Would someone be kind enough to clarify workstudy?

Paying for College
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<p>1.) students work on campus in various positions and get paid. They get to keep the money.</p>

<p>2.) students work on campus and the money goes to the institution.</p>

<p>3.) students can work on campus and keep some of the earnings to spend on whatever necessary sundry items they may need, and the school receives a portion.</p>

<p>Also, why are workstudy amounts so different from school to school?</p>

<p>I have spoken to a few people and I googled it....so many different answers!!! I'm confused...</p>

<p>I would love your answers. Please and thank you. </p>

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<p>This might help:</p>

<p><a href=“How Does Work-Study Work? - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>How Does Work-Study Work? - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;

<p>Not only are WS amounts different, but the wages per hr can also differ significantly between schools.</p>

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<p>Work study is one of 3 types of federal aid called campus based aid. A school is awarded a fixed amount of money for these campus based aid programs. Each school decides how best to award the funds including the criteria for awarding it and the maximum they will award. They usually have more students who qualify than they have funds. My daughter was awarded it some years and not others despite having the same need every year.</p>

<p>When you are awarded WS, you have to find and apply for a WS job. They are usually on campus, but can be off campus. For instance, my daughter’s WS job was for a federal lab. You earn money based on the number of hours and the hourly rate for the job (which can vary withing the same school depending on the job). You are paid with a paycheck, just like a regular job. My daughter was paid every 2 weeks. The income is taxable for federal taxes, but not for social security or medicare. </p>

<p>As you are paid based on hours worked, the money is not available up front to pay direct school fees. </p>

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<p>As I stated in the linked thread, WS can also be Institutional. For instance, Y uses WS as the fist component of all of their FA packages:</p>

<p><a href=“http://admissions.yale.edu/financial-aid-prospective-students#101”>http://admissions.yale.edu/financial-aid-prospective-students#101&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>We have never qualified for Fed FA, but both kids have been had WS self-help as part of their FA packages from private colleges.</p>

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<p>And there are some schools which self-fund their work-study programs, just to make it even more confusing! They don’t participate in the federal program but instead, assign students to various jobs around. campus, calculating the hourly wage and applying it as scholarship or paying the student directly.</p>

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<p>Thank you very much! </p>

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<p>My comments above only apply to federal work study. </p>

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<p>I love the off-campus WS option best. You walk in the door of an employer bringing your paycheck source with you. < Simplified version, I know. </p>

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<p>Both my daughter & I had off campus work study jobs, that otherwise would have gone unfilled or filled by volunteers.
( tutoring in public schools)</p>