<p>As far as I know, most of the colleges put work study (WS) as part of the Financial aid package. For example, COA $54,000/year, total aid $50,000/year including Grant $47,000 and WS $3,000. For a quarter system school, that is about $1000 WS per quarter the student needs to come up. </p>
<p>What if the student will not be on campus during one of the three quarters? Say that student goes study abroad for one of the quarters. </p>
<p>Many of the parents here have students who have done study abroad. How does the school handle the WS? Thanks.</p>
<p>DadII, you won’t find an universal answer to your question. </p>
<p>In general terms, the WS on your financial award represents an annual figure. For simplicity sake, schools divide the figure per quarter, trimester, or semester. Obviously, when one student is abroad, it is rather difficult to find a WS on … campus. In addition, as you know, the WS listed on the financial aid is not a guarantee that there will be a position to earn up to the WS limit. </p>
<p>All in all, I believe that you will find a lot of flexibility as long as the student does not exceed the maximum allowed per academic year. Typically, the departments who employ WS students are very familiar with the limits, and experts on maximizing the availability of students. For WS jobs outside campus, one needs to be a bit more careful.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to call the financial aid office AND the department organizing the study abroad. Call them both and then call them again or send an email to confirm what they told you. Do not be surprised to hear conflicting information the first time around. Again, as you know, it is important to clearly understand each one of the SCHOOL policy and clear up things before deciding on a course of action.</p>
<p>Also, remember that the WS doffer are pretty easy to convert into a loan. Either work or borrow!</p>
<p>Basically, the school expects the student to make $3,000 working during the school days to pay part of the total bill. But the student is not on campus therefore has no chance of making the average. The requirement of making the total of $3,000 in two quarters will put too much pressure on the student. </p>
<p>If the student can’t make that amount, it is not really fair to ask the parents to come up that extra amount.</p>
<p>The student made a choice to study abroad, and one of the consequences of that choice is the WS situation. If the parents or student aren’t willing/able to bridge the gap or take a loan, then the parents should tell the student that studying abroad is not financially possible at this time.</p>
<p>My own college expects students to replace losses in work-study income themselves, with additional loans if necessary. No extra grant-based aid for study-abroad students.</p>
<p>Similar reasoning applies to summer earning. We are expected to contribute $2,000 a year to the cost of our education from summer earnings. But what if we decide to take summer classes or travel or have a health issue that prevents us from working? Too bad. We are still responsible for coming up with those $2,000.</p>
<p>Some parents choose to help their children cover college costs, and others choose to fund family vacations to the islands. These are all choices, just as taking a semester abroad is a choice. They all have consequences. Agree totally with the posters above who said if the student chooses to study abroad and there is a cost in making this choice, well, that is the choice they made, and they live with the consequences. Either the student or the parent pays the cost if the work-study job is abandoned as a result of this choice.</p>
<p>I don’t imagine the $54,000 COA is ACTUAL costs, correct? If the loss of $1000 work study is a huge financial blow to the family, then I suppose some of the estimated personal costs (you know, the ones that you don’t actually pay to the school - and that frankly, the student can control) will need to be trimmed. Most private schools with excellent aid (as this school obviously is …) pad their COA, anyway.</p>
<p>DadII, I think you need to look at the situation from a different angle. The school is NOT asking the parents to cover the lack of WS. There is a long tradition for schools to assign the responsibility of paying for one’s education to:</p>
<p>Analyze your situation and you will see that the school is only asking the student to meet the student contribution. In addition, the school is offering the POSSIBILITY to match this through subsidized earnings or find an outside scholarship or finally borrow at reasonable terms. </p>
<p>The only way one would think this is unfair is to assume that a school will simply be responsible for all expenses. Of course, I do not blame you as this is what happens when a country endorses a system that lulls everyone to believe that magical elves will ALWAYS cover all educational expenses and well beyond the K-12. </p>
<p>Fwiw, if you believe that this is placing undue burden on the student, please look at one of the favorable loans and prepare the student to work a few weeks after graduation to retire what should be a very small debt. After all, this is what student contribution is and … should be.</p>
<p>And, if you still feel bad, rejoice in the fact that the school is actually using its financial resources and the genrosity of donors to subsidize what amounts to a glorified and extended vacation abroad. In fact, if you play your cards rights, you may find that a few savings such as not having to travel from one coast to the other, not having to fly home for Thanskgiving, and spending less on books. </p>
<p>PS And, no, the work study won’t include travel costs for the parents. :)</p>
<p>At S1’s school, if one is on study abroad for a quarter, the student does not get a work-study grant for that entire year. They will not hold a W/S position open til winter quarter for a student who is overseas in the fall.</p>
<p>Your D is fortunate to be in a position where she can consider going overseas. If it costs her $1,000 in lost wages, that is part of the cost/benefit calculation for the family to make in determining whether she should go.</p>
<p>"… this is what happens when a country endorses a system that lulls everyone to believe that magical elves will ALWAYS cover all educational expenses and well beyond the K-12. "</p>
<p>I so want to print this out & hang it next to my desk at work! I work in financial aid & have had a number of students recently who have ranted about the fact that they have no money & the government won’t give them more money for school. One student told me how President Obama said there was lots of Pell money available, so he wanted his share (even though his EFC is too high for Pell). I asked him where he thought the Pell tree grew — but I like the magical elves idea better than the tree! ;)</p>
<p>When my daughter studied abroad in the spring, she used up her full work study grant (got the total award), working in the fall. She did that by finding a higher-paying work-study job with flexibility to allow extra hours – she made whatever arrangements were needed with the financial aid department so that she could take her full year’s allotment in one semester.</p>
<p>And… as others have noted … it never was or became my problem. It was my daughter’s. Maybe kids who don’t have the motivation and ability to figure out how to earn extra money to finance study abroad, if needed, really don’t need to be studying abroad.</p>
<p>Dad II, can you see how some people might be a bit bothered by the assumption that your daughter “should” be able to study abroad but that the college should pick up the expenses / not require her to make her normal student contribution, when she is already getting an extremely generous package from one of the premier institutions in the country?</p>
<p>*The requirement of making the total of $3,000 in two quarters will put too much pressure on the student. *</p>
<p>Why? that is only $500 more per qtr. Work study jobs for my kids have paid as much as $15-$18hr.- if that is really so hard to come up with, there is summer work- ( which wouldn’t be part of finaid and so would count as income.
If the only contribution the student is making towards the cost of her own education is through work study, it is easy to realize that accepting a Stafford loan is a reasonable next step.</p>
<p>Wow, this turns ugly fast. Some of the folk really knows how to answer a simple question. Please be nice. </p>
<p>First and foremost, we are very grateful to the wonderful FA we are getting from all the great colleges.</p>
<p>secondly the numbers I gave in OP were just for examples. O.k.? Calm down. We are NOT going to Hawaii this year. O.k. That was just an idea and/or a plan. W/ two kids going to colleges, we are lucky if we have beans to eat. </p>
<p>Thirdly, this “only those who could afford could go study abroad concept” is new to me. I guess I got the point now. may be a loan is an option. </p>
<p>Come on, for those who knows who I am ( I suspect there are quite a few of you). You know that none of my kids are going study abroad this year. This is just a pure planning. I like to plan things out.</p>
<p>DadII, the beauty of having someone asking questions is that the lurkers who do not dare to ask are … helped. One of the greatest benefits is to clear up misconceptions. </p>
<p>In this case, do you want explaining what you mean by there is a student contribution on TOP of this WS amount? I’d like for you to take a closer analysis on the two sides of financial aid, perhaps as you would look at the books of a company. There are assets and liabilities. There is capital. There are expense and there is income. </p>
<p>While I am sure you understand how the parental contributions are determined by your EFC and the final interpretation of the school. You do know that your share has to come from your earnings, your savings, or your ability and desire to borrow. This is your part. In turn, the student will be assessed on past earnings and savings. In addition, many schools require an additional contribution that is usually identical for everyone. Of course, this is built-in for the lucky(or unlucky) families who pay in full. </p>
<p>To meet this fixed contribution, the school does OFFER a number of jobs that are usually subsidized. This is part of your financial HELP. It may sound weird that offering a job through WS is actually a form of help, but it is. The student contribution is an additional liability to be met, just as the parental contribution is.</p>