Each PI and managing department may handle the process of trainee recruitment and selection differently. Generally, candidate recruitment occurs through a selection process by respective departments or programs using criteria such as GRE scores, grade transcripts, recommendation letters, publications, and personal interviews. Because the trainee positions are competitive, an appointed committee is a common way to review applications. This committee can be comprised of mentors not involved with the trainee or the potential mentor.
All current employees applying for a trainee position should be informed that their status will change to a full-time trainee and they will not receive the same benefits as an employee (no retirement or FICA, etc.).
All trainees should be informed that their training stipend may be taxable and that the university does not withhold taxes on stipends. See more information at the UW finance site.
Considerations include:
Remember to check the guidelines for your school or college as guidelines can vary by department (e.g., School of Medicine has very specific guidelines on appointment types/job classes.)
The terms and conditions of a traineeship should be communicated to selected applicants in writing. This document should come from the PI or department managing the training grant, with sufficient time for the applicant to respond prior to appointing them in xTrain and Workday. This document should contain:
Note that if the same department that is managing the training grant is also managing the traineeship appointment in Workday, these terms and conditions can be included as part of the formal offer/appointment letter described below.
Steps for setting up an appointment include:
BEST PRACTICES/TIP: Communicating with Trainees about their required actions in xTrain can be complex. Use these email templates for all activities the trainees have to undertake.
There are numerous xTrain training resources at the NIH website.
A formal Offer / Appointment Letter should come from the department managing the trainee’s stipend appointment in Workday, providing a job description, funding and benefits information, and union-related information. The exact contents and format of the Appointment Letter will depend on whether the trainee is a graduate student or a postdoc.
Predoctoral trainees on NRSA training grants in the School of Medicine are appointed under the title Graduate Trainee Stipend (NE UAW ASE), and are governed by the UAW Academic Student Employees union contract. Article 4 – Appointment and Reappointment Notification and Job Description (and particularly sections 5 and 6) outlines the information that must be communicated to ASE employees as part of the offer process, and can be used as a checklist for the content of the letter, or your department or program may have its own template for this purpose.
In addition, you may want to include the following:
Notes about Postdoctoral trainees appointments:
For postdoctoral scholar-fellows new to your training grant, use the UW Office of Academic Personnel’s Postdoctoral Scholar New Hire Offer Letter Template, and for those continuing for a second or third year on your training grant, use the Postdoctoral Scholar/Postdoctoral Scholar-Fellow Reappointment Letter Template.
A few things to note about the letter templates:
The Offer Letter should include:
Tuition (in full or in part) and some fees are covered per NIH policy, and other fees are waived by UW; see the Tuition Dashboard from the Office of Planning and Budgeting for information on fee types. The Operating Fee is charged to grants; the Tech Fee is paid by a central UW budget. Graduate students are responsible for the S&A Fee, IMA Bond Fee and Facilities Renovation (FR) Fee. Institutional training grant trainees are generally required to pay for their own UPass. See Post Award Fiscal Compliance guidelines about allowability of tuition and other fee waivers.
If trainees are in a job class code covered by union policies (08-59), they are part of the union and must pay union dues; they have the same leave policy as a Research Assistant (RA). Access the UAW Academic Student Employees (ASEs) Contract that includes leave policies, job class codes, etc.
The University of Washington does not withhold federal income taxes on fellowships and traineeships. Fellows and trainees will receive an income statement in January on a 1099 from the Payroll Office. Information on “taxability” can be found in the NIH Grants Policy in section 11.3.10.6.
You may want to mention this in the appointment letter or in an informal email. This Trainee Stipend Tax Email Sample highlights information you may want to include. Review all student tax information on the Student Fiscal Services webpage and share with trainees.
Standard Termination
A PI initiates the termination within eRA Commons using XTrain and electronically files Form PHS 416-7 which can be found in the Manage Fellows and Trainees section of the NIH Forms Library. This must be done within 30 days of the effective date of termination of the final appointment or upon taking a leave of absence.
Early Termination
There is no need to keep paper copies of termination and appointment documents for active grants if appointments have been terminated with no adjustments necessary and are recorded in XTrain.
Each year you have to reappoint your Trainees in xTrain, and that includes submission of a Statement Of Appointment (SOA).
The SOA form doesn’t reset the stipend amount when you are reappointing a trainee. You have to save the form, back out to the trainee roster, and then set the stipend amount.