As part of my daughter’s FA pkg is a FWS program. She applied to a few positions she thinks she is qualified but hasn’t had any success. What happens this fall semester if she is unable to work for that amount stated in her aid? What options do we have with out paying more out of pocket?
She has to work it to get it. If she can’t find a position this fall, she might get to use the amount next semester (so earn double next semester) but unless the FA office will replace the work study with a grant, there is nothing you can do except pay that amount.
Work study is never applied directly to the bill. You/she always had to pay that amount of the bill.
Earnings from work-study go toward her personal expenses throughout the semester. As @twoinanddone said, those w/s earnings are paid via the job’s payroll, usually every other week. Those funds are not available to pay your bill for tuition, room, and board bill at the beginning of the semester. And the funds typically are not even available to pay for books, which are purchased usually the first week of the semester.
The main benefit of w/s versus a job that is not paid with federal w/s funds is that w/s income is disregarded in the calculation of of subsequent years’ financial aid awards.
Thank you for your input. My daughter is constantly looking for a job to fulfill her obligation. She knows what her fa means. We are paying her room and board and other expenses. She pays for some of her books. We also took the subsidized loan the school offered. She also received outside scholarships from the Red Cross (one time) and NYS Scholarship for Academic Excellence (8 semesters) which helped us to lower our out of pocket expenses. If she is unable to find a job then we will just pay it out. My husband and I do not want our kids to incur student loan just so they can get a good education. Our parents sacrificed a lot for us to help us get a decent education in the Far East. We are trying to do the same for our kids albeit we are trying our best to understand the college system here in the US. We are looking forward to see what Colgate does next year as it launches the No-Loan Initiative, starting in fall 2020 as part of their Third Century Plan.This initiative eliminates federal loans for students from families with an annual income less than $125,000 per year. Our sophomore son is at a local CC right now and plans to transfer to RIT next year. We are trying to put our finances together so we are able to help him too.
Sometimes there are higher paying non W/S jobs available on and/or off campus. Not sure how much opportunity there is off campus around Colgate, but could be something to consider…babysitting, nannying, waitressing jobs can sometimes earn far more than minimum wage or w/s wage. The upside is potential to make more money per hour/work fewer hours, downside as brantly says is that non-w/s earnings will impact next year’s fin aid.
Could she contact the departments that she might be interested in working for? My daughter had some success that way. She basically told them that she was available and asked if they had any work she could do.
“She applied to a few positions she thinks she is qualified”
Many freshman WS jobs have few quaifications, you learn from doing. I know it’s hard, at some colleges, but are there no (or few) jobs or she’s possibly overthinking?
Agree, if there’s nothing, talk to FA.
Many initial WS jobs are working in the mailroom, cafeteria, answering phones in the admissions office etc. Has she applied for such jobs? These require few in any “qualifications”.
In fact, one of my godsons worked in admissions, answering phones, all four years. That evolved into answering questions, then other admin work/higher pay that saved his you-know-what when he needed work between college and grad school.
I mention it, because his brother said there were no jobs at his college and the issue was more his not trying. He ended up with work outside his major interests that sparked a new side interest. This was his school job, he continued with activities, research, and more, related to his academic and career plans.
I told my daughter to reach out to the FA office if she still has not heard from any of the positions she applied to and ask them for assistance. Thank you!
She did contacted the first position she applied for. initially she was told they are still in the process of selecting the right candidate/student for the job, She then followed up a week later. The job had been filled. She applied for two more and applying for another one as of typing.