Ok I’m not really sure what my question is because it’s more of a general confusion.
All of the jobs I see associated with my college only pay students who are “work study eligible” which I am, but I am confused by the amount given. They said I can can only make up to this amount for the year. But some of the jobs I’m looking at have a certain pay rate and hours they need you for. What happens when I’ve already made my max amount at that job? Do they make me stop working? Or will they reduce my weekly hours based on my work study amount?
I’m assuming it works similarly at most colleges…
My college is making us wait a long time to find out this kind of stuff and it’s stressing me out, especially cuz there are jobs I can start applying for now.
Some jobs are funded with federal work study money only. When you have earned your allotted amount for the term or year, you will not be able to work additional hours unless your employer can secure more funds.
Some jobs are funded with federal work study monies...and also have money allocated from university funds. In that case, when your work study allotment is earned, you can continue to work and be paid out of university funds.
Some colleges have college work study funds. Again...usually once these are earned,..you can't continue to work and collect work study monies.
What is your work study allotment? My kid had work study, and she was barely able to earn the amount allocated to her during the academic year…and she was working at the highest paying WS job on her campus.
How many hours do you think you will be working a week? My kid seldom worked more than 10 hours a week. It was all she was scheduled to do.
My allotment was 2700 for the school year, and one of the jobs I want to apply for pays $12/hour (not uncommon for many of the jobs I was looking at) about 10 hours/week. (School year is about 35 weeks not including break, so that would come out to 1500 above my max if I was actually allowed to work that much)
I’m also worried because my mom got a job and my sister will graduate from college next year, so the EFC will go up and then the Work Study amount will probably drop right? I really don’t want my earning potential to be limited because of that, but it seems like that’s what will happen. I’m looking into an online tutoring thing, but it doesn’t pay so well, and it’s not a sure thing.
The jobs I was looking at are off campus. I’m sure there are other ones but they won’t be posted through my school, so I’ll do some extra research if it comes to that I guess.
Also, online it shows that you work 30 weeks. Based on that I’m not allowed to work the weekly amount for that job. Calculator said 7.5 hrs max. I should still apply though, right? In the app, they ask for the WS amount, so I guess they’ll just turn me away for that if they want.
Usually they allow flexible work schedule. That means you may work different number of hours each week. You can easily be excused if you have a project due or need to study for exams.
@thumper1 I’m not sure I understand the second part of that. Do you mean that it will not be reduced next year? Or just that they won’t use my WS earnings as a basis for increasing my expected contribution next year?
Your work study earnings are not considered when the school calculates your need based aid,
There is NO WAY to predict what your WS award will be in subsequent years. That is largely dependent on a few things. First…family income. Second family assets. And also…remember that WS is NOT a guaranteed form of need based aid. Colleges get a limited amount of federal work study funds, and award these on a first come, first served basis. I’ve know students who submitted their FAFSA the day it became available for submission…and were too far back innthe queue to get the award.
I will say…my kid’s WS award was very consistent from year to year…although we never did figure out how she qualified in the first place. I guess we were “needy” relative to other applicants.
@thumper1 One last question… I was under the impression that the money from work study goes directly toward tuition, but some site online says that you get it as a paycheck just like any other job, which I guess means that it would go into my student checking account. Is this true? I’d prefer to give it all toward the tuition if possible and use a fraction of my other earnings/savings if need be.
In most cases, your earnings from work study are given the same way as any other job…either direct deposit to your bank account…or by check to you.
I believe there are some colleges that will allow you to send work study earnings to the bursar account for future expenses.
In any event…work study money is NOT seen by you in any way shape or form…until you earn it.
Once you receive your earnings…you can spend it on your tuition if you so choose. But probably your first semester tuition is going to need to be paid well before your work study job even begins!
I’m not worried about first semester tuition. My aid package plus family savings covers the first 2-3 years. I’m just saving up for the debt that will accumulate after that point.
Off campus work study jobs? Are they still through the university? That’s quite unusual to have a whole bunch of off campus jobs be work study. Most work study jobs are on campus, in the library, at cafeterias, for professors.
Get a job, see what the hours are. If you can work 10 hours per week for 11 weeks at @12/hr, you’ll make $1320 per semester, $2640 per year. Those who hire for work study jobs understand that and won’t expect more.
If you lose your work study in later years you can get a regular job.
@twoinanddone there seem to be quite a few off campus ones, yeah. Maybe they are taking advantage of the fact that the school is in a suburb of a big city? One that I’m particularly interested in is a national program that happens to hire work study students (and accepts volunteers) from a few different universities in the state (including mine). I guess in that way, it is through the university? I’m not too sure about the other ones.
