Information specific to graduate students

New graduate students

Students receiving a Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) or Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) payment must complete the onboarding process through Workday in order to be paid through Payroll. Some information you will need to provide include:

  • Social Insurance Number (SIN) and expiry date (expiry date is only required if the SIN begins with a “9”)
  • Personal and contact information
  • TD1 tax credit information 
  • Direct deposit information 

Visit the Onboarding user guide on the Workday website for step-by-step instructions on completing the onboarding process.

Note: Graduate students who are not receiving employment income, but will receive a refund through Finance for a scholarship, bursary, or award are also required to provide direct deposit information through Workday in order to have their payment deposited directly to their bank account. Further information regarding refunds for scholarships, bursaries, and awards can be found on the Student Financial Services website.

Returning graduate students

Returning grad students who have received payment in the past should access Workday to review their SIN, TD1 tax credit, direct deposit, and address information for accuracy. Visit the Workday user guides for assistance on updating your information.

Additional information

  • All information must be submitted to HR well in advance of the first pay period in order to receive payment. Where paper forms are completed, the forms should be returned to graduate department co-ordinators for submission to HR via on-campus mail prior to the first day of work.
  • Graduate students who are receiving a GRA, GTA, or any other employment earnings for work performed for the University are paid on a monthly basis with payment being deposited directly into a personal bank account on the last Friday of each month.  If direct deposit information is not provided to HR, a cheque will be produced and available for the student to pick up in HR on the pay date.  Photo ID is required in order to pick-up a cheque.  A schedule of pay dates can be found in the Pay Dates section of this website under Monthly pay dates.
  • TD1 Tax Credit and banking information can be submitted prior to obtaining a Social Insurance Number (SIN), however, payroll will not release payment until SIN information has been received.
  • For privacy reasons, all but the last three digits of the SIN number is masked in the system.  If the last three digits in the system show “999” this means that there is no SIN on file.
  • Students who need further assistance (e.g., TD1 questions) can come to HR Reception in East Campus 1 in person, e-mail hrhelp@uwaterloo.ca, or call the main HR phone line at 519-888-4567, ext. 35935.