Last updated May 2025
Graduate students typically have their base annual pay supplemented by their faculty advisor during specific portions of the year. This extra income is referred to as “overload.” Overload does not occur automatically and needs to be discussed with the faculty member and arranged with the administrative office in advance. During the first two years of graduate school, overload is usually funded by the student’s ASTR 699 research advisor. Then in the following years, this is usually funded by the PhD advisor.
How many months of overload can I earn?
The maximum amount of overload for a graduate student is determined by their type of graduate assistantship, with IfA policy establishing these amounts such that all graduate students have comparable annual pay.
- For a Teaching Assistant (TA): a maximum of 1.75 months during the spring semester (implemented as 3.5 months at 50% FTE) and 2 months during summer session, for a total of 3.75 months
- For a Research Assistant (RA): a maximum of 1 month during summer session (implemented as 2 months at 50% FTE)
- For an NSF GRFP Fellow: a maximum of 0.75 months during the summer session (implemented as 1.5 months at 50% FTE)
This policy is based on the model of a student working half-time for nine months during the academic year, and full-time for two months during the summer, leaving one month of free time for personal travel or other vacation-style activity. Students can, of course, choose to work for less than the maximum allowed durations. The following chart illustrates the difference between an RA and a TA. (For the latter, the illustration of the spring-semester overload duration is approximate.)
Overload pay during the summer (often referred to as “summer salary”) can be earned only during the three-month period starting the Monday after May Commencement and ending the Friday before the “Official Faculty Duty Start Date” in mid-August. The exact dates vary from year to year – see the UHM academic calendar for details.
For Summer 2025, the overload window runs from May 20 to August 14. You should aim to have the adminstrative setup for overload completed prior to starting such work. So June 14 and July 14 are the very last deadlines to be paid for 2 months (TAs) and 1 month (RAs) of overload work, respectively.
Note that one six-week session of summer school teaching (see below) counts as 1.5 half-months of summer overload.
How is overload calculated?
TA and RA appointments have different base pay levels (Step 13 and Step 20, respectively) and also different durations (9 and 11 months, respectively). This base pay is distributed evenly over 12 months. Overload pay occurs during only during a portion of the year: summer session for all grad students and also the spring semester for TAs. The total annual pay is about the same for all students, but the rate of pay during different parts of the year will vary depending on the type of graduate assistantship. The following table shows how this calculation is made, using numbers for the 2024-2025 academic year:
Overload Pay Calculation (AY 24-25)
| RA at Step 20 | TA at Step 13 | |
| Base salary | $35,460 (for 11 half-months) | $23,028 (for 9 half-months) |
| Spring overload | n/a | 3.5 half-months x $23028/9 = $8,955 |
| Summer overload | 2 half-months x $35460/11 = $6,447 | 4 half-months x $23029/9 = $10,234 |
| Total annual salary | $41,907 | $42,217 |
How do I arrange for summer overload?
The notional deadline for submitting your request for summer salary is before the first day you start the overload work (not the first day you expect to be paid). There are federal rules that forbid people to be paid until they are officially appointed. Here are the steps you must follow to arrange for summer employment:
- Talk with your faculty advisor to determine the source of summer funding and to get the name of the associated Fiscal Officer. You do not need to collect any detailed grant info (e.g. account numbers) as this will be handed by others. If there is a funding shortfall, contact the Graduate Chair ASAP.
- Working with your faculty advisor, determine exactly which days you will officially working during the aforementioned mid-May to mid-August range. This period of time cannot include any personal time. If you plan to have work-related travel during these days, it should be related to the same funding source as used for your summer salary.
- If your date range comprises whole calendar months (for RAs: either all of June or all of July; for TAs: all of June and July): you can proceed with the next step, namely filling out the Kuali form. Such a date range is somewhat preferred for ease of implementation.
- If your date range does not comprise whole calendar months (e.g. part of 1 month and part of another): please confer with the Fiscal Officer to establish the exact set of dates that is allowable for your overload. Do not initiate the Kuali form until these dates are set.
- Fill out the IfA Request for Authorization of Overload form. All the instructions are on the form – as always, RTFM (Read the Full Manual). You should submit the form as soon as possible, in particular in advance of the start of your overload period. The Kuali form will automatically advance through the approval process (see diagram below), and you will receive a notification email when this is completed. At any time you can check on the workflow status of your submitted form by going to the Kuali Build site and following these instructions.
- To confirm that your summer salary has been processed, log into Employee Self Service (ESS) with your UH username and password 2-3 weeks after the start date. Please note that access to ESS requires being on a campus network (or UH VPN) and having Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled (instructions here). Once logged in, go to the “Employee Change Summary” tile to view your summer salary information.
- Get paid for solving the mysteries of the Universe (or some small portion therein). Note that payments for summer overload are made approximately two weeks after the end of the pay period in question.
Note that if your overload involves another academic unit besides IfA, then your process will not use the Kuali Build form, since this is internal to IfA alone. You will be using the old UHM-3 form – check with your Fiscal Officer for instructions.
How do I arrange for summer overload as an NSF GRFP Fellow?
Summer overload for GRFP fellows is handled by both IfA and Graduate Division, the former for establishing the fiscal arrangements (i.e. which account number) and the latter for the university employment arrangements (i.e. HR matters). So the approvals need to follow a different process. Here’s what needs to be done:
- Talk with your faculty advisor to determine the source of summer funding and to get the name of the associated Fiscal Officer. You do not need to collect any detailed grant info (e.g. account numbers) as this will be handed by others. If there is a funding shortfall, contact the Graduate Chair ASAP.
- Working with your faculty advisor, determine exactly which days you will officially working during the aforementioned mid-May to mid-August range. The total duration should be 1.5 months, preferably in a continuous block, and cannot include any personal time.
- Fill out Form UHM-3, which you can download from the web as a PDF file. Fill in the “UH ID” and “Inclusive dates” fields and leave the rest blank. Please consult with your FO’s to ensure the form is correctly completed before you sign & submit it to them. Once the IfA FO gets the form, they will complete the rest and send it to Graduate Division. Note that all the processing by IfA and Graduate Division need to be completed before your overload period begins, so the sooner you submit your form the better.
How do I arrange for spring overload? (TAs only)
Please check with the Graduate Chair.
Can I teach during the summer?
Graduate students may have the chance to teach a summer section of ASTR 110 for 1.5 half-months of summer salary. These accelerated courses require about 30 × 75-minute lectures to be delivered in six weeks. These classes are organized by the Outreach College of the University of Hawai‘i, which occasionally offers ASTR 110. Class arrangements need to be finalized early in the spring semester of the preceding summer. If you are interested in this opportunity, you should get in touch with the Graduate Chair by the middle of the preceding fall semester (e.g., by October 2023 for Summer 2024 teaching). Note that this teaching serves as another potential funding source for summer pay but cannot be used to augment an existing full allocation of summer overload. We aim to have all graduate students with the same annual salary once overload is included.
How much time off do I have?
As shown in the above table for RA and TA compensation, there is one month of free time. This may be taken during some combination of winter break, spring break, or the summer when you are not getting summer salary. If you want more than one month of free time, you cannot earn the full summer salary.
