<p>I received my financial aid info from UF, part of the the aid is $1500 a semester in work study. I was wondering if I should cancel this or if it was worth it. I just do not want to have to work the 20 hours a week it says I do, since I do not want work interfering with academics and extra-curricular involvement. Not to mention I believe it just gives you a minimum wage job which I could just try to get on my own if I needed. </p>
<p>Any suggestions, should I cancel it or is it worth it?</p>
<p>Work study can be worth it…FWS income isn’t counted the same as regular earned income. It can also open doors for higher paid positions on campus that can provide you with an edge once you graduate. Most FWS positions are flexible based on the student’s schedule and study needs. One of my former FWS students was so impressive with upper administrators that they offered her an internship position that paid twice her FWS wages. The position is aligned with her career goals so when she graduates she will already have valuable work experience in her major.</p>
<p>Ultimately, though, you have to determine whether YOU feel it is worth it. You can always give it a shot and if it interfers with your schedule too much, you can cancel your contract.</p>
<p>well its 1500 untaxed hours. So try and beat that.</p>
<p>Dr. Horse, Work study is not untaxed income! But it is excluded from the student’s income for FAFSA, so there’s no potential EFC impact unlike non-WS earnings.</p>
<p>4oh7, you might want to check with your school re. wage levels and the availability of non-WS jobs on campus. Some schools have higher than minimum wage WS jobs and some smaller schools don’t have alot of non-WS work available. Also, with so many people laid off right now, it is getting difficult to find part-time work in many areas! The work study they’re offering you is a maximum you can earn under the program, not a minimum. You will schedule actual hours with your WS employer based on their need and your availability and have more flexibility with WS jobs than the average emplyer would tolerate.</p>
<p>As sk8rmom says - WS is taxable income for federal and State taxes. You do not pay FICA on it though.</p>
<p>
The wage may vary. Ay my daughter’s school it varies from minimum wage to higher. My daughter gets $9.54 an hour which is more than most of her friends with off campus jobs get. And her boss if very understanding about scheduling to work in with her school schedule and about conflicts, such as exams and such. she had an off campus job when she first started school (it was related to the career she was considering) and it paid less and she got very stressed by the hours. Not because there were too many hours, but because of when they were. And her boss there needed her to set her school schedule to fit in with the job schedule.</p>
<p>Plus the fact that the income is not counted against you by FAFSA is not to be sneeze at. When you think that 50% of non WS student income over protected income allowances goes to the EFC, keeping $3000 out of ‘regular income’ can be a pretty good deal.</p>
<p>My DD has had FWS since her Freshman year. While she doesn’t make much more than min. wage she has made friends with the staff and the work is VERY flexible. She works in the caf. with an older woman who has become her college grandma (her words, not mine). I’m thankfull for this woman & her loving support, she even gave my daughter a gift for making it into a national education honor society earlier this year. The extra money is nice, the hours are flexible and you don’t even have to go off campus to get to work. Win, win, if you ask me.</p>
<p>Idk I worked work study for 4 years on college and in NY state it was always completely untaxed. If I was able to work for $1600, I recived the full $1600. If I worked a hour for $7.50 I got the full $7.50</p>
<p>You won’t pay taxes if you don’t earn above the standard deduction. That doesn’t mean it’s non-taxable income. You may not have had enough hours/week or have set your W-4 in a way that did not trigger witholdings. If a student has a summer job and a significant ws allowance, it would not be dificult to make more than the $5400 or so standard deduction allows and then taxes would be due.</p>
<p>Dr. H, if you have no other income, it may below the standard deduction amount, but it is taxable income.</p>
<p>It does not count as income towards your next year’s financial aid, is one big advantage.</p>
<p>When I went to college, back in the dark ages, the WS jobs were more flexible as to hours, etc than off campus jobs. I doubt freshman could do better. My school was in a city, by the time peopel were seniors, they could do better off campus.</p>
<p>My schools website says workstudy in untaxed. maybe it depends by school.</p>
<p>Can you post a link? I strongly believe that’s incorrect. This is from the FAFSA instructions for question 46c:</p>
<p>Enter the total amount of taxable earnings that you (and your spouse) received in 2008 from Federal Work-study or other need-based work programs such as fellowships and assistantships.</p>
<p>Federal Work-study is income earned from work. This income should appear on your W-2 form and should be reported as wages in questions 39-40, whether or not you are a tax filer. Do not worry about reporting Work-study income in both places. The amounts from the Student’s Additional Financial Information fields are treated differently in the EFC calculation, and you will not be penalized.</p>
<p>Perhaps this is semantics- a work study paycheck may have no taxes deducted, most likely no FICA and perhaps no other with holding of taxes. Thus the paycheck is not taxed</p>
<p>However, the payor should generate a W2 and the income is taxable, but that will only affect the student if their over all income then requires taxes. A $2500 income in a year will not be taxed, but if you earn $3000 work study plus $5000 over the summer at home plus have some 1098T income, you will owe federal and state income taxes</p>
<p>The workstudy income and 1098T income would then be entered on the FAFSA worksheet and subtracted from the 1040 AGI to calculate financial aid, thus WS income does not affect future financial aid</p>
<p>i like the idea that my D will find a job next year( bad time to look for job!) and on top of that on campus(easy to manage with the class schedule+ possibilities of inside connections) i definitely approve work study!</p>
<p>Thanks for the input, I suppose Ill give work study a shot then</p>
<p>Me too. This was a helpful thread :)</p>
<p>Can’t you stop working in the middle of the year if it’s too much for you anyway? And just have to pay what you didn’t make.</p>
<p>Yes, you can change WS jobs (if another is available), change your schedule, or stop altogether. Obviously, treat it as any other job and give your supervisor proper notice, etc. so you don’t burn any bridges for the following year!</p>
<p>I had work study when I was in college and worked in the library 10-20 hrs/wk. The hours were extremely flexible and I ended up choosing to work late hours (more study time b/c people only came in then to study!). Of course I always had a security guard walk me back to my dorm at 2 am. It was just a regular thing - he showed up and waited for me to lock up.</p>
<p>WS has been great for DD. They are flexible with hours and she might work just 2 hours at a time. She would do more if they let her but they limit it due to funding. She works about 6-8 a week. Most are cushy jobs and some allow you to do homework while doing them. A lot of her friends did have a hard time finding openings in the beginning. Not because there weren’t jobs but because it was hard to schedule around classes. She chose classes for the next semester that were around her offered hours to make it all work. It also opened a lot of doors for her. She met people from other depts who offered her additional projects during the summer and school year. There’s no reason a student can’t do a few hours a week if it is offered.</p>