Faculty & Department Grant Administration
News & Important Updates
After a review from the Office of General Counsel, the Financial Aid Office (FAO) released updated policy about stipends, prizes, or awards and how these funding sources could impact some undergraduate financial aid packages, including adjustments to student scholarship eligibility and/or adjustments to their overall aid package. This announcement was made by FAO during the 23-24 fall quarter.
If you are a department/faculty member paying a student with a VPUE stipend, we would strongly recommend that you DO NOT have your student start their research until they have been made aware of these policy changes. Moving forward, the Financial Aid Office expects students to check their own eligibility for research stipends - guidelines for screening student eligibility can be found here. We encourage departments to verify student eligibility with their own screening prior to submitting their rosters to VPUE and strongly recommend that this be made a requirement during the early stages of the student application process. Also important to note, a student may still choose to accept a VPUE grant (assuming they meet our other eligibility criteria) even if it displaces their FAO package.
If payment requests are made for students after they have committed time to research and are found to be ineligible, they will not be able to receive a stipend without an impact to their aid package and it will be the department/mentor’s responsibility to figure out the best path for the student moving forward (i.e. registering for research units, etc.).
Overview
This webpage outlines the policies and procedures for using VPUE Departmental and Faculty Grants for Undergraduate Research. Please read carefully as policies/procedures may have changed.
| Common Questions: | Answers: |
|---|---|
| Is my student eligible to receive VPUE funding? | See our Eligibility Requirements. |
| When should my student sign the Contract & Waiver? | Your student MUST sign the Contract & Waiver prior to requesting payment on your roster. |
| When will I hear back about my submitted application? | Fall Faculty Grant and Departmental Grant award letters are sent in late Nov. to mid Dec. Winter Faculty Grant applications will be sent out in mid to late March. |
| My student said that they still have not received their stipend. Where should I direct them? | Stipends can take up to 3-4 weeks to process from the date that the student's information is added in the roster. If your student's stipend has been processed by our office (processing date will be on the roster proper) and has yet to receive their funding, please see our below section re: missing stipends. |
Eligibility Requirements
Departmental and Faculty Grant Eligibility Requirements pertaining to student eligibility, mentor eligibility, and project eligibility should be carefully reviewed prior to applying, recruiting mentors or students, or designing projects.
Student Contract
As a means to comply with set policies and to preserve the rights of departments, faculty, and their research programs, all students who are being supported with VPUE funds are now required to complete a Student Contract and Waiver prior to participating in an individual VPUE funded department/program.
- In addition to the listed policies as issued by VPUE, departments, programs, or faculty mentors may elect to add more restrictive policies to the Student Contract, as they deem appropriate.
- Students who do NOT sign a Contract and Waiver will not be considered for a financial need supplement.
Student Participation
If a student's participation does not meet expectations, contact vpue-research@stanford.edu so that we can discuss remedies with the student and mentor involved. Students who do not participate fully in the research training opportunity may be asked to return unused grant funds to Undergraduate Research so that they may be made available to another student.
Stipends
Amounts
- Part-time = $1,500
- Full-time = $7,500 + up to $1,500 need-based supplement (if student qualifies)
Processes & Procedures
- All stipends are processed by Undergraduate Research through the Financial Aid Office.
- Undergraduate Research cannot process stipend requests which are not tied directly to VPUE awarded funds nor can we process requests to be charged to a non-VPUE PTA.
- Departments and Faculty, who are awarded VPUE funding, must complete a roster (this will be sent via email as a Google Sheet in late Nov. or early Dec.) which will trigger a student payment.
- All students supported through the grant must be clearly identified on the roster.
- Student stipends can take up to three weeks to process from the date listed in the "Date Processed" column in your Departmental/Faculty roster.
- No payroll charges are allowed.
- For programs to be fully considered for future funding increases, programs must furthermore identify the following on their roster:
- Students who are participating in the program but are funded by a non-VPUE source.
- Students who wished to participate but were turned away without funding.
Deadlines for Quarterly Rosters
- Fall: final deadline December 11, 2023.
- Winter: Priority deadline January 5, final deadline March 1, 2024.
- Spring: Priority deadline March 15.
- Summer: Will remain the same, final deadline May 1, 2024.
**Any funds not allocated to a specific identified student by May 1st may be reallocated by Undergraduate Research to another department or program. After May 1st, Undergraduate Research will release additional funds (if available) to programs that have identified students who applied to participate but were initially turned away.
Missing Stipends
Is your student having issues locating their stipend?
- For students who are unable to locate their stipend, we encourage Faculty and Staff to review and redirect students to the Financial Account Details page to assist students when reviewing their account.
- If Axess does not reflect the student's stipend, the student should be redirected to the Student Services Center (SSC). There could be a number of reasons as to why the student has yet to receive their stipend and the SSC will have more insights than the Undergraduate Research Team.
- If the SSC is also unable to locate the stipend, please email vpue-research@stanford.edu.
Taxes
Undergraduate Research is not in a position to answer questions about how/if student grants might affect taxes. Students who receive stipends should consult with Student Services Center (SSC) and the IRS about scholarships and grants which are received.
Programming Funds (non-stipend expenses)
- Grant funds are sometimes awarded for certain expenses, activities, and events that build a cohort or community of undergraduate researchers.
- When awarded, such funds will be transferred in a single transaction to a qualifying PTA administered by the relevant department, program, or center.
- Subsequent transactions will be the responsibility of departmental staff, and must be clearly related to the purpose(s) outlined in the award notification.
Year End Reporting for Non-Stipend Expenses
All awarded departments should plan to provide a system-generated financial report on the use of these funds when applying in the subsequent year, no later than October 31st for activity concluded by August 31st. When generating the report, Undergraduate Research recommends using the following report in Oracle:
- OBI CER "Monthly Expenditure Details Statement" report
- "All Detail" View
Unspent programming funds will either be transferred back to Undergraduate Research or will be deducted from subsequent-year awards.