<p>DS2 has been approved for $320 of work-study a semester. Not much. I'm wondering how best to negotiate getting a job when the work-study portion may run out and, I guess, the dept would then have to pick up his whole wage. </p>
<p>Am I correct about how that works? Most of the jobs he's looking at are $10/hour, so that's only 32 hours. That's less than three hours of work-study a week. I'm guessing that would be unappealing to potential employers.</p>
<p>Am I understanding this correctly? He thinks it would be easy enough to get one of those jobs seeking alumni donations and then when his time is up it's up. But he's trying to find a gig more in keeping with his area of interest.</p>
<p>If your son really wants the job, and needs more money than just $320 a semester, then he should look for a job in a high need area, like cafeteria, buildings and grounds (if they use work study) and any other departments that really need the student workers. Then, he will be more likely to be able to stay on the job after the work study funds are used up, and be paid instead out of the school funds. If he chooses a job that many other work study kids want, he can more easily be replaced with another work study student. My D’s uni has more jobs than students willing to work them! He should ask to be directed toward departments that count on student workers.</p>
<p>That’s a good point, and I think that’s how he sees the call center work. A guy advertised weeks ago for workers on the FB page for the incoming class, and he still has many openings.</p>
<p>Any idea whether he could roll his work-study to the spring term and just use all his hours then?</p>
<p>Some campus jobs are funded through work study and also school funds. Some are work study only. Some are school funds only.</p>
<p>Your son’s best bet is to find a job that is funded with BOTH work study and school funds so that when he runs out of WS funds, the school will pay for his continued work.</p>
<p>Thanks, thumper. Is it something he should mention up front when he interviews? I told him to leave his limited hours off the cover letter. Or are they required to post how it’s funded? I guess I should get him to read the posting carefully. Maybe it says.</p>
<p>Most postings I’ve had specify if a work-study student is preferred or outright required. His best bet for a job is to find one where they do not require work-study, so that he can work through his award and continue to earn money.</p>
<p>The Federal Work-Study Program Participation in the program is determined by the student’s financial need and is awarded as part of the financial aid package. Part of the monies paid to the student on federal work study is subsidized by the government. Earnings are not applied directly to the tuition bill, but are used by the student to cover costs such as books, personal items, and transportation. FWSP funds may only be used on campus with on-campus employers or with approved off-campus community service employers.</p>
<p>Employment is an alternative form of funding for students who do not qualify for work-study funds, usually for citizenship reasons (international students). Regulation of the Employment program mirrors the FWSP in that a student must show a financial need to be eligible for such funding. </p>
<p>Non Work-Study: A student DOES NOT have to be awarded FWSP or EMPLOYMENT funding in order to work.These could be other jobs on campus (dining services, campus book store, etc). Salaries for these jobs are paid directly by the school.</p>
<p>As others have stated, he should focus on obtaining an on-campus non-work study job as it will give him the best of both worlds; the flexibility of work study so that he can work around his class schedule and he would be getting paid directly through the school or a vendor of the school. The most common jobs would be at the school bookstore, cafeteria food services</p>
<p>That’s true…my workstudy kids were lucky to get some offered to both, but many aren’t. When their work study money ran out…they had to leave because the funds were only for work study students. Cafeteria jobs, etc. they need a lot of students and depending on the demographics of the college, they might always need students , work study or not.</p>
<p>When S applied for W/S jobs he had to let the hiring place whether he was looking for “federal W/S” or regular W/S. Some depts. did not have the Federal W/S funding. Not sure how it is allocated, but he was not allowed to apply for the federal W/S jobs. S got a certain amount of W/S in his package of merit aid money and it really meant nothing. He could have worked at the job he found regardless of whether he had been awarded non federal W/S.</p>
<p>Sybbie, at Notre Dame, when S accepted work study as part of financial aid but did not work, they added that amount to my invoice and I had to pay it.</p>
<p>Wow I am shocked to hear this as usually the w/s allocation is used by the student for misc. and sundry items. This is the first time I have ever heard if a student owing a college for their w/s allocation</p>
<p>There has to be more to the story. Not doing w/s doesn’t add more to the charges unless ND was somehow allowing the w/s to be applied to billed amounts over time.</p>
<p>I am wondering if you thought that the amount of work study should be subtracted from your bill … when it is never done that way. Work study is pay-as-you-earn. You don’t subtract it from what you owe. So it is not “added to the bill” … it is just not “subtracted from.”</p>
<p>Work study depends upon the college and the job even within the same college. My SIL’s niece got a small work study award, like your son did. She didn’t find anything that fit the hours or anything so just got a regular job for expenses. But then she found a work study position, just by chance that fit her schedule, and took it because it was perfect in terms of logistics and hours. She did such a great job that when her hours ran out they, extended them and she now works there for quite a few hours and its a great experience. </p>
<p>But few if any jobs will say anything about converting WS to regular pay, until the time comes and they decide they really want to keep the student. Departmental funds are limited, so they use them wisely. If they really want to keep someone, they may decide to spend departmental money; otherwise running out of work study funds is a nice way to end the experience and they’ll try again with the next student. </p>
<p>It’s very difficult for a freshman to walk in and grasp the situation at hand at their college, so the first WS jobs could well be busts. Just find something that works, just about anything, and get to know the stiuation for the next term or year. Without being there and getting the word of what the lay of the land is at a college, it’s difficult to do any of this. Just use the money and get the hours. A student might not even want to stay at a position either. It can take several goes to get a good fit, and sometimes it never happens. I worked the cafeteria and Rathskellar my whole time, and never got off the ground floor in terms of finding any work that did anything than give me hours and money, but then kids like the niece do very well. My son worked in the college tutoring center for a nice piece fo change as a non work study student. He said about half the kids working there were WS but they would go on and of WS as funds permitted. So often there is not a distinct line at some jobs. I did not have WS, but cafeteria jobs were there for those on WS. The other big WS guaranteed emloyer was the library at my college, and again, one could off and on WS as the funds ebbed.</p>
<p>Did you ask if he could have more workstudy added to his package? At my D’s school, the figure is often a weird one because they use that as a sort of placeholder, that you qualify for exactly X, but will always increase that number if asked.</p>
<p>zooser, he originally was skedded for more hours, but when we appealed the FA package they moved him into this whole other, uber-generous category and I’m sure that we’ve maxed out on what they can do for us. </p>
<p>I’ve been thinking about Kennedy’s situation and can see how that would be the case at ds1’s college. He has 100% of his work-study set up to go toward his tuition. If he didn’t work, there would indeed be a shortfall on his bill.</p>
<p>I have to admit the process at ds2’s school – all the processes, truthfully – seem more complicated.</p>
<p>Yes. I am certain that in August I had a zero balance. Then towards the end of the semester I suddenly received a lovely message from IrishPay about a balance outstanding and the amount was equal to amount of work study. This was three years ago when I had no clue.</p>
<p>D’s work study is totally different. I already know that it is not reducing the balance due and they assign jobs “offline” based on a questionnaire and notify the students of their assigned jobs in late August. Interesting.</p>