<p>My S is at a very small LAC and they have ample work study jobs available.</p>
<p>DD in grad school was fortunate to get a work study RAship, funding the research work she needed to do for her advisor.</p>
<p>DD at a large flagship public worked for the same dept for the first three years, including working from home or abroad over the summer & breaks minding their email and also graciously providing me answers to the questions posed on this board since she worked in the scholarship office.</p>
<p>Due to internship comflicts she did not keep the job this year, but has already picked up $12/hr temp work for her former supervisor who is now in a new community based program and needed clerical help for kick off, so she has two great references and good community service covered on her resume.</p>
<p>D3 at a very small LAC had no luck finding a job first term, but come January, after a great all As start she has apparently proved herself and is her major depts gofer girl working every day an hour or two for whomever needs her. Plus she picked up a cashier job on campus, so once she proved herself worthy the jobs materialised (she had done plenty of asking and spreading the word)</p>
<p>It is perfect in that it does not affect ones EFC and is flexible to the students schedule</p>
<p>Sometimes WS can be part of the degree requirement. At my Daughter's school, music majors are required to attend 12 recitals (audience for class mates, and to be familiar with the process). Well, you can get a job as an usher, including recitals. So, why not get paid to do you what you have to do.</p>
<p>DD has a great work study office job where she basically answers the phone and does some paperwork. The only problem is they limit the hours and she has only been able to earn half of her initial award. She feels fortunate as several of her friends still have not found work study jobs. I have checked the site myself and do see it is difficult to find jobs. Frosh cannot have cars and there's not much around campus so I'm sure that makes it more difficult. From a FA standpoint and for taxes, it's a great deal.</p>
<p>My daughter signed up for a work-study job her first semester/term. I thought things were going well, but over Winter Break I found out that at first she was scheduled for 8-10 hours a week, in October her hours were cut to 4 hours a week, and in November/December she was only scheduled for 2 hours a week. She only earned about 1/3 of the money we thought she would - and she was afraid to tell me about it - and she thought she had no control over the situation.</p>
<p>Over the break, she communicated with some of her professors and schoolmates about it (at my encouragement). She was basically told she'd been given an extremely raw deal, that isn't how work-study is supposed to operate. The guy she'd been working for also got into some hot water when the new session began because it 'got around' and it was discovered he'd given my daughters hours to another student - who ended up earning WAY more than they were supposed to earn.</p>
<p>She found another job, which is going well, and paying more per hour (and the number of hours each week don't change). She is even still working the 2 hours a week for the other guy ("for now" she says). It is likely that she will make what she is supposed to for this session, and it seems like the school is allowing her to "make up" some of the lost time from last term.</p>
<p>For her, working off campus would be a real struggle. She doesn't drive, and public transportation is okay - but not the best in this area. Her school is very secure, but the surrounding neighborhood is full of crime (last fall, a man was shot at one of the bus stops that line the campus). I really would worry if she wanted to work off campus, especially if it meant she'd be returning after dark.</p>
<p>I know a lot of people who really liked the work-study program at their school. I think my daughter's initial experience is the exception, not the rule. I think that if there is a problem, the student needs to speak up and get the problem resolved.</p>
<p>My D liked her WS -- at a campus research lab -- so much, she continued doing it over a summer on a volunteer basis. That extended lab experience then helped her land a very interesting, paid internship at a highly prestigious research hospital. For her, WS is paving the way to some outstanding opportunities.</p>
<p>To second UCLADad's comment: her roommate got a very low-key WS position which enabled her to study on the job, as result of which she had one of her best semesters ever.</p>
<p>S has a work-study job, but it's just as a food service cashier paying something like $8.50 per hour.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is his first real job, he needs the money, and I'm happy he has it.</p>
<p>I'm hoping that down the road he finds a work-study job that is more interesting and provides him with some valuable experience. In the meantime, he is learning what it's like to earn a paycheck, which is a good thing.</p>
<p>I wish I could have a work study job to use up some of my free time, but I'm not allowed because I don't need financial aid. A lot of the work study jobs at my school are pretty cushy...sit at the info desk, at the library circulation desk, at the sports center desk/in the cardio or weight room and they do homework or whatever they want the entire time. Some of them do have actual work...a friend of mine is a history major so her work study job is working in the archives.</p>
<p>^^ Aren't there any on-campus non-WS jobs available?</p>
<p>WS is a great deal, but paid internships off campus can be more lucrative if you can find them. Also, GA Tech offers a co-op program that is very cool:
Georgia</a> Tech :: Division of Professional Practice :: Undergraduate Cooperative Education Program
Perhaps some other schools have similar options??</p>
<p>
[quote]
^^ Aren't there any on-campus non-WS jobs available?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No, pretty much everything's for work study. You can't even access the online campus job listings unless you're eligible for work study.</p>
<p>please forgive me for asking a simple question here: Do you have to apply to a WS job or the school assigns one to you? </p>
<p>Is it like any other job that the student has to apply, interview, etc to get one? When does the list of available WS job posted? Is it the earlier one could apply the better?</p>
<p>thank you.</p>
<p>Yes, it is like any other job that the student has to apply and interview for. When the list is available depends on the school. Yes, the earlier you apply the better chance you have of getting a good job.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, there are jobs only for WS students, and there are other jobs anyone could apply. All of those jobs are posted online and require interviews. My daughter applied before orientation and started working the first week of class. Most of her friends didn’t get a job until second semester of first year, but there was more competition.</p>
<p>I think most of the time, it’s up to the students to “find” the job. Good places to start are the library, their dorm (each one usually needs to staff a student at the reception desk), the drama-performing arts type dept. (to work selling/taking tickets, doing set-ups, etc), even their department major (though these jobs are often snatched up by students other than freshman) and of course cafeteria related jobs. The first couple mentioned are great because they USUALLY aren’t too demanding and allow students to study “on the job”. </p>
<p>Definitely don’t wait for the job to come to you.</p>
<p>There are tons of non-ws jobs at my son’s school. He tutored last year and a semester before that. Sometimes noone shows up and he can just study. Sometimes it is mobbed. The tutoring center operates on the school’s calendar and there aren’t any logistical issues.</p>
<p>He had to go after this job (I encouraged him to). He just had to walk in and fill out a few forms. Campus jobs can also help in securing other jobs down the road, on or off campus.</p>
<p>S has gotten a job on campus & in his department, doing research in EE. It is a NON-W/S job but I believe it is awarded based on merit & he did apply for it. I’m hoping D may be able to get a similar situation in her cinema field, but who knows?</p>
<p>Back in the day when I had W/S, there were long lists of different W/S jobs that you could browse among. Those who applied earliest & had the best credentials tended to get the “plum” offerings. I was able to get a lot of fascinating jobs in W/S–checking names of folks in the dorm as they came to meals, working in a department library/resource room (that I majored in), and working for the associate provost–reviving honor societies.</p>
<p>I have a much-younger brother who is currently in his fifth year studying computer science at a large state university. He started his job maintaining an academic department’s computer network as work-study. In his Junior year, they made him a manager. Since then, he works 30 hours a week, and they pay for 10 credit hours a quarter. It will take him six years to graduate, but when he does, he will already have three years’ relevant work experience, and because of the extra money, he lives much better than the average student. Not bad for something that started out as a way to avoid taking out loans!</p>