<p>What has been the experience of your kids with work study programs at their colleges? Has it been worth while or would they have been better off with off campus jobs?</p>
<p>Work study jobs are very flexible in terms of hours and they often provide opportunities to work with profs on research. My daughter got the idea this past fall that she could make more money getting a job waiting tables at a local cafe & she turned down her work study spot... she lasted 1 day and came back to the work study fold, but she ended up finding a much improved work study job where the pay was better. So part of it is a matter of getting the right job. She planned to study abroad, and was able to earn her full year's allotment of about $2,000 during fall semester alone, with a research or cataloging job that she really enjoyed doing. </p>
<p>I'd say that the student should take whatever is available and best meets their needs, whether it is on or off campus. When my son transfered to a CSU, he did not qualify for or receive financial aid his first year, but he got a half-time position with an outside agency (Americorps). One of his areas of responsibility was to recruit people to volunteer in the schools, and he did a lot of the recruiting on his college campus -- so he was able to combine work and school very effectively. </p>
<p>Depending on what sort of outside work may be available, there is no reason why a student cannot do both. For example, my d. also does bartending/catering work via a campus agency; the hourly rate is well above her work-study rate, but she is under no obligation to work any jobs other than the ones she chooses to sign up for.</p>
<p>My D has a work study job. She pretty much invented the job (art studio monitor) and the school said sure, go for it. She was granted $1200 for each semester and earned less than 600, due to her own scheduling difficulties. She made up her own work hours based on when she had a good chunk of time. It will be similar for the current semester. The good thing for her was that she didn't have to go through an application process or anything else competitive, because the school already has the money for her. As I understand it, the school is not paying her salary, or at least not the whole thing. It comes from the government. And since she didn't earn the full amount, probably not much at all came from the school.</p>
<p>Both of my sons have work study jobs. S#1's job has evolved into a management position. S#2 is able to do some of the computer work in his dorm room.</p>
<p>Both are paid $12 - $15 per hour. It's been wonderful.</p>
<p>My S works about 8 hours per week at a desk in the school's library through work study. It works great for him. Very convenient, he gets the hours he wants to work but I think it only pays $7.50/hour. He loves it.</p>
<p>My college work study job was in the library. It was a great job because I could do my homework and get paid for it.<br>
My son does not have work study and at his school it is very difficult for a non work study student to obtain an on campus job.</p>
<p>D's school limits frosh to certain work-study jobs and also sets a lowere hours/income capt for frosh (presumably to prevent them from over-extending themselves as they make the transition to college). After freshman year, students can choose from a wide range of positions, a number of which pay very well (model for art class pays about $16/hr, if you don't mind getting naked).</p>
<p>DD has work study but her job is also a regular campus job...so if she exceeds work study funds, she can continue to work and get paid. In some places, you are only allowed to earn the max work study award and if you exceed that...and your job is work study funded ONLY...you are done. She also has the highest paying job on her campus...$12 per hour...but it was a highly competitive and sought after position with a very aggressive application, and interview process. She is very lucky. Next year, she probably won't qualify for work study (it's a need based award and since her brother won't be in college, we won't probably have need) so it's nice she can continue.</p>
<p>The hard thing is finding a job that has the number of hours to earn your maximum award. </p>
<p>DS never had work study but ALWAYS worked 8-10 hours a week off campus in a job that was very flexible.</p>
<p>My daughter's WS is off campus at a government lab (I guess as it is government it comes under the 'community service' definition for WS purposes). She is paid just under $10 an hour which is more than most of her friends make in non WS jobs. Her supervisor is very flexible and understanding about scheduling - basically when she sets her academic schedule she can schedule her WS hours around her schedule (not always the case with non WS jobs). When it comes to any academic conflicts or exam and test time he is very understanding about that too. So for her WS has been great.</p>
<p>She did have a non WS job when she first started college. She had to set her school schedule to fit in with the hours the job wanted. The hours made her get quite stressed out, not because they were an excessive amount but because the timing of them. She has been much happier with the WS job.</p>
<p>Also remember when comparing WS to non WS, that non WS earnings may increase the EFC in subsequent years, WS earnings will not (they are taxable but are removed from income in the EFC formula).</p>
<p>On-campus jobs, whether work-study or not, can be good since they're nearby, they usually are flexible to accommodate mid-terms/finals/etc., they sometimes pay better than outside jobs (some campuses have a 'campus minimum wage' that's higher than outside), and they can sometimes get jobs that use skills they're learning in their major. They also can connect at a different level with various profs and other campus staff depending on the particular job.</p>
<p>I love work-study. In addition to the flexibility work-study jobs have around school schedules, there are some really cool opportunities that are only available to students who have work-study awards.</p>
<p>For example, I worked at a museum and got to help with the upkeep of animals (iguana, black widows, gopher snake, leopard geckos, hissing cockroaches, etc.), give lessons about museum exhibits to groups of children, help a curator with cataloging work, and help with visiting exhibits/events. It was by far the coolest job I've ever had, and being a work-study student was the only way to get involved outside of volunteering or having the advanced degrees in Museum Studies.</p>
<p>I'm going to reiterate everything folks here have said. I loved work-study. It offered flexibility to on-campus employment and employers knew how to work around your schedule. It's money the federal government is paying you to go to school. While the pay is mostly minimum wage (and higher for more advanced skills), the experience will definitely help you after college. You can put it on your resume (if it's a office/research position) when it's time to get an entry-level job.</p>
<p>Ditto ditto. The benefits are there. But I don't like my job as an administrative assistant because of some things, including a busybody staff member which sometimes makes me feel like my job's on the line for that day.</p>
<p>When I looked for a work-study position, I tried to find those that offered good pay and LOTS of hours in order to reach $1,500 per semester (before taxes).</p>
<p>The best work-study jobs are these two: monitoring (because you can get your homework done) and skills-training (like mine) to boost the resume.</p>
<p>The other big benefit sometimes - some of the jobs allow the student to do homework if they're not otherwise busy - i.e. if they're doing a 'monitoring' job, IT help-desk job, res-hall desk, parking, etc.</p>
<p>It really depends on the college and the job. It's a wonderful experience for many kids because of the convenience in hours, tax advantages, the fact that you can exclude the income on the financial aid apps, convenience in locale, relevance to study. </p>
<p>The biggest problem with work study is if a kid already has an off campus job in mind to come up with some of the EFC. To be awarded work study takes away from that option.</p>
<p>My daughter worked food service. In addition to her pay, she got free meals before each shift. That allowed her to downsize her meal plan to the minimum. She signed up for the minimum number of shifts, and picked up extra shifts when she had time.</p>
<p>Work Study is fabulous! Off campus jobs can be too but in my experience the WS jobs (esp for freshmen) are meatier and more interesting and give the student a better overall experience. My freshman year I worked in the field house, big fun w/ the added perk that we were able to do our own laundry on the job. I also worked as an usher for the Arts and lectures series on campus which spun off into working as wait staff for functions at the Provosts and Chancellors homes. </p>
<p>My off campus jobs were restaurant work and retail sales. Nothing to write home about.</p>
<p>Gee, my daugher was having difficulty finding a WS job on her campus. 1st semester she was having a difficult time with chemistry so we opted to forgo the WS, so she can keep up with tutor and extra help with the TA and professors but now, this semester she is telling me she can't find a job. Hmmm.</p>
<p>Milk and sugar I think the work is harder to come by on smaller campuses. My ws was on a UC campus somaybe your girl is having a tougher time.</p>
<p>She is at a large university 20,000 students. I think I wll have to be way more forceful about finding a job.</p>