<p>Can anyone give me an idea of how big work-study awards usually are? Is this different for public and private colleges?</p>
<p>The one’s we’ve received have been 2K or 2.5K per year.</p>
<p>Probably depends on the school and the amount of need you have. My daughter received $3400 (her school’s maximum - a State U) both her freshman and sophomore years. I expect it to be less next year as she should get the SMART grant which will reduce her remaining need after scholarships and grants to less than $3400. At her school they award the max of everything else - grants, WS etc, before offering any loans.</p>
<p>The highest WS award I have seen reported on CC was around the $4000 mark or a little over.</p>
<p>My D is at a private and they award 2.5k minus any outside scholarships.</p>
<p>Ditto on the $2500/year</p>
<p>My kids have been offered anywhere from 2-3k per year.</p>
<p>Thanks, this is very helpful. I looked on a lot of college and government web sites and couldn’t find any hints.</p>
<p>My son is getting close to $5K</p>
<p>That’s a lot, FresnoMom. How many hours per week does your son work during the school year to make that much?</p>
<p>27k private school</p>
<p>Calreader - The number of hours would depend on what pay is available for different WS jobs at a particular school. At my daughter’s school the WS pay ranges from minimum wage upwards. My daughter was lucky to get a lab job that pays $9.57 an hour. She works @ 12 hours a week and will earn the full award by the end of the year or a little before. With a lower hourly paid job she would have to work more hours to earn the full award.</p>
<p>my son has nearly 4K. But we’re talking about a 50K school filling out the FA award that isn’t covered by his scholarship, my EFC, perkins loan, stafford loan and the rest is WS. Fills in the gap nicely on paper. In theory, I bet the school doesn’t think kids will earn that much, but my son started in September and stayed on campus thru most of winter break and worked full time. I don’t know if he’ll get to the full amount, but I bet he comes close. He had earned 1200 thru the end of 2008 and that didn’t include most of winter break.</p>
<p>Rice packages $1800 a year - extremely reasonable!</p>
<p>Calreader</p>
<p>My son works 8 - 20 hours per week during the semester and fulltime over the summer.</p>
<p>Fresnomom - that’s interesting. My daughter’s school does not allow WS $$s to carry over into the summer. Any $$s left over from the fall semester carry over to the spring, and she was able to work over the break. Any $$s left at the end of the spring semester are lost. Interesting to see how varied the rules are at different schools.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom</p>
<p>I’m not 100% sure, but I think my son’s fall semester work study begins June 1. </p>
<p>He obviously makes way more than his work study limit, so the only time we think about it is when we fill out the FAFSA.</p>
<p>D’s work study at her NE private LAC is $2200, but she is a Gates scholar, so the foundation gives her a check each semester to cover that amount.</p>
<p>DD has a $4000 Work Study award. Even working at the highest paying job on her campus, she will probably NOT be able to schedule enough hours to earn the full amount.</p>
<p>Mine is $1900.</p>
<p>So helpful, thanks. I’m trying to put together worksheets so students can make some predictions about how their financial aid packages might work out, and it’s helpful to know the range of possibilities.</p>