<p>The books have not been included in my kids tuition, room, board, and fees bills that we receive from the school. They are included in the calculations for whatever loans you wish to apply for to meet the gap of the COA. We've chosen to have our kids use their work study to offset the cost of those books. They take the cash earnings and purchase their own books. By doing this, their cost of books decreased dramatically. It's just amazing how they can find used sources or borrow books when they have to fork out the money!!</p>
<p>If my daughter was not awarded a "work-study" option, can she still apply to work on campus or will the work-study kids bump her out of consideration for a job? How does that work?</p>
<p>At my Ds school there is a website that advertises on campus and local jobs. On campus there are part time jobs and work study jobs - if a job is advertised as work study only then only students with work study offers are eligible to apply. The vast majority of jobs at her school are work study - probably a budget thing as something like 75% of the work study salary is paid by the government. So it really depends if your daughters school has many non work study jobs available.</p>
<p>Wow! My college (Syracuse University) allows me to work up to 40 hours a week or 8 hours a day (which is what I'm used to). Most of the jobs pay like 8-9.50 an hour. That's great. Now I'm really excited.</p>
<p>This whole work-study thing seems to me like a great idea. Why pay students with skills such as web-development a normal web-developing fee? Instead, they have the chance to work for less than $10 an hour -- a fee you'd get flipping burgers. What skilled web-developer would dream of accepting such an offer?</p>
<p>Obviously, burger-flippers are paid much better in your neck of the woods than they are in ours!</p>
<p>If a student can get the big bucks doing website development, let him (or her). No one is stopping him. But for kids who need a flexible, relatively low-commitment, no-commute, pretty much mindless job ... work study jobs are just fine. Check out an employment website sometime & you'll see that the majority of jobs --- including full-time jobs --- pay less than $10/hour. That's why you go to college ... to hopefully avoid those jobs. But the good jobs aren't given to people simply because they go to school.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information swimcatsmom. My daughter applied late to the school where she will be attending this fall. She was not given a work study option. When and how would she apply for the work study program for her next year? Or could she still apply for the work study in the spring of 1008? Does anyone have experience with this?</p>
<p>osage - Work study is offered as part of the financial aid package if there is financial need. The application is FAFSA. I think schools have limited amounts of work study funds so the fact that your daughter applied late may be why she did not get it (I think this because my daughter may not be using hers and the guy in charge of work study told us that they could award it elsewhere if she declines it). If she has unmet need or wants to replace loans it might be worth asking the school if there is any work study funding still available. Best to talk to the financial aid office about it - if they are anything like my Ds school they will be very helpful. Good luck.</p>
<p>My daughter received w/study as part of her finaid package--1K per semester. We were counting on her earning that money. I thought her employment was GUARANTEED by the college. </p>
<p>If it's part of her finaid package, I don't see how they cannot have enough jobs available. I didn't see anything on her award letter that would indicate that she might not get that part of her award. If this is a federal program, it would seem that they have to have at least the same number of jobs as recipients of the award.
I'll be very upset if she does not get a job!</p>
<p>She filled outand returned the application and the tax forms they sent her. I just assumed she would be "placed" in a position when she arrived on campus. </p>
<p>I'm glad this topic came up--I will have my daughter contact the school asap!</p>
<p>Chocolate, different schools handle work study different ways. Definitely call your D's school to find out what they do. Some schools have a job fair when school starts, some have a website where students can check out jobs (sometimes even before school starts), some have books in the financial aid office with job postings, etc. At my D's school, students have to interview for jobs; at others, it might be first-come, first-served. Some schools reserve certain jobs for work study only; if no ws students apply, they go unfilled. Other schools have a period of time set aside for students eligible for ws to apply for jobs & after that time is up, the jobs are fair game for all students. And no, ws isn't always guaranteed. Generally speaking, students who want the ws jobs (if eligible for ws) can get one --- maybe not their "choice" of job, but a job just the same --- if they act on it at the start of the year. But I have heard of students who weren't able to get a job. Hopefully, your D will be able to find one.</p>
<p>If your D likes tutoring, maybe her school has some available --- my D's school has tutoring jobs available in the local town (with younger kids) that are ONLY for ws students. Probably comes from NCLB funding.</p>
<p>Kelsmom, after I was done freaking out(!), I went on the school's website to get more information. There are many jobs listed on the website and instructions on how to go about applying. I asked my daughter if this topic came up at orientation, and she said there will be a booth in the student union on move in day to help them with the process. She should not have a problem as she will apply as soon as she can. She said they told them that the "early bird gets the worm" as far as getting the best jobs. She also said that they told them not to worry--as long as they go through the process, they will get a job.<br>
Also, they do have elementary school tutoring with transportation provided, although I don't know how that would work with her schedule. </p>
<p>Thank you very much for posting this information--it's very important and timely! We are on a shoestring budget this year with 2 in college and her not earning that money would be very difficult for us. </p>
<p>On another note, my son, a college junior, has never been awarded work study. For the past two years he tried to get a job on campus, but was turned away. I will tell him to wait a few weeks--maybe his school will fill unfilled w/s jobs with regular applicants. It can't hurt to try!</p>
<p>I am glad you were able to get that taken care of ... we can always learn a thing or two by reading these threads!</p>