Instances of graduate student appointment increases and salary distribution beyond the stated policy must be pre-approved by the Office of the Provost and the Graduate School Dean. In all cases, total compensation for summer employment may not exceed 33 1/3 percent of the previous nine-month salary and is subject to applicable line-item maximum restrictions as per Board Policy 435.1.
Graduate assistants who have graduated in May and are no longer enrolled as a student are not eligible to teach as a graduate assistant under this policy. If a unit wishes to employ a former student to teach during the summer, they must be placed in an appointed faculty position or paid as an adjunct faculty member according to the above policies. To be eligible, individuals must have an appropriate degree credential consistent with APS 1435.50. To be effective for summer teaching pay, the position change from graduate assistant to an appointed faculty position or as an adjunct faculty member should be dated the weekend before the start of the summer session.
Workload Spreadsheet
Each March, an updated workload spreadsheet with instructions will be distributed to college budget officers and/or HR or related staff. The workload spreadsheet is designed to report all summer course offerings, instructors of record, estimated course revenues, and instructor pay within each college or school and their respective departments. Each college or school submits their completed workload spreadsheet to the Office of the Provost for review and approval. Period Activity Pay transactions related to summer teaching are initiated and approved using the data from the workload spreadsheet and, for twelve-month faculty, governed by the extra compensation policy. The first tab will contain updated directions to the college for the current summer’s entries.
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 payroll approvals will be completed.
Course Offerings, Class Sizes, and Course Revenue
Summer class size should be consistent with the sizes of courses during the academic year within the same department. Extra sections of a course should not be added for additional payment to instructors. They should only be added if enrollment creates the need and there is no option for increasing the enrollment cap due to pedagogical concerns within the course.
Each course offering should be, at minimum, revenue neutral and should follow the class size standards in Academic Policy 1640.10. 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. Course revenue estimates populated in the workload are based on standard tuition rates and thus may be higher than actual revenue generated from a course.
Some classes may need to be offered regardless of net/gain loss. The University has a responsibility to offer and staff classes needed for degree progress and completion. The college or school is encouraged to work with programmatic faculty to analyze essential course offerings while also reflecting fiscal responsibility . Revenue negative courses should include documentation of the need for the course to remain open in the workload and must be approved to operate by the Office of the Provost.
Changes to course offerings and/or instructors of record should be submitted as they occur and in the manner found on the workload instructions.
Timeline
Timeline information for each summer will be distributed to colleges and schools with specific due dates by the Office of the Provost. General guidance is in included below:
Mid-March: Workload spreadsheets and instructions distributed.
Mid-April: The first workload submission is due to the Office of the Provost for review.
May to August: Following workload approval, updates provided as changes occur for
immediate review.
Mid-August: Final workload submission showing the end of summer enrollments and instructor pay actuals due.
Payment Worktags
Nine-month appointed employees should receive summer teaching pay via the Workday Period Activity Pay business process. Training on this business process is available and will be provided.
Worktag numbers for each college or school are located in the SUMM budgetary unit, which is managed in the Office of the Provost. There are different worktags within each college for:
- Employees teaching courses—Teaching
- Employees who support a course and perform directly related administrative functions without teaching (subject to approval)—Support
- Employees who provide summer orientation advising services; paid advising must be directly related to summer orientation and not be part of the employee’s regular duties—Advising
- Employees teaching study abroad courses (off-campus)—Study Abroad
The current worktags are:
| Label | Worktags |
|---|---|
| Summer Agriculture Teaching | PG002591 |
| Summer Agriculture Support | PG104531 |
| Summer Agriculture Study Abroad | PG104535 |
| Summer Agriculture Advising | PG002592 |
| Summer Architecture Teaching | PG002588 |
| Summer Architecture Support | PG002589 |
| Summer Architecture Study Abroad | PG002590 |
| Summer Arts and Sciences Teaching | PG002593 |
| Summer Arts and Sciences Support | PG002594 |
| Summer Arts and Sciences Study Abroad | PG104536 |
| Summer Arts and Sciences Advising | PG002595 |
| Summer Business Teaching | PG002596 |
| Summer Business Support | PG104532 |
| Summer Business Advising | PG002598 |
| Summer Business Study Abroad | PG002597 |
| Summer Education Teaching | PG002599 |
| Summer Education Support | PG104533 |
| Summer Education Study Abroad | PG104537 |
| Summer Education Advising | PG002600 |
| Summer Engineering Teaching | PG002601 |
| Summer Engineering Support | PG002602 |
| Summer Engineering Advising | PG002604 |
| Summer Engineering Study Abroad | PG002603 |
| Summer Law Teaching | PG002605 |
| Summer Law Support | PG104534 |
| Summer Law Study Abroad | PG104538 |