Hi guys,
So if my school is allowing me to earn up to let’s say $2000 per semester in work study. Do I have to work as often as I would need to, to earn that? Or can I choose to only work 10 hours a week for like $1,000. I’m worried that working too much will detract for my studies and ec activities I plan to take part of. I’ve worked in high school and know how to balance my time but the college I will attend is private and costs a lot. I don’t think doing so much work study will pay of enough of my loans that it’ll be worth sacrificing the opportunities that the college offers and the reasons why I’m going there anyway.
I don’t know if that makes sense. Any thoughts? Please feel free to share.
I guess it makes sense to do work study if you have less than $5,000 in loans but how much can you possibly expect to knock out if you have like 16k per year like me and still expect to enjoy the college experience you’re paying for?
Also what is the average amount of hours students work per week?
Provided you can find a work study job, you can work enough hours to earn up to that amount of money. Your job will end when you have earned that amount. So no, you aren’t technically obligated to work that many hours.
However, many work study positions are formally scheduled for a certain number of hours each week at a certain time of day. If you land a position that is X hours each week, the people for whom you are working will expect you to do your job.
How on earth are you ending up with 16k in loans each year? Who is co-signing those things with you?
You are not required by the FA department to earn the full amount of your award.
However, each job will have its own expectations and requirements. If you are unsure about how many hours you want to work, try to find a job that is flexible. Some will allow you to work more or less depending on your schedule. Others will be very rigid and expect a fixed number of hours.
From what I hear, most work study jobs are 10 -15 hours a week. Many find it an enjoyable experience that can add to the college experience.
You are not required to work at all. The work study is available to you, but if you don’t look for a job then you don’t get the money. No requirement.
Thank you so much for your responses! I just needed an idea of how the work-study system worked.
@happymomof1 College is getting really expensive if you haven’t noticed. 16k per year was the cheapest offer I had and it was at a private school. The other 2 public schools (UCSB and Cal Poly Pomona) I was considering came out at 17k and 22k a year cost for me, so 16k is a good bargain for me. On the bright side, I have applied to a lot of private scholarships and my mom is willing to pay for a certain amount of my education.