<p>i have a question about work study. It says on my college financial aid thing that i am give $2800 on work study. How does that actually work? if i do the work study i will get $2800 and if i don't i will have to pay that $2800 as a part of my tuition? is that how it works? some people told me that work study is totally to my benefit, and i don't have to pay that portion of fee even if i don't do work study and if i do, that amount is just to help me pay off loan. what if i'm not taking any loan?</p>
<p>You have to find, apply for, and get a WS job. If you get a WS job then you get paid depending on the pay rate for the job and the number of hours you work. You will get the money in a paycheck (at my daughter’s school the pay check is paid every 2 weeks). </p>
<p>Most students use the WS income to pay for personal expenses or toward rent if they live off campus or for food etc. As the money is paid to you throughout the semester based on your hours, it is not usually received in time to pay direct charges such as tuition and fees. Those direct charges will still have to be paid, but probably from some source other than the WS income.</p>
<p>
No, that is completely wrong. All fees still have to be paid. Usually they will have to be paid from some source other than WS as they are usually due before you will receive your WS income.</p>
<p>The way work-study works is simple: you find a work-study job on campus, you apply, get the job, work and they pay you a paycheck for the amount you worked during that pay period. In the school year, you are allowed to work up to the maximum award. </p>
<p>Work-study funds do not get credited to your loan. They do not get credited to your school bill for billable costs (like tuition, fees, room and board). You have to come up with the $ for billable costs through cash, grants, scholarships and loans. You can use work-study for your walking around $, to help you get home at the end of the year and maybe, if you work a lot and save it, for books after the first semester.</p>
<p>The great thing about work study is that it’s money that you don’t have to pay, and money that you don’t have to borrow. The school is giving you a chance to earn that amount of money over the school year. </p>
<p>I believe (swimcatsmom can correct me if I’m wrong) that generally, work study jobs are on-campus and the school will be your employer. This means that you don’t have to go out into the community and try to find a job; the FA office will be able to tell you about jobs on campus and you apply through them. Also, work study jobs are often “easy” jobs, you don’t have to commute, and the schedule will be worked around your classes. And your boss will definitely understand about finals week.</p>
<p>When we send in our payment at the beginning of the semester, we deduct the amount of the work study. As D gets her paychecks, she takes them to the Accounting Office and they are applied to the balance. So her bill is paid off at the end of the semester. </p>
<p>We arranged in advance to do it this way. I don’t know if colleges typically allow it.</p>
<p>so it’s basically like if i do workstudy then i get my $2800 to pay for other expenses, if i don’t do work study then i don’t get the money, but i still don’t need to pay extra $2800 because i didn’t do work study</p>
Most are. But WS jobs can also be available at non profit organizations. For instance my daughter worked a WS job for the USDA. There are also community service WS jobs at her school at women’s shelters, tutoring at local schools etc.</p>
<p>
Interesting, I had not heard of that. Had not looked into it as my daughter’s direct expenses are covered by scholarships and grants so she used her WS for rent and bills etc. </p>
<p>She did not get it this year. She was really hoping for WS and less loans.</p>
It depends on your total aid package. If all your direct expenses (expenses paid directly to the school) are covered by other aid then the WS income would be yours to use for other expenses such as personal expenses or travel expenses. Those expenses are not paid to the school. If you don’t earn any WS money then you will have to pay for any personal or travel expenses from other sources.</p>
<p>All direct expenses will have to be paid to the school whether or not you get a WS job.</p>
<p>D’s initial WS this year dropped by a huge amount from last year. FA suggested we could request that her WS be raised to last year’s level, and that her Stafford (unsub, I think) be dropped by the same amount, which we did. Again, I don’t know if this is standard operating procedure. We’re lucky to have a very accommodating FAO.</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification on WS jobs. I’ll mention it to my D; I think she’d be very interested in working at a non-profit if her college has any such arrangements.</p>
<p>"FA suggested we could request that her WS be raised to last year’s level, and that her Stafford (unsub, I think) be dropped by the same amount, which we did. Again, I don’t know if this is standard operating procedure. "</p>
<p>Yes, that’s pretty common. Lots of schools will let unused work-study be converted to additional loans or vice-versa.</p>
<p>“When we send in our payment at the beginning of the semester, we deduct the amount of the work study. As D gets her paychecks, she takes them to the Accounting Office and they are applied to the balance.”</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of this. Very interesting. I guess it’s sort of like having a partial payment plan.</p>
<p>“so it’s basically like if i do workstudy then i get my $2800 to pay for other expenses, if i don’t do work study then i don’t get the money, but i still don’t need to pay extra $2800 because i didn’t do work study”</p>
<p>Jellybea I hope you don’t get confused-- work study is a part of financial aid. On your award letter, they probably would have listed it with other aid like grants, loans, scholarships if you received any of that. Deduct it ALL from your cost of attendance and that amount (if any) is what you/your parents owe. If you do not do the work study, yes, you will not get the money but your family will have to come up with the extra $2800 from somewhere.</p>
<p>I hadn’t thought of it that way, but essentially it is. We, the parents, pay our full amount right upfront at the beginning of the semester. But we leave D’s WS balance on the account because we want her to feel, in a very direct and tangible way, that her labor is contributing to paying for college.</p>
<p>As noted, we cleared this with the college in advance, and when we send in our payment, I put a note on the voucher explaining why we’re not sending the full balance. Also, doing it this way means that we incur small finance charges each month on the unpaid balance.</p>
<p>I’ve never heard of that either. My daughter was able to find WStudy this semester and next year can do some community service if it works out, for workstudy also.
My son though, was never able to get very many hours when he had work study and ended up “trading” his workstudy for an unsub loan his third year.</p>
<p>Hours are never guaranteed or that jobs will be when your student can work them, so keep that in mind also.</p>
<p>^^ I think that may vary. D’s college does guarantee that the student will be able to work enough hours to earn the WS. However, students are not guaranteed they’ll get a job they like, so D always rushes to FA first thing when she gets on campus, before the best jobs get taken.</p>
<p>That is true LasMa with any job, the early birds get the best unless someone has an “in” somewhere.
I don’t like that Holy Cross makes all the freshman work in the dining halls, but at least they are guaranteed that, the hours aren’t always great though.</p>
<p>Op. If u work over the summer, you may be able to earn your spending money. I don’t know if lasma’s d does that so her ws money can go to direct costs. </p>
<p>It would be hard for all earned money for summer and ws to go direct costs because college kids need some spending money for weekends, etc.</p>