Graduate Effort

Graduate Student Effort Guidance

Purpose

This guidance helps faculty and department administrators determine how graduate student support is treated for effort reporting when a student has fellowship or traineeship support, research assistant (RA) activity, teaching assistant (TA) activity, or another compensated role. The key question is whether a payment is stipend support for the student’s training experience or compensation for services performed. Because the sections below build on each other, readers should start with the Key Rules at a Glance and refer to the detailed sections as needed. 

Key Rules at a Glance

• Federally defined fellowship and traineeship stipends (for example, NIH F and T awards and NSF GRFP) are not salary. They are excluded from Institutional Base Salary (IBS) and effort reporting. 

• Emory stipend supplements paid to fellowship and traineeship recipients are also stipend support. For most federal awards, a supplement cannot be used to pay for work and does not create reportable effort; review the specific award terms to confirm. 

• Academic and training activities, such as coursework, ethics training, qualifying exam preparation, and program-required teaching practicums, are part of the stipend-supported training experience and are not reportable effort. 

• Salary or wages for services, such as a paid RA, TA, instructional, or research service appointment or work on a research grant, are included in IBS and effort reporting. 

• Fellows and trainees who take on paid work must be paid with additional funds beyond the full stipend. Many federal sponsors limit the amount of additional paid work (for NIH, about 10 hours per week on average), so review the specific award terms. The effort report reflects only the compensated appointments. 

Key Principle: “Stipend” Can Mean Different Things

At Emory, the word “stipend” is often used broadly to describe graduate student support, but the federal meaning is narrower. Under federal guidance for fellowships and training grants, a stipend is a subsistence allowance to help defray living expenses during training; it is not compensation for the services expected of an employee. Payments for teaching, laboratory assistance, research work, clinical duties, or other assigned services are compensation for work performed. For effort reporting, what matters is the substance of the payment, not what it is called. 

Fellowship and Traineeship Stipends Are Excluded from Effort Reporting

When a payment meets the federal definition of stipend, the stipend and the training activity it supports are excluded from Emory’s effort reporting process and from the effort denominator. If the student also has compensated activity, such as TA work, RA work, or other employment-based duties, those compensated activities make up 100% of the student’s effort reporting activity for the period. 

Stipend Supplementation for Fellowship and Traineeship Recipients

NIH pays F and T award stipends at its established rates. When that rate is lower than the Laney Graduate School (LGS) base stipend rate, the PI, department, or school typically pays the difference as a stipend supplement. It does not matter that the NIH stipend is lower than the LGS base rate or the minimum set by the graduate student collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The supplement fills that gap, and together the NIH stipend and the supplement are the student’s full stipend support. All of it is excluded from IBS and effort reporting and creates no reportable effort. 

NIH permits stipend supplementation from non-Federal funds only if it carries no additional obligation for the fellow or trainee, and supplementation policies must be applied consistently to all individuals in a similar status regardless of the source of funds. Public Health Service (PHS) funds may never be used for supplementation. As a result: 

• The supplement is not payment for work. A student may not be required to perform TA, RA, or other services in exchange for it, and no portion of it may be relabeled or reported as RA or TA salary. 

• Program-required academic and training activities, including a required teaching practicum, are not services performed in exchange for the supplement. See Academic and Training Activities While Supported by a Stipend. 

Additional Compensated Appointments Beyond the Full Stipend

A student on an F or T award may also hold a separate, paid TA, RA, or other appointment. NIH allows fellows and trainees to spend, on average, an additional 25% of their time (about 10 hours per week) in part-time research, teaching, or clinical employment, as long as it does not interfere with or lengthen their training. Compensation may be paid only when there is an employer-employee relationship and the payments are for services rendered. For effort reporting purposes, this means: 

• The appointment must be paid with additional funds beyond the student’s full stipend support (the NIH stipend plus the supplement). It cannot be carved out of, or substituted for, the supplement. 

• The appointment’s salary is included in IBS and effort reporting. If it is the student’s only paid activity, it represents 100% of the effort reporting base. The stipend and supplement remain excluded. 

• The additional appointment should generally average no more than about 10 hours per week and must not interfere with or lengthen the student’s training. 

• A student on an F or T award may not be asked to perform TA, RA, or other employment services without additional compensation. This does not apply to program-required academic and training activities; see Academic and Training Activities While Supported by a Stipend. 

Other Federal Fellowships and Traineeships

This guidance uses NIH F and T awards as its primary examples, but the core principle applies to other federal fellowships and traineeships as well, such as NSF GRFP: the stipend is support for the student’s training, not compensation, and is excluded from IBS and effort reporting. Salary for a separately paid TA, RA, or other appointment is always included. Requirements for stipend supplements and for how much additional paid work a fellow or trainee may take on vary by sponsor, so departments should review the specific award terms. 

Comparing Students With and Without F or T Awards

Students with and without F or T awards may receive the same total LGS support amount, but federal sponsor requirements mean that support is treated differently for effort reporting. For either group, program-required academic and training activities are not reportable effort (see Academic and Training Activities While Supported by a Stipend). 

Academic and Training Activities While Supported by a Stipend

Graduate students take part in many activities that are part of their academic and training experience, even when those activities are not tied to a specific aim of the sponsored project funding their support. Examples include required or elective courses, ethics training, professional development, qualifying exam preparation, and other academic requirements of the graduate program. When the payment is a federally defined stipend, these activities are part of the training experience, not separately compensated work, and are not reportable effort. 

Teaching as training versus paid teaching. Some programs require teaching experience as part of the degree, such as a teaching practicum or a course designed to develop teaching skills. When that teaching is an academic requirement applied to all students in the program regardless of funding source, and is not a paid TA appointment, it is part of the student’s training and is not reportable effort. A paid TA appointment is different. It is compensation for services, it is always included in IBS and effort reporting, and for F or T awardees it must be paid with funds beyond the full stipend. 

Research Grant Payments Are Salary, Not Fellowship Stipends

Graduate students paid to work on research grants, such as NIH R01 awards, are paid salary or wages, not fellowship or traineeship stipends. That pay is included in IBS and effort reporting, and the effort report should reflect the share of compensated effort on the grant alongside any other compensated activity, such as TA work. 

Instructional and Research Service Appointments Under the CBA

For covered PhD students, TA and RA roles generally involve instructional or research services addressed by the CBA. The CBA does not change the basic distinction: if a student is paid for teaching, laboratory assistance, research work, clinical duties, grading, instructional support, or similar assigned services, that pay is compensation for services and is included in IBS and effort reporting. If a student has more than one compensated appointment during the same period, the effort report should reflect the distribution of effort across those roles. 

Departments should administer covered appointments consistently with the CBA, including requirements for workload and hours, job assignments, appointment letters, compensation, payroll, continuity of funding, and training. This guidance addresses effort reporting only. It does not replace, interpret, or modify the CBA, LGS policies, sponsor requirements, or departmental appointment procedures. 

Institutional Base Salary

IBS is the compensation Emory pays for an individual’s institutional appointment. It is the base used to determine the salary that may be charged to sponsored projects and the effort that must be reported. For graduate students, IBS includes salary or wages for compensated appointments, such as RA, TA, instructional, or research service appointments. It never includes federally defined fellowship or traineeship stipends or permitted stipend supplements, even when Emory or LGS uses the word “stipend” for the broader support package. 

When reviewing a student’s IBS, departments should break the support package into its parts: exclude stipend support and include salary or wages for services. IBS changes only when the salary or wage portion changes. For example, if a student with RA salary adds a separately paid TA appointment, IBS increases by the TA salary. The effort report should reflect only the compensated activities included in IBS. 

Practical Examples

The examples below show the most common situations. They do not replace sponsor requirements, LGS policy, the CBA, or departmental appointment procedures. 

Example 1: F or T Stipend Plus Supplement Only

A student on an F31 fellowship receives the NIH stipend, and the department pays a supplement from non-federal funds to bring total support to the LGS base rate. The student has no other appointment. Both amounts are stipend support, neither is included in IBS, and no effort report is generated. 

Example 2: Stipend Plus Academic and Training Activities

A student on a T32 training grant takes courses, completes ethics training, and completes a teaching practicum required of all students in the program or enrolls into a teaching course voluntarily to obtain additional educational teaching experience. These activities are part of the stipend-supported training experience and are not reportable effort, even though they are not tied to a specific grant aim. 

Example 3: F or T Stipend Plus a Separately Paid Appointment

A student on an F31 fellowship receives the NIH stipend and an Emory supplement. The student also holds a paid RA appointment on a research grant, funded beyond the full stipend. The stipend and supplement are excluded from IBS and effort reporting. The RA salary is included and, as the student’s only paid activity, represents 100% of the effort reporting base. If the student later adds a separately paid TA appointment, the TA salary is added to IBS and the effort report reflects the split between RA and TA work. Combined paid appointments should stay within about 10 hours per week on average. 

Example 4: Not Permitted – Services Required in Exchange for the Supplement

A student on a T32 training grant receives the NIH stipend and an Emory supplement. The department assigns the student a TA role and treats the supplement as TA pay, with no additional compensation. This is not permitted. The supplement must carry no additional obligation and cannot be relabeled as TA salary. If the student serves as a paid TA, the appointment must be funded beyond the full stipend and included in IBS and effort reporting. (A program-required teaching practicum, or a course a student takes for additional teaching experience, is different; see Academic and Training Activities While Supported by a Stipend.) 

Example 5: Student Not on an F or T Award – RA and TA

A student who is not on an F or T award is paid through the LGS support package for RA work on a research grant. Mid-year, the student’s RA hours are reduced and a TA assignment is added, with the same total pay now funded partly by the grant and partly by the department. The entire package is compensation for services and is included in IBS. IBS does not change because total pay is unchanged, but the effort report must be updated to reflect the new split between RA and TA work. 

Policy References

This guidance should be read consistently with the following: 

• Federal cost principles (2 CFR 200), which recognize the dual role of students as both trainees and employees 

• NIH Grants Policy Statement, Sections 11.2.10 (Individual Fellowships) and 11.3.10 (Institutional Research Training Grants), on stipend supplementation and compensation 

• Laney Graduate School stipend guidance 

• The graduate student collective bargaining agreement covering PhD students in the James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies who provide instructional or research services