<p>Daughter is entering her sophomore year in September. We just received the financial aid letter for next year. We have not received the bill, yet, so I really don't know what the semester will cost, because the FA letter includes all the miscellaneous stuff that adds into the cost of attendance. </p>
<p>My question is this. D was awarded a University Scholarship, an outside scholarship, and a Federal Work Study amount of $2450. When the bill for the semester comes, will the FWS be there as an award of $1225 (half the year), thereby contributing to the total financial aid package (husband's take on the situation)? Or, will the FWS be deducted from the total award, but will be available for the daughter to earn if she decides to take a job (my take on the situation)?</p>
<p>I believe that the work study is outside of the other aid, because it's not guaranteed in the sense that she doesn't HAVE to take a job, and even if she does take a job, she may not earn the maximum.</p>
<p>Which is a long way of saying that you are right.</p>
<p>You will get a bill for tuition and R&B if she is on campus- they will then credit any scholarship $. The wors study is totally separate from that. She must find a job and work on campus to earn that money. No guarantee.</p>
<p>The amount you have to pay to the school will include the amount of your FWS reward. That is, the money is NOT deducted from your bill. What work study is: the offer that if you find a qualifying (normally, but not always, on-campus) job, the federal government will pay you to work that job up to the amount of money they specified on your award. You get paychecks just like any other job. So, work study will not affect the bill itself. Generally it's used to pay for living expenses.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses, everyone. You have all been helpful. So, the mystery is, why, then is Federal Work Study part of the Financial Aid AWARD in the first place. It is no more of a "Financial Aid Award" than a loan is. Seems just a bit fishy to me to call a job opportunity any kind of award. But it seems that you all are right. Maybe it's because if she just goes to tell the school that she wants a job she will get one. I guess the Feds have given the school the money, and it's up to her to make use of it. So in that way it's a bit easier than getting a standard job. The further irony is that having earned that money will probably reduce the financial aid award for next year. Oh well. This too shall pass... :) Thanks, again!</p>
<p>I was under the impression that WS money earned does not affect FA for the following year. That was suppose to be the "beauty" of it. It doesn't figure into the eqation for FAFSA.</p>
<p>^^ I really hope you are right! I will have to look carefully next year when I fill out the FAFSA. If there is any $ left in my D's account, and if she gets a W-2 form at the beginning of the year, won't it seem as though she earned that $? Maybe there's a place to put it that indicates it's from FWS.</p>
<p>Federal Work study is backed out of the students earnings when completing the fafsa the following year. One of the worksheets asks about earnings from Federal work study. This coupled with the fact that it is not subject to social security or medicare deductions make it attractive. In some cases the pay may be lower than a regular job, however.
Federal work study is considered part of financial aid - even though it doesn't decrease tuition, per se. The earnings can be used for books and living expenses.<br>
In SOME circumstances, a school will if requested apply the net earnings to the bill. This is the exception and most students and parents want the check anyway to pay for books and incidentals.</p>
<p>IN addition to WA earnings NOT counting against the student in the next year's FAFSA, it is also an award because the govt pays the student's earning, making the student a very attractive new hire. It should be pretty easy to get a WS job on most campuses</p>