Onboarding

You are a CNC-CT trainee; now what?

PREDOCS AND POSTDOCS register for CITI here AND request a COMMONS ID 

Post-docs: 

Postdoc trainees are not considered employees with salary and benefits. They receive monthly stipends paid through the purchasing system (HuskyBuy) and have the option to obtain health insurance from UConn. However, to get them access to UConn services, including email and net id they are given a gratis appointment.  If anything unexpected happens with your payments, please reach out to charlotte.nelson@uconn.edu right away so that it can be urgently resolved.

Getting set up

    • Email and NetID – The PI, Director or admin on the grant will contact Carol Valone (PSYC) or Sirrah Galligan (SLHS) who will set you up as a Gratis appointment.  Once she has processed it and it has been processed in the system, the email address and NetID will be generated.  
    • Monthly payments – Francesca D’Antonio, grant fiscal officer sends a request to HuskyBuy (UConn purchasing) to send you a supplier request form to complete.  Please complete it including a local (CT) remittance address where your monthly check will be sent to via the purchasing system (HuskyBuy)
    • Sign and return to charlotte.nelson@uconn.edu the “Payback Agreement” form (OMB No. 0925-0001):
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    • Healthcare benefits –set up health insurance
      • The Human Resources Benefits Specialist sends an email out to the fellows that includes CTPP coverage information and instructions to submit their election to enroll/waive. Sample email below;

I have been notified of your hire at UConn and you are eligible to enroll in CT Partnership Plan Medical and/or Dental coverages. Should you elect to enroll, your coverage will become active effective –/01/202-. Please visit https://hr.uconn.edu/ga-health-insurance/ and submit your “Graduate Fellows Election/Waiver Form” to elect to Enroll/Waive CT Partnership Plan coverage options. You will have 31 days from your date of hire (07/01/2021) to submit your elections. At this link you will also find helpful information regarding the Medical plan and Dental plan option.

        • Sponsored Programs and The Graduate School will review all award documentation to confirm the health coverage allowance for postdocs.  Payroll coordinates the billing and will contact each postdoc to confirm what they will owe for coverage (which also may depend on what their election is; Employee Only, Employee + One Dependent, Family).
        • Health insurance will be active as of the 1st of the month you begin if you begin on the 1st of that month.  If you begin on the 2nd or after, then you will be active as of the first day of the following month. So, the 1st of the month following the fellowship start date.
        • There is no need to re-enroll annually if your appointment is continued. Coverage will automatically continue with the elections you have from the previous semester, unless you submit a change during the annual Grad Open Enrollment period or submit changes due to a qualifying Life Event.
        • Contact Anthem for temporary ids until you receive yours in the mail by going to www.anthem.com/statect or by calling 1-800-922-2232.
        • For additional information review the CT Partnership Plan FAQ.pdf and Medical And Dental Coverage through CTPP for Graduate Fellows.pdf
        • Benefits specialist, Joanna Smith, Joanna.Smith@uconn.edu (P) 860-486-3034

      Pre-docs: 


      Fellowship         

      • You are a graduate trainee on a federal award.  This means that you will be receiving monthly stipends that are disbursed from the Fellowship Workflow. The disbursement will be shown on your fee bill and is not classified as payroll. You do not need to enroll in anything except enrolling for Direct Deposit to avoid having to come to the Bursar’s Office to pick up checks.
      • Fellowship payments for the fall and spring semesters will begin in August for first year trainees and in September for second year trainees.  Each monthly installment is processed by the Financial Aid Office (FAO) on the first Tuesday of the first full week of each month and will be distributed up to 2-3 business days after.
      • If anything unexpected happens with your payments, please reach out to charlotte.nelson@uconn.edu right away so that it can be urgently resolved.
      • Fellowship payments for the Summer will be distributed as monthly installments for June and July and then your final payment in your traineeship as well as at the end of the first year of your traineeship will be disbursed at the end of August, when the new fall semester begins. 
      • Fellowship tax implications – Pre-docs that are receiving funds via the Bursar’s Office/Fellowship Workflow will have a 1098-T. Trainees can go to Student Admin (Peoplesoft) — Bursar Services — View 1098T.  See below ‘Fellowship Tax Implications and Resources’ for more information.

      Fee Bill and Health Insurance

      • Fall and Spring bills will be paid prior to the due date, please make sure to send the final fee bill to charlotte.nelson@uconn.edu 1 week prior to the due date. If any changes are made to the fee bill or any late fees occur, please notify Charlotte Nelson immediately and send the pdf of the updated bill.
      • Initial fee bills will show SHIP (Student Health Insurance Plan). This is the basic student insurance that you may waive in PeopleSoft Student Permissions.
      • Health Insurance Information:
        • The Human Resources Benefits Specialist sends an email out to the fellows in August that includes CT Partnership Plan (CTPP) coverage information and instructions to submit their election to enroll/waive.
        • Human Resources posts the insurance bill to the fellow’s account in September.
        • CLAS Grant Management Services (francesca.d’antonio@uconn.edu) then submits a grant advice for the total cost less the fellow’s premium.
        • Health insurance will be active as of September 1st of the year in which you enroll.
        • There is no need to re-enroll or re-apply annually if your appointment is continued even, if it changes from GA/TA to fellow or the next year from fellow to GA/TA. Coverage will automatically continue with the elections you have from the previous semester, unless you submit a change during the annual Grad Open Enrollment period, or submit changes due to a qualifying Life Event. If you have any questions regarding coverage or if you have any issues with coverage please contact  Benefits@uconn.edu.
        • Contact Anthem for temporary ids until you receive yours in the mail by going to www.anthem.com/statect or by calling 1-800-922-2232.
        • For additional information review the CT Partnership Plan FAQ.pdf and Medical And Dental Coverage through CTPP for Graduate Fellows.pdf
        • Benefits specialist, Joanna Smith, Joanna.Smith@uconn.edu (P) 860-486-3034

      First Month

      • Parking fees: All Fellows will have GA parking status. Fellows will need to log into the Parking Portal on this link and their parking access and price will be the same as GA’s.
      • Professional headshot (required)
        • Click here to set up an appointment
        • Email head-shot to charlotte.nelson@uconn.edu for the CNC-CT website 
      • Attend classes you are registered for 
      • Github for storing your research/codes

      Listservs

      You will be added to the CNC-CT and SLAC trainee and community listservs.  Sign up for others to stay informed about events happening in and around your home program. We strongly urge you to sign up for the following listservs by; 

      1. Sending a “SUBSCRIBE FULL NAME OF LISTSERV firstname lastname ” command in the body of an email to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (do not add a subject in subject line), or
      2. Go to http://listserv.uconn.edu and click on the relevant link and follow the instructions to join. 

      To unsubscribe from a listserv

      1. Send “UNSUB FULL NAME OF LISTSERV ” command in the body of an email to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU (do not add a subject in subject line)

      Curriculum

      CNC-CT trainees (PRE AND POST) are required to attend TalkShop, SICSFLAGS, and the Clinical Connections seminar (Fall).  All other courses are “a la carte” for trainees to choose from to fulfill the training requirements. Click  to see CNC-CT courses, instructors and semesters offered


      Talk Shop

      Trainees are expected to attend and participate in a weekly gathering where students/faculty share their research, etc. See the current Talk Shop schedule here


      Fellowship Tax Information

      • Fellowship Tax Implications and Resources (link to onboarding webpage)

        Fellowship payments are subject to federal and state income taxes unless the payment is used to pay for qualified tuition and required enrollment fees. Fellows will be personally responsible for any income taxes resulting from the receipt of this fellowship payment. You should be advised that fellowship payments used to pay for travel, supplies or equipment used in your independent research are not exempt from taxation. Consistent with IRS guidance, fellowship payments, although taxable, are not subject to income tax withholding if paid to a U.S. citizen or resident alien. It is the sole responsibility of the student to report and pay taxes on the taxable portion of any fellowship, stipend, award or grant that he/she receives. Fellowship recipients may wish to consider making estimated federal and state income tax payments.  

        Consistent with IRS guidance, the University does not withhold taxes on the taxable portion of fellowships, stipends, awards or grants except in limited circumstances involving nonresident aliens. If you are a nonresident alien, federal income taxes may be required to be withheld from your payment unless you qualify for exemption by way of an income tax treaty between the United States and your country of tax residence. Fellowship recipients may wish to consider making estimated federal and state income tax payments.

      Helpful information from Hannah Morrow, SLAC Trainee:  This google folder currently has a document that explains how to file your income taxes (to the best of my understanding).  As I say in the document, this is by no means expert advice. I specifically use TurboTax because of their services to help you if you are audited, but I think the general assumption is that we make so little that auditing is unlikely. The advice I write in those google docs is purely based on what I heard from a previous Director of Taxation and Compliance, and lots of googling. Thankfully, there are now Youtube videos, some reddit channels, and several articles on how to deal with taxes while on a GRFP, and more resources are coming out all the time.

      Questions/Suggestions

      Contact the Program Coordinator, charlotte.nelson@uconn.edu or (c) 860-480-5154