Work study vs. part time job

<p>Hey, is it best to keep a part time job in college or just have work study? I know it would be better to have a work study job on campus because if you didnt have a car it would be eaiser to work, but a part time job is more money. Can you have to work study jobs? What would be easier and give a little more money?</p>

<p>Depends on the school.</p>

<p>At mine, work study is only allowed if you're eligable for financial aidThe jobs generally aren't any different from part time jobs, just the way they distribute pay is different.</p>

<p>Well if you wait tables you would make mad tips and more than likely just work part time. However, it looks nice on a resume that you did work study because you can make things sound professional.</p>

<p>i am going to disagree with merlinjones.</p>

<p>i think if you have a part time job off campus, it will look much better on a resume than if you had a job on campus doing work study, especially if it's working for a big name company. just because a future employer will see it's not something done at school, or because it was for "work study". Even if it's working for a retail store like J Crew or Banana Republic, it'll always look better than working for "(College Name)'s Cafeteria" or "(College Name)'s Library"</p>

<p>Well it is as cool, liek0806. We both live in totally different areas of the country, so what is professional in TN is probably really basic in Southern California. It is cool, because I do not want any "hateration in this dancerie" as Mary J. would say:)</p>

<p>well I'm not eligible for financial aid, so I can't do work study. Its an awesome option because they work around your school schedule, though.</p>

<p>I don't know much about the work study programs at the different schools. At some schools the work study you earn isn't factored into determining your financial aid next year so that's a plus. I would say it also looks good for resumes and could build networks. It really depends on what kind of job you can get and the pay.</p>

<p>liek0806, I doubt a big name working company would hire a college student who has never worked before for a part-time job.</p>

<p>True "work-study", where your wages are subsidized, are nice since your employer is only paying half for you, and so is more willing to be flexible, etc. That being said, wages on campus can be lower than off, or the reverse could be true, depending on what kind of area your campus is in. The best thing to do is look around when you get there, or e-mail your campus' career center and just ask about what opportunities there are.</p>

<p>A part-time job is better for numerous reasons. One being that you don't have a limit on the amount of money you can make. You can make as much as your willing to work. If your school is anything like mine, then they will have plenty of on campus, flexible jobs that allow you to work around your schedule.</p>

<p>Um, dudes, I don't know how work-study works for you guys, but here (UCLA) work study IS a part time job. If you're eligible for work study, you have to go find your own part time job (doesn't have to be on campus - hell, you could go work at Ralphs or Gap if you wanted to), have your employer fill out the paperwork, and you're set. Your employer will be able to bill the government for up to the amount of work study you were given as part of your financial aid package, then anything you work over that, they pay all of. Its just like a regular job because it IS a regular job. Work study jobs are no more likely to be "flexible" or whatever than anything else.</p>

<p>vicissitudes</p>

<p>by big name company that can easily be bank of america, citi bank, ups, which all look good on a resume, just because they are well known big companies/corporations. </p>

<p>you assume i'm talking about a big corporate position, but I never said that. you can work in a customer service, teller position, or whatever, and it'll always look better than a library position at "So and So" university. </p>

<p>"so and so" university is going to be on your resume when you graduate, why in the world would you want to have it twice(under work experience and education), when you can impress a future employer with "so and so" university under education, and "so and so" company under work experience.</p>

<p>either of which looks 100 times better than none. i know a lot of kids who had a hard time getting that first job because of their lack of experience even though they had close to a 4.0 in gpa for their major. it doesn't matter if you work at the library or if you work at the gap or mcdonalds. just get a job that shows responsibility and you will be better for it in the long run</p>

<p>Won't employers consider what the nature of the work-study job is? Since some work-study jobs can be a lot more challenging than serving fast food.</p>

<p>ummm no. one good thing about work study jobs is that you can do homework and study. the bad thing is they only give you a limited amount of hours which equates to low pay.</p>

<p>they only let me work about 8 hours a week at 8 dollars an hour.</p>

<p>Not all work-study arrangements were created alike. The business at UCLA is the first I've heard of that method; from what I understood, because work-study was federally funded, it had quite a few restrictions.</p>

<p>In any case, in all three colleges I've had experience with work-study at, the options were not limited to campus grunt work. My first work study job was acting as proctor for the Disabled Student Services program in the social science department; my second was working as a theater technician for the main stage on campus. My third was working as an educator at a museum downtown, where I worked with animals and set up educational programs for visiting schools.</p>

<p>So don't knock it until you look.</p>

<p>That said, make sure you do look. At Cal, the wages paid to work-study students are MUCH better than anything you could get working part-time retail; the only restriction is your award (and the 20hr/wk cap, though that's negotiable). Elsewhere, you might have a fantastic opportunity to work with something you couldn't possibly do through campus. If you find a non-profit you like, feel free to be proactive and see your school's policy on petitioning your work-study funds to go there; employers do tend to be a little more flexible because half or more of your wage is being paid by someone else (the government, in this case).</p>

<p>8 dollars an hour is good for work study btw. pretty good</p>

<p>My S's experience with work study was minimum wage at $5.15 per hour.
He's planning to skip work study to find a job off campus where he knows of friends who made lots more money, primarily waiting tables (in New Orleans, jobs are paying pretty well right now).</p>

<p>However, I was unaware of the option a poster mentioned above....that ANY employer could be a "work-study" employer. Seems like the paperwork might bog things down though??</p>

<p>Any employer can be a work study employer, you have to do some research for how to set it up though. My boyfriend is currently in law-school and he got offered an unpaid internship this past summer at a DA's office. He set it up with work study and wound up getting paid $8/hr for as many hours as he needed.</p>

<p>Maybe it should be rephrased, any willing employer can be a work study employer, because I imagine there is a bunch of paperwork and the willingness to deal with someone who can only make $XXXX in one year, before they have to stop working. I'm currently talking to someone at a nonprofit about working there and it would be paid for with work study money, but they seem much less enthusiastic now that they realize I can only make $1500 for the whole year. =/</p>