@thumper1 OK I’ll buy that.
It’s not unusual at all. I had two different off campus WS jobs.
Maybe it’s more common in bigger cities than in more rural locations.
^ Depends on school. Older D had work study at small LAC and some of the jobs including community program type jobs. But most jobs were clerical, dorm front desk, etc.
The big plus to WS, IMHO, is the flexibility. Those bosses understand you may not be able to work full week due to midterms and might not expect you to be there over Thanksgiving or winter breaks. Kids I’ve known with off campus (non WS)jobs were often expected to be there over breaks, etc. But certainly depends on job.
@scmom12 when you say “those bosses” are you referring to the on campus ones or the WS ones? Because the off campus ones discussed here are WS as well.
^^Sorry. Edited to avoid confusion. The WS bosses (on or off) more understanding and flexible than off campus non-WS employers - local retail, food places, etc.
Bottom line, with D’s WS bosses, she could call the day of and say “I have a big paper due, can I shift hours?” and it was ok. Not sure businesses around town that flexible if you had a food server shift for example.
@soontobecolleger As previously mentioned, work study earnings are not counted toward your income allowance on the FAFSA, however, you mentioned saving up your money to pay for your later years of college. It’s my understanding that if you have not spent those work study earnings, they will count as an asset and affect your future FAFSA award.
As far as earning above your work study amount, every school is different. My son was awarded $2500 in work study. His school website says that he can continue working once he passes that amount. He will not be working enough to reach the limit though.
Hmmm… @kelsmom do work study assets get excluded from the fafsa formula? I thought any financial aid not used was not counted as an asset.
@uwalummom I plan to spend all WS money on tuition ASAP. It’s the additional money I will be saving up to count toward tuition my junior and senior years. And that comment was mostly written to indicate that I’m not worried about affording Freshman year.
It appears that there are a handful of non WS jobs on campus, so I might be able to get one of those.
Any unused financial aid is excluded from assets.