Work Study

<p>I'm a little confused about the work study program.</p>

<p>It's part of the financial aid offer USC sent me and I was reading up on stuff and it says that the money you get from your work-study job will not be part of your university bill (like you won't be able to use it to pay for the bill because the bill is due before the semester starts).</p>

<p>I asked the FA office and they told me that you get paid every 2 weeks. Does the money you earn EVER go toward the university bill? Like can you use the money to pay the bill? Or is it basically for yourself to use for personal things?</p>

<p>If we can't use the work-study to pay part of the university bill before the semester begins, does that mean we have to take out the amount in loans to cover it?</p>

<p>Anyone who had a work-study job, can you please share your experience and maybe where you worked/if you liked working there?</p>

<p>Or any additional information would be great!</p>

<p>basically work study is a guaranteed job for the amount you are receiving in FA</p>

<p>with the money you earn from workstudy, you can use it for whatever you need
you can save up the money and use it to pay off interest for any loans you have taken out or use the money you earned to supplement the tuition payment plan if you signed up for that</p>

<p>Can you usually find jobs in your area of interest or do you take whatever you can get? I understand they have a job fair at the beginning of the semester. Do you actually apply then? Should you have resumes printed up or what. Any suggestions would be appreciated. THANKS.</p>

<p>Thanks xboredguy!</p>

<p>But if we don’t sign up for the tuition payment plan, the amount stated that I’m receiving from work-study, I will have to find some other way to pay for it before the semester starts? (i.e.: loans?)</p>

<p>^ that’s right. Since you will be earning money during the school year from your job (just like a regular job that gives you a paycheck every two weeks), you won’t have the xxxx amount of dollars stated in your FA package before the semester, meaning you will have to come up with that money in some other way, such as loans.</p>

<p>You can use the money you earn for anything you want. They make out a paycheck directly to you and you personally go and cash it (its not applied to your university bill or anything like that).</p>

<p>There is a job fair in the beginning of the semester, so having a resume to give out is helpful, but some jobs you just need to fill out an application for. Many times, the employer will have sign-ups for interviews right there, so you wouldn’t need a resume until the interview.</p>

<p>And the jobs range from working for a certain department, doing work related to that department, to working at the Lyon Center (the gym, for the incoming freshmen who don’t know what that is yet) and swiping people’s ID cards.</p>

<p>For work study, could I use the job earnings for the current year’s tuition? Would I need to do anything to get the earnings applied to this year’s fees?</p>

<p>You could use it for spring semester tuition I suppose, but definitely not for this upcoming bill. Just because it says you get $XXXX amount for work-study in your FA, it does not mean you will actually get all of it. It depends on how many hours you work over the course of the semester. It’s literally a paycheck.</p>

<p>Oh okay! Thanks so much! Now everything makes sense!</p>

<p>Oh wait, I have another question (: Sorry!</p>

<p>Has anyone or does anyone know anyone who has had a work-study job as well as a non work-study job? Is that hard to do (as in time management-wise?)</p>

<p>And the money you earn from either jobs, would they be considered “personal income”?</p>

<p>I would say it depends on your major. Some majors allow for people to have a ton of free time while some are the opposite. If you have good time management or some job where you sit doing nothing and have time to do your work, you’d be able to pull it off.</p>

<p>I don’t believe work-study income counts towards personal income so it doesn’t have an effect on next year’s EFC. Someone should correct me if I’m wrong.</p>

<p>Work-study income doesn’t count towards personal income because it’s considered financial aid used to pay the tuition. But what about non work-study jobs?</p>

<p>I just read that some schools/jobs at the school require a birth certificate, passport, or social security card to either apply or get a paycheck. Does USC do that?</p>