<p>Is there a limit? I would hope that schools would not encourage students to spend more time working than attending class but I've never heard of a ceiling on this amount. Any experience with this? Especiallly how work study might increase each year?</p>
<p>I was wondering myself. I have seen work study as low as 900.00 and as high as 2,500.00. I wonder if cost of living has something to do with it...ie schools in more expensive areas offer jobs that make more money, thus expect more? </p>
<p>Something we noticed is that at some schools 80% of the kids accept the work study and in other hardly any. Perhaps the schools where there is a high acceptance it is more easily balanced? Or maybe they are just more expensive so it is a necessity? </p>
<p>I'm curious, too.</p>
<p>Cost of living, definitely.</p>
<p>Swarthmore, a relatively intellectual and academic-oriented school in the 'burbs of Philly, has given me work study of 1,600.</p>
<p>Georgetown, right next to DC and major drinking/clubbing culture, is 3,000 work study.</p>
<p>Big difference, hour-wise.</p>
<p>Your school sets a limit, but unfortunately it's a DOLLAR limit, not an hours limit. You aren't given 400 hours of work-study, you're given up to $x of work-study. That means it's up to you to find a job that pays a lot so you don't have to work a lot of hours per week.</p>
<p>The bonus of work-study awards is that they: a) are often given with the understanding that you're a student, and so the schedules are flexible; b) only cost the employer half of what they'd normally pay you ($3000 work-study for you means $1,500 from them); c) work-study students often get first pick at choice on-campus jobs; d) you don't have to earn this if you want to come up with the money some other way.</p>
<p>I've never seen a cap on the work-study amount, which is weird to me since the other half of what gets paid to you comes from federal funding. </p>
<p>In any case, schools are usually sensible when they give you an award, and it's probably scaled to your local minimum wage rather than 'cost of living' or anything like that. Most colleges will work it so that you would never conceivably need to work more than 19 hours a week on minimum wage in order to meet it (but may also include 40-hour work weeks during breaks!).</p>
<p>Thank you! That is very helpful to know.</p>
<p>There IS a cap on my D's work study. I asked the school (Georgetown). She cannot earn more than the $3000 in work study per year.</p>
<p>Well I'm glad there is a cap, as it is calculated in as meeting our need. I worry that he won't be able to come close to 2,200...which is the average amount.</p>