Credit vs. Pay

Students can participate in VIP for academic credit or for pay. Not all VIP teams have students who are paid.

Paid by Instructor

Students who are paid by their instructors are typically leaders or technical assets who "maxed out VIP their credits." They earned the maximum number of credits that could count toward their degrees, and their instructors hired them to keep them on their teams. Students who are paid for VIP enroll in a zero-credit course (VIP 2600, 3600 or 4600), which appears on their transcript as a 1-credit audit course. The hiring paperwork and process are handled by instructors' home departments. Pay rates are set by instructors within guidelines set by their home departments.

President's Undergraduate Research Award

Students can participate in the President's Undergradaute Research Award (PURA) program through VIP. Students apply to PURA using their VIP projects as the topic for their research, and their VIP instructors sign off on their applications. If students receive a PURA award, they notify the VIP Program, and a special VIP course is created that uses a designated PURA course number (VIP 2698 or 4698, a variable credit audit course). Students then contiue to work with their teams and are paid by PURA. This is currenlty handled by the central VIP scheduling person and not by department schedulers.