Ask your school or department's GradStar Access Request Coordinator (ARC) to submit an access request form for you. The GradStar Access Form is in the InfoPorte data dictionary. You need to have access to ConnectCarolina before you can granted access to GradStar. More information on access to ConnectCarolina
How do I receive training for GradStar?
When you are granted access to GradStar, you are added to the GradStar email listserv. Through these emails, you'll be notified about deadlines, dates, training opportunities, and award entry reminders
Why doesn’t my student display on the Maintenance page?
Make sure that:
You marked them eligible for awards on the GradStar Eligibility page
The student is term activated for the term you are processing awards for
You entered the PID correctly
You searched for the student by the correct name
If the student still doesn't display on the Maintenance page, submit a help ticket.
How do I pay tuition if the in-state/remission window is closed for the term?
Send an email to gradstar@unc.edu, and ask for the in-state/remission page to be opened for your department. In the email, explain why you are requesting this exception.
How do I pay tuition for a prior term?
If the semester ended more than 120 days ago, you cannot pay the tuition for that term. You can only provide a non-service award to the student during the current term; however, any amount provided in the current financial aid year will count towards the total amount of aid the student may receive from the University. So, if the student has received financial aid for the current year, their loan eligibility amount will be adjusted and in most cases reduced and the student will owe money back.
How do I determine funding sources for students?
Verify the correct chartfields from your account manager to be used for awards. Determine whether the student meets the eligibility requirements for in-state/remission awards from The Graduate School and/or academic department. Determine the remission budget for your department.
What should I consider before I enter awards for a student?
Here are a few things to check prior to awarding a student:
Has the student enrolled in classes?
Has the student deferred their bill?
Do you need to follow up on residency status?
Has the student dropped or added classes after you entered the tuition award?
Can I change the chart field string for an award?
Changing the chart field string for an award is acceptable, but you should only do so in cases where there is an allowable exception, and the new chart field string is an appropriate source.
If the award has not been exported to Financial Aid, click the minus sign (–) to remove the row, then hit the plus sign (+) to add a new row with the correct chart field values.
If the award has been exported, then change the status for the incorrect row to “inactive”, click the plus sign (+), and add a new active row with the correct chart field string.
Prioritize the students who are to receive tuition remission awards. Ensure you have followed up on outstanding residency decisions, and used all of your current allocation. If you find you still need additional funds, contact The Graduate School. There is no guarantee additional funds will be provided.
What do I do if a student tells me they have a past due balance on their account?
Log into GradStar and check the awards you have entered. Run and review reports to look up the student's current awards or award activity.
Contact the Cashier's Office via email: funded@unc.edu. They can verify inquiries on student account information including past due balances.
How do I enter awards for a student who did not register before the pre-payment period?
You will need to enter the tuition payment in GradStar first, then ask the Cashiers Office to remove the pre-payment hold. You will need to estimate the number of credit hours to pay the Est Bill Units box at the top of the GradStar Maintenance page. If there are other charges due not relating to tuition, the Cashiers Office may ask the student to take care of those charges before lifting the hold.
What do I do if a student has a hold on their account and cannot register?
Check in Student Center to see the type of hold on the account.
If there is a financial hold, check to see if the student has a past due balance in Student Center.
Log in to GradStar and check the accuracy of awards you have entered.
Ensure you have paid the intended amount for the credit hours the student is enrolled for.
If you need to pay an additional amount of tuition and the in-state/remission page is closed, send an email to gradstar@unc.edu to ask for the page to be opened for your department. Otherwise, just pay the additional amount of tuition.
GradStar is displaying the wrong stipend amount or chart field. What should I do?
Consult your HR or Finance contact to verify the stipend information. If a change was made after the date stipends are loaded to GradStar, the changes won't be displayed. Adjust the chart field values if the chartfields are not correct.
Why is the stipend from the HCM or AP not showing up in GradStar?
GradStar picks up stipends from HR/Payroll and Accounts Payable during a set time frame at the beginning of each semester. Check to see if the HR/Payroll ePAR or Accounts Payable voucher has been initiated and approved.
Will GradStar pick up changes to HCM or AP payments?
Because GradStar picks up stipends from HR/Payroll and Accounts Payable during a set time period at the beginning of each semester, changes outside this time period are not reflected in GradStar.
What is “Census Date” and how does it affect GradStar information?
Census Date is the last day for a student to add or drop a course for tuition and fee credit. If a student adds or drops a class after the Census Date, and you have paid tuition for this student, you need to check your GradStar award to ensure the credit hours you intended to pay for are correct. You can adjust the credit hours in the Est Billing Units section on the Maintenance page to match the student’s billing units.
When are GradStar awards posted to student accounts?
For the current semester, awards are posted on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
For a previous semester and summers, awards are posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Why has the award not posted to the Students’ Account yet?
When it is the beginning of the semester, the awards are not disbursed until the first week of classes. You should first check the Export Tab in GradStar to make sure the award you entered was loaded to Financial Aid. If you see a date in the “FA Export” field, then it has loaded to Financial Aid. If the award was loaded to the FA, but has not been disbursed, there could be a financial aid hold. Your student would need to check with the Financial Aid to see if there is a problem, or if they are waiting for some information from the student before disbursing the award.
When are charges posted to the chartfields?
The GradStar Journal Export process generates journals to be posted to the Finance General Ledger (GL). When the Export Data tab has a date in the Journal Export Date field for your student, the student's funding has been selected for batch posting. The actual posting to GL is a separate process and should be verified with your account manager.
What is a Budget Error? What should I do to resolve it?
GradStar checks the chartfields entered for valid budget for the awards entered. The budget is checked within a day or two after you submit the entry. Budget error occurs when the chart field you used does not pass the Budget Check.
Contact your Accounting Personnel to check for any errors in the Chartfields String. If your chart field is valid and has a budget, and GradStar continues to give you an error message, submit a Help Ticket.
What should I do after I enter awards in GradStar?
Run reports in GradStar to verify awards are entered correctly. Distribute reports to accounting managers orothers in your department to assist with verifying chartfields are correct. Make adjustments as needed.
Ensure students billed credit hours and the credit hours paid in GradStar match. Make adjustments asneeded.
Follow up on students who have pending residency decisions. If you have paid tuition for nonresidentstudent, and the student obtains residency later in the semester, you will need to adjust the GradStar award.
Follow up on outstanding problems from prior terms. Keep in mind the 120 rule – awards for a particularterm cannot be adjusted more than 120 days after the end of the term, per federal guidelines.
How do I run Reports?
To request access to run reports, submit a request to the ARC (Access Request Coordinator) for your department. Ask for access to the role of PS Query in Connect Carolina. The ARC must submit the access request form through InfoPorte.
You can access reports from Connect Carolina.
Menu Path:
Main Menu > Student Admin Menu > Reporting Tools > Query > Query Viewer.
In the search tab, type: NC_GSTAR
How do I submit a help ticket for a GradStar issue I'm having?
Go to help.unc.edu, click Help Request, and log in with your Onyen and password.
Click the New Request link.
From the options in the list box, choose ConnectCarolina.
Under Type of Help Needed, in the first list box, choose ConnectCarolina Student Administration.
In the second list box, choose GradStar issues or questions.
Enter problem information, including related PIDs. Attach screen shots if helpful.
Click Submit.
How do I enter an in-state only award?
When you press the "create in-state/remission award button", the system will create both awards, in-state for resident students and in-state/remission for nonresident students. If you wish to pay only in-state for a nonresident student, use the minus (-) sign to remove the remission award row. Hit save.
If the award has already posted, then you can make the remission award inactive by choosing "inactive" from the drop down menu on the remission row and hit save.
