<p>ok, my fin. aid offer says i get an estimated 1700 in fed. work study... I dont plan on using work study to pay for school, instead i planned on using it for the roughly $160/month in bills i will have (cell phone bill & 1/2 of my car note). I was wondering if it would be a better idea to do work-study, considering i have no idea how many hours i will be allowed work and how much i will make, or get a job in town. Also, would applying a 2500 outside scholarship that i have remove work study from my aid package(my package only includes 2k in loans)</p>
<p>I LOVED work study! It gives you the opportunity to choose among some of the best jobs on campus. Of course, getting a scholarship or grant is better because you don't have to repay & you can still get a non-work study job & use that money as you need. How your outside scholarship would affect your FAid package is something you need to work out with your FAid office.
Work study jobs are good because they understand being a student comes first & are pretty understanding about school schedules, etc.
They don't designate how you spend your work study earnings, as far as I can remember from the 1970s, when I had w-s jobs.</p>
<p>At my son's college, an outside scholarship reduces loans first, then work study, and lastly grants. If your school follows a similar process, your $2500 outside scholarship would replace your $2000 loan and reduce your work study amount from $1700 down to $1200.</p>
<p>work study monies earned do not count as income for fin aid purposes for the next year, whereas, if you earn the same money at a non-work study job you could reduce the aid for which you are eligib;le in subsequent years.</p>
<p>At UChicago, they said that work study kids were highly prized, as the hiring department only has to pay about 1/2 the cost, the rest is subsidized by, I think, federal funds. I believe somemom's comment is correct as well.</p>
<p>thats good to hear... to people who have did work study: how much on average did you make per month?</p>