900.1 - General
Student employees generally are exempt from both Medicare and OASDI taxes (sometimes referred to as FICA taxes). However, in order to qualify for this exemption, students must meet certain requirements. These requirements relate both to the number of credit hours in which the student is enrolled and to the specific position the student employee occupies.
Note that this exemption applies only to Washburn students employed by Washburn University. Washburn students working for other employers are not exempt from FICA taxes. Students enrolled at other schools or universities, but working for Washburn, also are not exempt from FICA taxes.
900.2 - Credit Hour Requirements
900.21 - General Rule
In order to qualify for the FICA exemption, a student must be enrolled at least half-time. For undergraduates, "half-time" is 6 credit hours (3 credit hours during a summer term). For graduates, "half-time" is 3 credit hours, regardless of academic term. Law students must be enrolled at least half-time, based on the then-current definition used by the School of Law.
To simplify the determination of whether students meet the credit hour requirements, the University has established two census dates per academic term. The initial census date is one week before classes begin; the second date is the day after the end of the refund period. For students beginning employment after the second census date, their credit hour status is evaluated on their employment date.
900.22 - Employment During Breaks
Students may be employed during breaks between academic terms. For purposes of determining whether a student meets the credit hour requirements, enrollment during any part of a summer term (for example, during the second five-week session) is considered to be enrollment during the entire summer term.
For breaks of less than five weeks, a student meets the credit hour requirement if s/he was at least a half-time student on the final day of the preceding academic term, and is eligible to enroll in classes in the first academic term following the break. If the student has not enrolled in classes by the first census date of the subsequent term (see section 900.21), s/he no longer meets the credit hour requirement.
If the break between academic terms is five weeks or more, the student does not meet the credit hour requirement, and is no longer exempt from FICA taxes. This usually comes into play when the student was enrolled in the spring term, does not enroll in the summer term, and does enroll in the fall term. In this case, the student usually will still meet the credit hour requirement until the first census date for the summer term. This is because the student is eligible to enroll in the summer. Thus, if a student in this situation continues working during the summer, s/he is exempt from FICA for part of the time, then is not exempt from FICA until the first census date of the fall term.
900.3 - Position Requirements
In order to be exempt from FICA taxes, the student cannot be employed in a position that would normally be classified as "career employment." For purposes of making this determination, any position that is specifically listed in the University's budget salary supplement with an individual's name associated with the position is a career employment position. A quick way to determine if an employee is exempt from FICA is to look at the position number for the position(s) that employee holds. If the position number begins with an "S", the position requirement is met. If the position number begins with any other letter or number, the position requirement is not met, and the employee is not exempt from FICA taxes.