Federal college work study program

Citizen or eligible non-citizen permanent resident. International students are not eligible to participate in this program. Students may work a maximum of 20 hours a week during the fall and spring semesters. Students may work up to 40 hours a week during semester break periods, and during the summer, provided the student is not enrolled in summer sessions.

Students do not have to be enrolled during the summer term. Hours are flexible to meet the students' course and study schedule. How do students receive a Federal Work Study position? To apply for a work study position: Review the available positions in the table below.

Contact the supervisor that is listed on the position of interest and request an interview with the hiring department.

The hiring department will work with the student, financial aid and UNMC payroll to complete the hiring contract that includes your salary and hours. How are FWS students paid? FWS students will earn an hourly wage set by the hiring department and will be paid bi-weekly.

Students must use Electronic Funds Transfer EFT for salary payment automatically deposits the bi-weekly earnings into checking or savings account.

Most of the jobs the Federal Work-Study Program offers are paid on an hourly basis. Work-study students earn at least the current federal minimum wage, but total earnings may also depend on when you apply and your level of financial need. There is a limit to the number of hours work-study students can work. It depends on your total award. In other words, you can earn up to a predetermined amount. The future excites me so much. There's so many things that are unknown in the future, so it's a whole big broad spectrum of, 'You can do whatever you want.

Get tips now. Learn where to find and apply for college grants, a need-based form of financial aid for college that doesn't have to be paid back. Which colleges participate in the Federal Work-Study? Federal Work-Study jobs can be on or off campus: On-campus work-study If you work on campus, you'll usually work for your school.

Off-campus work-study If you work off campus, your employer will usually be a private non-profit organization or a public agency. How do you qualify for work-study? Free money tip Want to pay less for college? Choosing your work-study job Some schools match students to work-study jobs, but other schools require students to apply and interview for them. A program, such as a conservation corps or youth service program, that offers full-time, productive work to be financed through stipends with visible community benefits in a natural resource or human service setting and that gives participants a mix of work experience, basic and life skills, education, training, and support services.

These include the following conservation corps and human services corps programs, as well as programs that encompass the focus and services of both. Also see 34 CFR Conservation corps programs.

Human services corps programs. Human services corps programs that include service in:. In the past, the Department has approved a limited number of waivers of the community service requirements for schools that have demonstrated that enforcing these requirements would have caused a hardship for their students.

These examples are not the only circumstances that may result in approval of a waiver request; however, you must always submit a justification of your request. The Department posts an annual announcement to the IFAP website describing the electronic waiver pro- cess and giving the deadline date for that year.

A school must submit its waiver request to the Department electronically via the COD website at:. Examples of waiver requests include the following:. The school had a very small FWS allocation. Therefore, the school was unable to find placement for a student in community service.

Case Study 2—Rural area transportation issues. The school was in a rural area that was located far away from the types of organizations that would normally provide community service jobs. The school provided information that showed its students lacked the means of transportation to get to the town where the community jobs were located. In a similar waiver request in which transportation did exist, a school provided documentation that showed that the transportation costs were extremely high for the students.

The school offered only a single program of specialized study that required its students to participate in extensive curriculum and classroom workloads.

The school provided information that demonstrated this specialized educational program prevented the students from performing community service jobs at the time those work opportunities were available. In contacting potential community service agencies, schools should place a priority on jobs that will meet the human, educational, environmental, and public safety needs of low-income individuals. Brainstorm types of jobs that would meet the community service requirement.

What jobs do your students currently hold, on campus or off campus, that meet the community service definition? Which local community service organizations might be interested in employing your FWS students? Contact local nonprofit, government, and community-based organizations to assess their needs and determine what interest exists for employing FWS students.

Talk to colleagues at other schools to get ideas on implementing, locating, and developing the community service jobs. Devise a plan to market community services under the FWS Program to eligible student employers and the community. Obtain a listing of potential community service agencies. Some examples of jobs that provide services to persons in the community who may not necessarily be low-income individuals are jobs that provide supportive services to individuals with disabilities or that prevent or control crime in the community.

Research shows that children whose parents work with them on literacy skills during early childhood have a better chance of reading well and independently. The Department gives schools reasonable flexibility to determine the job description and duties for an FWS student performing family literacy activities. Family literacy activities are not limited to just tutoring positions. For example, family literacy activities may include training tutors, performing administrative tasks such as coordinating the tutors, or working as an instructional aide who prepares the materials for the project.

However, it would not be reasonable to include janitorial or building repair jobs as family literacy activities. This gives schools flexibility in determining the job description and duties of a tutor. For example, a reading tutor could be an FWS student who reads to a group of preschoolers in a public library. An FWS student employed as a tutor does not have to meet certain statutory for reading tutors or regulatory for reading and mathematics tutors educational standards or qualifications for the school to receive an institutional-share waiver.

However, an FWS reading or math tutor must have adequate reading or math skills, as appropriate, and the Department strongly recommends that the tutors be well trained before they tutor. The Department does not require background checks of FWS tutors. However, some state and local jurisdictions may require such checks. The requirements will vary according to the agency or organization involved.

A preschool-age child is a child from infancy to the age at which his or her state provides elementary education. The definition of an elementary school varies from state to state. Tutoring may be one-on-one or in a group. Tutoring sessions can take place in a school setting or another location, such as a public library or community center.

Tutoring sessions can be held during regular school hours, after school, on weekends, or in the summer. An FWS student can tutor a child in a parochial school under certain conditions:. The parochial school must be classified as a private, nonprofit school by the Internal Revenue Service or a state taxing body.

The work may not involve constructing, operating, or maintaining any part of a building used for religious worship or sectarian instruction. The FWS tutor may not use religious material to tutor the child.

The Department strongly recommends that the tutors be well trained before they tutor. When an FWS student receives training from a specialist or expert for sufficient duration and intensity, he or she is more likely to be successful with the child he or she is tutoring. The amount and type of training will often vary, depending on the needs of the child being tutored and the subject being studied.

See Chapter 1 for information on using the administrative cost allowance to pay for the cost of training tutors. Under limited circumstances, an FWS tutor can receive FWS wages while being trained, and these wages can qualify for a waiver of the institutional share. This training period must be only for a reasonable and limited length of time. The Department would not consider a training period of an academic term to be reasonable. The Department would consider a reasonable training period to be one that occurs before the student begins tutoring and that does not exceed approximately 20 hours.

A school may not pay an FWS student to take an academic course the school developed to provide classroom training on tutoring children. For example, the Department would consider attending evaluation and preparation meetings once a week for approximately one hour to be reasonable.

The Department wants to give some flexibility because of the value of evaluation and preparation time. However, the goal is to spend funds for FWS students to interact with the children in family literacy programs, not for other activities. Remember that it is the FWS reading or mathematics tutor job, not the student working in the job, that qualifies for the institutional-share waiver. Your school may construct its own reading tutor program or join existing community programs.

However, you may not use JLD funds exclusively for this purpose because you would be in violation of the JLD statutory requirement to expand off-campus jobs for currently enrolled students who want jobs regardless of their financial need.

A student may be employed on campus at any type of postsecondary institution, including at a proprietary school. The FWS regulations define institution of higher education as a public or private nonprofit institution, a proprietary institution or a postsecondary vocational institution. A school which is not a proprietary school may employ a student to work for the school itself, including certain services for which the school may contract, such as food service, cleaning, maintenance, and security.

At any type of postsecondary institution, including proprietary schools, an FWS student may be assigned to assist a professor if the student is doing work the school would normally support under its own employment program. A proprietary school may employ a student to work for the school itself, but only in jobs that meet certain criteria.

If the jobs are in community service, they may be either on or off-campus. Students employed by a proprietary school and performing community service do not have to provide student services that are directly related to their education.

The FWS job may not involve soliciting potential students to enroll at the proprietary school. In general, FWS jobs that primarily benefit the proprietary school are not student services. For example, jobs in facility maintenance or cleaning are never student services. Jobs in the admissions or recruitment area of a school are not acceptable student services because such jobs are considered to involve soliciting potential students to enroll at the school.

This does not mean that the FWS student must be enrolled in an academic program for that field. Instead, it means that the FWS student must be receiving work experiences that are directly applicable to the skills needed for his or her career path. Although the student is not pursuing a career as a librarian, the student would still be able to work in the library.

The job is directly related to his or her training because he or she is learning customer service and basic office functions that are applicable to work in an air-conditioning repair shop or dealership.

Student services are services that are offered to currently enrolled students. Students are persons enrolled or accepted for enrollment at the school. However, an FWS student who provides services to both current students and former students is providing student services because the services are offered to currently enrolled students.

For example, an FWS student provides job placement assistance to current students and alumni of the school. The FWS student is considered to be providing student services because his or her services are offered to current students and alumni. Student services do not have to be direct services or involve personal interaction with other students. Services are considered student services if the services provide a benefit either directly or indirectly to currently enrolled students.

The fact that a job has some operational functions does not preclude it from being an acceptable FWS job as long as it furnishes student services. A postsecondary school including a proprietary school may use FWS funds to pay a portion of the wages of a student who is employed off campus by certain nonprofit agencies or private employers.

For FWS purposes, a private nonprofit organization is one in which no part of the net earnings of the agency benefits any private shareholder or individual. Such an organization must be incorporated as nonprofit under federal or state law. A school classified as a tax-exempt organization by either the federal or state Internal Revenue Service also meets this requirement. Examples of private nonprofit organizations generally include hospitals, day care centers, halfway houses, crisis centers, and summer camps.

Work performed off campus must be in the public interest. Work in the public interest is defined as work performed for the welfare of the nation or community rather than work performed for a particular interest or group. Political activity, whether partisan or nonpartisan, does not qualify as work in the public interest.

For example, a student is not considered to be working in the public interest if working at voting polls—even if he or she only checks off the names of those who came to vote and does not pass out flyers supporting a particular candidate. Also, a student is not considered to be working in the public interest if working to support an independent candidate. Another example of nonpartisan political activity is work for a city political debate. Working for an elected official as a political aide also does not qualify as work in the public interest.

For example, a student could not represent a member of Congress on a committee. However, a student could be assigned to the staff of a standing committee of a legislative body or could work on a special committee, as long as the student would be selected on a nonpartisan basis and the work performed would be nonpartisan. Under certain circumstances, work for an elected official responsible for the regular administration of federal, state, or local government may be considered to be in the public interest.

Such a person would not create, abolish, or fund any programs but would run them. Working for a sheriff would be acceptable, as would working for an elected judge because he or she has direct responsibility for the judicial system. An FWS position that involves lobbying at the federal, state, or local level is not work in the public interest. In deciding whether work is in the public interest, schools must consider the nature of the work as well as that of the organization.

If only members may use the facilities, FWS employment is not in the public interest. Students are prohibited from receiving FWS wages for working at the U.

Department of Edu- cation due to the potential appearance of a conflict of interest. Normally, employment in a foreign country is not permissible under the law. How- ever, a school with an additional location in a foreign country may employ students under FWS if the branch has its own facilities, administrative staff, and faculty. Stu- dents may also be employed by a U. A student may not be employed for a nonprofit organization in a foreign country.

A student studying for a business administration degree could work in a bank handling customer transactions, for example. Private for-profit organizations do not qualify as employers for community service under the FWS Program. The Department allocates FWS federal funds to institutions under a statutory formula that requires an institutional match.

Any student enrolled at a postsecondary institution participating in the FWS program is eligible for FWS employment if the student meets all federal student aid eligibility requirements, including having financial need. A job under the FWS Program must be suitable to the scheduling and other needs of the student and must, to the maximum extent practicable, complement and reinforce the educational programs or vocational goals of the student. Financial aid administrators at postsecondary institutions are responsible for ensuring compliance with Federal laws and regulations regarding FWS employment, including employment in apprenticeship programs.

Apprenticeship providers must coordinate with postsecondary institutions to ensure compliance with all relevant requirements.

If your school would like an off-campus organization to employ FWS students, your school must enter into a written agreement—a contract—with the off-campus organization.

A written agreement is required with the off-campus organization even if your school is considered the employer of the FWS student. The school must make sure the off-campus organization is a reliable agency with professional direction and staff and that the work to be performed is consistent with the purpose of the FWS Program.

Note that there is a model off- campus agreement at the end of this chapter. The model need not be followed exactly but serves as a guide. The agreement should specify what share of student compensation and other costs will be paid by the off-campus organization. For-profit organizations must pay the nonfederal share of student earnings. Any off-campus organization may pay:. The agreement sets forth the FWS work conditions and establishes whether the school or the off-campus organization will be the employer for such purposes as hiring, firing, and paying the student.

The employer is generally considered to be the entity that will control and direct the work of the FWS students—supervising them at the work site, regulating their hours of work, and generally ensuring that they perform their duties properly. The school must make up any payments the off-campus organization does not make. To fulfill that responsibility, the school must keep copies of time sheets and payroll vouchers and keep evidence that the students were actually paid usually copies of the canceled checks or receipts signed by the students.

School officials should periodically visit each off-campus organization with which they have an off-campus agreement to determine whether students are doing appropriate work and whether the terms of the agreement are being fulfilled. The agreement must state whether the school or off-campus organization is liable for any on-the-job injuries to the student. The employer is not automatically liable. In determining whether to continue an off-campus agreement, many schools have found it helpful to require that students submit a formal evaluation of their work experience at the end of the assignment.

The school may also use the evaluation to help off-campus agencies improve their work programs. The school must supply the off-campus organization with this information.

A school must take additional steps if it receives more money under an employment agreement with an off-campus agency than the sum of:. In that situation, the school must handle the excess in one of three ways:. Use it to reduce the federal share on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Hold it in trust for off-campus employment during the next award year. Your school should have written policies that describe the afore mentioned procedures, the documentation the off-campus organization must provide, and how the reimbursement process will be handled.

Your accounting entries must completely track the payment of the federal share to the off-campus organization and must be backed by the original documents specified in your policies.

Your school is liable for federal funds expended for which it does not have proper records or documentation. If your agreement with the off-campus organization specifies that the school will pay the students and bill the off-campus organization for its share, the agreement should include the steps the school will take, the documentation the school will provide, and the time frame within which the off-campus employer will pay the school its share of the FWS compensation.

Your school should have a system for ensuring that off-campus employers are billed for their share of FWS wages in a timely manner. In addition, you should have a system for following up if bills remain unpaid after a reasonable period of time. The JLD Program lo- cates and develops off-campus job opportunities for students who are currently enrolled in eligible institutions of higher education and who want jobs regardless of financial need.

Under the JLD Program, your school must locate and develop off-campus jobs that are suitable to the scheduling and other needs of the employed student and must, to the maximum extent practicable, complement and reinforce the educational program or vocational goal of the student. JLD jobs may be part-time or full-time, for either a for- profit or nonprofit employer.

Any student employed in a job developed under the JLD Program must be currently enrolled at the school placing him or her in a job. A school may place in JLD jobs both students who do not meet FWS student eligibility criteria and those who do meet those criteria. However, using JLD funds to find jobs only for FWS students would not satisfy the program purpose of expanding off-campus jobs for students who want jobs regardless of financial need.

When establishing or expanding a program to locate and develop off-campus jobs, including community service jobs, a school may use up to the lesser of:.

You may not use JLD funds to:. A school is expected to generate total student wages exceeding the total amount of the federal funds spent under JLD.

This requirement, unlike the institutional-share requirement for FWS earnings, cannot be waived.