<p>This may be a hard question to answer, as I know there is bound to be a LOT of variance, but what would generally be considered a "typical" WS award per semester or year? A typical summer earnings contribution expectation (if these are indeed included as part of official FA--are they?)?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My son is at a school that uses both FAFSA and the CSS Profile. His first year they expected $1600 from summer earnings and gave him $1800 in workstudy.</p>
<p>Subsequent years they have raised the summer earnings piece to $2000. His workstudy amount has remained $1800.</p>
<p>My daughter goes to a FAFSA-only school. They do not calculate a summer earnings expectation of the students. Her workstudy award each year has been $1500.</p>
<p>There is no “typical” work study award because work study is given in a lump sum to colleges to distribute using their own criteria. However, many colleges will have information about “average” awards at their schools on the financial aid frequently asked questions page (or on the work study page, if the site is set up that way).</p>
<p>My daughter was awarded $3400 WS her first two years of school (1700 per semester). Her third she got the SMART grant so had little remaining need so got no WS, just a small amount of loans. Her upcoming 4th year she has the same 0 EFC as before but did not get the SEOG as in previous years, nor did she get WS but instead much higher loans than her first years.</p>
<p>My EFC is 0 and I get $1,000 per semester only on my awards letter. So I don’t think that there’s a typical ws. I think the school allot the amount and varies by school since other poster has 0 EFC and got more than me. Then again I’m a transfer and we get less $.</p>
<p>Question: I read in another thread that you can only work up to the amount and can’t work anymore? Is that true and can you link me to the source?
I’ve made over $1,000 in June. Got July off. Working again in August for the two ws jobs I have. Would they say I can’t work anymore? Or is summer free for all, since the total 2k is for fall and spring and there’s no summer allotment since I’m not taking summer school.</p>
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<p>If you receive a work study award, you can only earn up to the amount of that award by working at a job that pays using work study funds. This is the limit of your financial aid award. SO…if you are awarded $1800 in WS, you can only earn UP TO that amount working at a work study job. Your financial aid award is ONLY that amount.</p>
<p>The source would be YOUR financial aid award from the school. If it says your WS award is for $1800, that is the maximum amount you can earn using work study funds.</p>
<p>BUT some jobs that are work study also have college funding that can continue to pay for employees who work more hours. DD had such a job. Her job was included in the work study jobs and her first $3000 a year was paid using work study funds as stated in her financial aid award letter. BUT this job also was funded by the university and if she worked more hours than WS covered, she continued to be paid…but NOT using WS money.</p>
<p>Thanks! That makes sense.</p>
<p>Maybe “typical” wasn’t the right word–my question might be better stated as “what might be considered a ‘reasonable’ or ‘high’ amount of WS income to expect from a student?”</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses! :)</p>
<p>Awards are variable – $1800 is what my daughter got from the college she attended, but financial aid awards from other colleges were as high as $4000. In the case of work-study, more is NOT better, because the student has to earn the allotment. Neither of my kids were able to earn their full work study allotments during their first 2 years of college – it requires being fairly savvy about the types of jobs available on campus, as well as having the ability to schedule all the hours. So basically my kids started off with the lowest paying work study jobs. But the time my d. was a junior she had figured out the system, and was able to get a much higher paying job and actually work more than her full allotment in the first semester. (She got permission from financial aid to work in one semester, because she was planning to study abroad in the spring).</p>
<p>So I really have my doubts when I see an award for $4000. I think schools award those large amounts knowing that the full allotment won’t get used – the student still needs to find a work-study job, and there is no guarantee that there are enough jobs and enough hours available to fill all the awards. I do think some students will be able to earn the money, but the majority are going to have a tough time at the beginning. In addition to not really knowing where the best jobs are or how to get them – freshman are faced with the problem that many on-campus employers will rehire the same students they employed in previous years – and of course students who have found good jobs do want to keep them.</p>
<p>In answer to post #8 – I would think that $1200 would be very reasonable for a freshman, $1800 would be more typical of a college with fairly generous aid policies (more grants, less self-help).</p>
<p>D1s school had a maximum WS amount of 2k last year and it’s up to 2.6k this coming year.</p>
<p>My senior son has W/S freshman year it was only $250 so he worked in-town for pocket money - post recession of course our FAFSA looked quite different and they boosted him to $1800 and he was thrilled because there were no in-town jobs. S2 received $1500 this year for his freshman year and got a potential job lined up via e-mail this summer. Having an older brother certainly helps with the college navigation tactics and takes the burden off mom!</p>
<p>I just want to clarify something from my above post – I think a lower work-study award is better IF the school is meeting full need and limits loans – because then the dollars that are not included in work-study are offset with a higher grant. </p>
<p>In other words, I’d rather see my kid have $1000 in work study and $20,000 grant than $3000 in work study and an $18,000 grant. I saw this in action with one school that my daughter didn’t attend --they had given her one financial aid offer and then added $2000 in merit aid – when the merit aid came in, they reduced the work-study to only $200 – I’m sure that if my d. had opted for that school, she would have appreciated the extra scholarship dollars!</p>
<p>If the school does NOT meet full need, then the student will want every possible opportunity to earn more money that they can get – so more hours is better. No one is required to work all those hours – but the more that is available to you, the more options you have. Though I would also note that at schools in urban and suburban areas, there may be off-campus employment opportunities that are more lucrative in terms of earning capacity.</p>
<p>Also my school gives ws to off-campus jobs. Is that common?
I was tempted because some offers $10 an hour and again no resume and they work around class schedules. But I didn’t want to drive, especially in the snow. Only students with ws can get these jobs.</p>
<p>DS gets $1800 a year in work/study, which is an amount that can be earned with about 8-10 hours of work per week.</p>
<p>Off campus work study is with non profits. Having to drive to work will eat into the money you earn, unless you get reembursed by your school. Also, ask a student who has worked at the off campus location before if students get paid on time. Some off campus jobs are not good at paying students on time.</p>
<p>My daughter had an off campus WS job. It paid more than any of the on campus jobs. In her case the off campus job was only a mile or two from her apartment so the cost of getting there was easily offset by the higher hourly pay (though on campus would obviously be more convenient). She was paid on a regular 2 week schedule the same as any on campus job. In fact I am almost certain her time sheets went to the school and she was paid through the school. In fact now I think of it I helped her do her taxes and I know she was paid through the school. She was quite disappointed when she did not get a WS award the next year (though the grant that replaced it was nice) as she would have gone back to the same job.</p>
<p>Obviously you would need to check with your school.</p>
<p>My school pays once a month! I wish it was every two weeks, would help a lot.</p>