<p>I received a $2500 for work-study. So I have to find a job, right? Is it only up to $2500? Do I get any "extra" money after I receive the $2500 if I work more? Also, how often does a student work? Like 10 hours a week? How about the winter-break? I want to go home during the winter break, do I have to stay in campus to work during the break?</p>
<p>My package included no work-study, but i assume that it’s not required.</p>
<p>But mine included :(</p>
<p>Work study is awarded to you but you do not have to take it. Usually though, it is an advantage because work study students get priority for certain jobs. Campus jobs are usually flexible during finals and school breaks.</p>
<p>Here is a link to USC info on work study</p>
<p>[USC</a> Financial Aid - Federal Work-Study & Other Jobs](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/workstudy/]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/workstudy/)</p>
<ul>
<li><p>No, every student is not awarded work/study. Work/study is federal financial aid and there is a limited total allotted to each university. Each university then chooses how to distribute it to qualified financial aid applicants. To qualify, students must show need according to the Federal formula, which is COA - FAFSA EFC = need.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, you have to find a job. There will be a job fair the first weel of school. Arrive on campus with your resumes ready.</p></li>
<li><p>Your work/study award is for “up to” the amount awarded. A $2,500 award will work out to about 10 hours per week over 32 weeks. ($2,500/$8 per hour/two 16 week semesters) If you want to work more, you will have to find a non-work study job after you earn your full award.</p></li>
<li><p>You do not generally have to work over breaks. The jobs are specifically for students and so are tailored to a student’s schedule. Students who would like to stay on campus and work during breaks sometimes can - depending on the job and if the facility where the job is located stays open over breaks.</p></li>
<li><p>If you were awarded work/study and do not want to work, simply do not apply for work/study jobs. The $2,500 will not be replaced in your package, however.</p></li>
<li><p>Students who were awarded outside scholarships can generally request that the outside scholarship replace all or part of their work/study award.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>you do not need to find a job if you don’t care about the $2500. the point of work/study (for most people) is just to help the student with the cost of living (ie doing fun things like going out to dinner with friends etc), rather than the actual cost of the school.</p>
<p>^But isn’t that $2500 for the Cost of Attendance/Tuition of USC? That $2500 is given to ME? …or is it to USC??? I am confused. :/</p>
<p>Your work/study wages will be paid directly to you.</p>
<p>Several items in the cost of attendance are not billed by USC - books, supplies, transportation, personal expenses. The $2,500 would be money for you to use toward those items. In the 2010-2011 cost of attendance those items add up to $2,976 [USC</a> Financial Aid - Applying & Receiving Financial Aid - Undergraduate - Costs](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates1/costs.html]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates1/costs.html)</p>
<p>like alamemom said, you get a paycheck sent directly to you. it’s up to you to decide what you want to do with that money (shopping, food, textbooks, housing, tuition, etc)</p>
<p>I think alamemom and other people already explained about it for me before, but I just want to make sure…</p>
<p>This is my FA award</p>
<p>Grants/Work-Study
Federal Work-Study–> $2500
Estimated ACG - Freshman ----> $750
University Grant----> $35184
Estimated Federal Pell Grant----> $5500
Federal SEOG----> $1100 </p>
<p>Loans
Federal Subsidized Stafford Loan-----> $3500
Additional Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loan —> $2000 </p>
<p>TOTAL—> $50534</p>
<p>how much will USC BILL me again? So if I get a job then I will get $2500. It means that USC will still AT LEAST bill me approximately $2500 or more right?</p>
<p>USC will bill you for</p>
<p>$40,384 Tuition
$638 Mandatory fees
$11,580 Room and board* </p>
<p>so USC will bill you at least:</p>
<p>= $52,602**</p>
<ul>
<li>The amount billed for room and board depends on the dorm and meal plan you choose. There will also be other items they may bill you for such as health insurance (unless you waive it with your parent’s insurance plan) orientation, tuition reimbursement insurance (I recommend you get this), etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>
I am not sure you quite understand this. If you get a job, you will get about $8 per hour. It will be up to you to be sure you get in enough hours in to earn the entire $2,500. If you only work 200 hours, for example, you will earn about $1,600. </p>
<p>If you need the wages from work/study to pay your billed costs you should sign up for the monthly payment plan so you can pay USC as you earn your wages.</p>
<p>**USC estimates the total cost of attendance to be $55,728 for freshmen this year, including items you will pay for yourself such as textbooks, but you asked about billed costs so I separated those out. Again, here is USC’s 2010-2011 estimated cost of attendance: <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates1/costs.html[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates1/costs.html</a></p>
<p>shinywing…receiving work-study is a good thing.
It means that they are giving you an opportunity to have a job on campus (if you want it) in order to pay expenses.
Lots of students try to get a job in the bookstore or somewhere but they oftentimes can’t because those who have work-study have priority in getting the job.</p>
<p>You are not obligated to take it, as alamemom mentioned, …rather USC is giving you the opportunity to have priority in campus jobs. </p>
<p>It’s the same situation with loans…they are offering them to you, but you don’t have to accept them.</p>
<p>I will expand on how your work/study wages will be earned a tiny bit more:</p>
<p>You arrive on campus in August, resumes in hand, and apply for 37 (or more) jobs.</p>
<p>You might get interviews for a couple of those 37 jobs.</p>
<p>You will hopefully be offered one of those jobs working about ten hours a week.</p>
<p>You start working.</p>
<p>Two weeks later, you get your first paycheck for those first two weeks (20 hours): $160</p>
<p>And so on through the 32 weeks of the school year.</p>
<hr>
<p>Your financial aid package also assumes that you will get a full-time job for this summer (and subsequent summers) earning $2,000 - $3,000 and that you will use that money for school to cover the difference between your financial aid package and the actual cost of attending.</p>
<p>Let me elaborate a little more on Lame’s description of work-study at USC. My impression is that there are plenty of work-study jobs, so many that there are not enough students to fill them all. </p>
<p>And the employers are anxious to fill them, because they could really use the work done, and they do not have to be picky. After all, just about every USC student is going to be a pretty decent worker, or he or she wouldn’t have been able to jump all the hurdles necessary to be admitted and attend. Some of the “interviews” are surprisingly short, like, “You want this job? Can you start this afternoon?”</p>
<p>I know one freshman who, a day after arrival on campus, stopped by the Health Center for something. They had a card out that said “Work-study assistant needed.” She asked about it and was hired on the spot. It is a great job and she still has it after several years. It even fits her major.</p>
<p>The Job Fair is good too, but I recommend students first stop by their major department as soon as possible after arrival and ask if there are work-study jobs. A Biology major could get a great job setting up experiments or feeding the lab rats, whatever, something they like. A Cinema major could get a job selling tickets at the campus theater. I know Band students automatically get work in the band office if they want it.</p>
<p>The point is work-study is a good deal – a great way to earn bucks while studying during slow times, making friends and not having to work too hard.</p>
<p>I have a question…
I accepted work study but I don’t wish to work until the second quarter because I want to gt used to college first.
will that be OK?
do they award you the money before or after you start working?</p>
<p>you don’t get a huge check or something if you do work study.</p>
<p>you get paid anywhere from $8-10/hr and you can make up to the maximum of your award amount (sometimes more if they like you! lol). if you don’t work at all you get $0.</p>
<p>I’m pretty much going to regurgitate what was already said.</p>
<p>-Federal Work Study is a way for helping students get jobs on campus (sometimes off) by paying 50% of the wage. This allows Universities to acquire cheap labor.</p>
<p>-It is up to the student to take an initiative on finding a job. Because work-study provides cheap labor, employers almost always consider work-study students first.</p>
<p>-From MY personal experience, it doesn’t matter if you go over your yearly allocated work-study amount. I went about $500 over last semester and my employer continued to pay my wage.</p>
<p>to make sure…having work study doesnt guarantee a job right?</p>
<p>ive applied to several work study jobs and havnt heard back from any…
any suggestions? apply to more?</p>
<p>
This is up to each school (or even department in the school) … the work-study program is federally subsidized … the student may be getting paid $8/hr however the feds are picking up some portion of that hourly rate. When a student hits their work-study limit for the year (often around $2500) the federal subsidy goes away … so although the student’s wage would no change if they continued to work it would get a lot more expensive for the school to have the student work.</p>
<p>^ You earn the money just like with a regular job. The only difference is the US govt. pays for most of it and it’s tax free. You start getting paid when you start working, and stop getting paid when you stop working. most people work 10-20 hours a week, and hours are usually very flexible.</p>
<p>I myself work in a lab 10 hours a week making ~$12/hr</p>