<p>What is a "doable" amount to expect of work study.
I just got a finaid package, and they say about 1800/year is what they expect from work study...how doable is that?</p>
<p>I'm willing to work super hard, but I don't know how much a work study normally is</p>
<p>I think the general recommendation for a freshman is 10 hours a week or less. Here in California, an $1,800 award would work out to about 7.5 hours a week over 30 weeks. That should be doable. If your state has a lower minumum wage, it might be more hours.</p>
<p>That’s quite “doable” and about what my son is doing this year. If you figure $8 an hour which is about average for most of the W/S jobs… with a 15 week semester it’s alittle less than 10 hours a week or if you are going to take summer classes you can “stretch” it out if it’s OK with finaid and work a few less hours per week. You can do the math for however your college semester/quarters are configured. The variety of jobs can fit your schedule, but it’s usually first come first serve and sometimes the funner jobs get snagged by the upperclassmen/women. The library jobs, the “office” jobs, art gallery and such are prime because generally there is downtime and the kids can study. The cafeteria jobs you work much harder usually. Sometimes they look for someone in the major. My son really wanted a job two years ago watering the plants in the greenhouse…but they picked a bio major…and I’m cross-posting…</p>
<p>Should be pretty doable. WS jobs have to pay at least minimum wage and may be more depending on the job. Last year my daughter was lucky enough to score one of the higher paying WS jobs at her school (around $9.50ish an hour) and earned her full WS award of $3400 working 12 hours a week.</p>
<p>You’ll want to see this page.</p>
<p>[Smith</a> College: Student Financial Services](<a href=“http://www.smith.edu/finaid/fao/studemp.php]Smith”>http://www.smith.edu/finaid/fao/studemp.php)</p>
<p>You are capped at 10 hours a week. The minimum way rate is $8.25. Most colleges are in session for 30 weeks.</p>
<p>1800/8.25 = 219 (rounded up)
219/30 = 7.3</p>
<p>So, you need to work a little over seven hours a week if you want to collect your full $1800. And that’s only if you take a minimum wage job. If you look around, you may be able to find a chart of pay scales. For example, Stanford has a pay scale that graduates for year of student (1-4) and level of duty (1-3), starting at $11.30 per hour and maxxing at $16.25 per hour.</p>
<p>Thanks sooo very much to all the responses!!</p>
<p>Rocket…</p>
<p>Did you get accepted to Smith! How is the FA package??</p>
<p>Bowdoin does not include WS in the aid package (only grants, which is nice), but letter S received said WS is open to all and 1st years are expected to earn $1800 during school year (at min. $7.75/hr.). Summer savings from earnings then expected to be $2300. S will be playing a sport, so hope is that WS can be concentrated in the portion of the year that isn’t his main season.</p>
<p>
While this may be true for Smith college it is not the same for all schools. At my daughter’s school they like them to be available for more than 10 hours a week. The average is 15 to 20 hours. And the minimum wage for WS by federal rules is minimum wage, which is not $8.25 in all states (it is $7.25 in our state). Several WS jobs at my daughter’s school pay minimum wage. </p>
<p>Some schools award higher WS which would be hard to earn at 10 hours a week. My daughter’s school awards a max of $3400 (which she was able to earn working 12 hours a week). Other posters have reported awards in the $4000 range. Each school will vary, so check with your school.</p>
<p>R6l,</p>
<p>Yes, 1800 is doable. Congrats on Smith!!</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, I realize that is not the same for all schools. Rocket is going to Smith, as far as I’ve been able to discern. Hence, I used Smith. I checked her school for her rather than giving general advice.</p>
<p>I was pointing out for any other students reading the thread that the Smith example does not apply to all schools. (I, for instance, had no idea that Rocket was going to Smith so read your post as a blanket statement about WS).</p>
<p>My Dd averaged about $2000-$2500 each of her 4 years, though she was able to make up some hours covering internet correspondence over summers & breaks.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that buying power is dropping. What $8 would buy just 3 years ago is less than what it will buy today (for Pete’s sake, some boxes of cereal are over $5!). So another path is to consume less. See where you can trim costs and maybe you won’t need to work so many hours.</p>
<p>The great thing about a recession is the near-zero inflation, Olymom. ;)</p>
<p>My daughter was awarded $1500 in workstudy, and will earn all of that working an average of about 7 hours a week. However, she doesn’t spend as much as she earns, so she could get by with working less. My son was awarded $1800 in workstudy, meant to be his personal expenses money, but he spends far less than that so has chosen to also work less. He’s only working 4 hours a week and will not earn the full amount he was awarded.</p>
<p>Good advice about going after a workstudy jobs EARLY. Really as soon as you get there. Both my kids got really good jobs doing that. Have some resumes ready so as soon as you get on campus you can start applying.</p>