Financial Aid 101: How Work-Study Works

By Christine Ascher on August 1, 2018

No matter where you go to school, college is expensive—in many cases, too expensive to pay for on your own. Fortunately, there are some programs in place to make college more affordable, one of which is the work-study program. Work-study helps you get a part-time job while you’re in school, so that you can pay for your tuition and other expenses. In addition to helping make college more affordable, being a part of work-study also ensures that you’ll get some valuable work experience while in college, which will undoubtedly come in handy when you’re applying for jobs later on. All in all, work-study is a great program if you need some help paying for college. If you want to know more about it, check out the following useful tidbits about how the work-study program works.

Money, dollars, pile

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How to Qualify

In order to qualify for work-study, you’ll first have to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. You’ll be able to indicate on your FAFSA that you want to be considered for work-study; however, your ultimate eligibility will depend on your financial needs and on the programs offered through your school. Once you find out the financial aid that you’ve been awarded, you’ll be able to see if you’ve qualified for work-study, and how much financial aid you’re eligible to receive through the program. Unfortunately, just qualifying for work-study doesn’t guarantee you a job to cover those funds. Once you get to school, you’ll have to apply for positions that hire work-study students. Fortunately, many campus jobs tend to be applicable towards work-study, and they’ll even show preferment towards work-study students during their hiring processes.

Your Options

Being eligible for a work-study job does not mean that you’re required to work once you get to school. You can choose to opt out of work-study if you’d prefer to focus on your schoolwork, even if you indicated on your FAFSA that you were interested in being considered. You can also opt out of work-study in favor of getting a non-work-study job, if you decide that it would be easier to find a job outside of work-study, or if you want to be free of the restrictions on your hours and earnings. Ultimately, the decision to enroll in work-study is entirely up to you.

What Kinds of Jobs Apply

While many work-study jobs are campus positions, they’re not necessarily restricted to jobs at your university. You can also find work-study jobs private companies and organizations, so you’ll need to do some of your own research to find out what your options are. Your school’s career center is a great resource for finding work-study jobs, as they’ll probably have some insider knowledge as to what places tend to hire work-study students. You can also check out your school’s career portal for jobs that are hiring work-study students, both on campus and in the surrounding area.

How Much Will You Be Paid—and How

When you apply for work-study, you’ll be given a maximum amount of money that you can earn towards school. You’ll be paid at least minimum wage, and maybe more depending on the job, but you’ll probably have a set number of hours that you can work so that you don’t earn more than your federal aid package qualifies you for. You’ll also have the flexibility to choose how you’ll be paid—in other words, you can choose to receive your paychecks directly, so that you can use them to cover your typical living expenses, or you can have them credited directly to your school account, so that your earnings will go straight towards your tuition.

Re-Applying

Unfortunately, doing work-study one year will not guarantee that you’ll be able to do it the next. When you fill out your FAFSA each year, you’ll be reconsidered for work-study. Your eligibility can change if there are any changes in your financial stability or family income, so you can’t necessarily count on having work-study every year of college. Unfortunately, you’ll need to determine your financial situation in regards to your aid and tuition each new school year.

How Work-Study Will Affect Your Future Financial Aid Eligibility

Fortunately, if you’re enrolled in work-study one year, that will not count against you when you fill out your FAFSA for the following year. In other words, you won’t receive less financial aid because of the money that you earned through your work-study position. When you fill out your FAFSA, you’ll be able to indicate how much of your earnings from the previous year came from financial aid. This amount will then be factored out when your financial aid eligibility is being considered.

In light of the cost of college tuition, combined with the daily living expenses that come with being a college student, work-study is a great option for students—especially because it will force you to get some real work experience while you’re still in school!

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