Work Study

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UCLA Work Study Program

Hiring managers are strongly encouraged to consider Work Study applicants for positions available in their departments. For many students, a job on campus will be their first employment opportunity and will provide them with a foundation for future employment. In addition, your department will save on payroll expenses.

What is Work Study?

Work Study is a need-based form of Financial Aid that the student can earn through on or off-campus employment and receive in the form of a paycheck. The intent of the Work Study Program is to encourage part-time employment and reduce the amount of loan debt incurred while attending college.

How does this help you?

As an employer, you only pay 50% of your Work Study employee’s wages. The remaining 50% is paid by the Work Study program!

How does Work Study work?

  1. Create a job description for the job you want the Work Study student to perform. Contact the HRPCN to post the position at the Work-Study website
  2. Eligible students apply for the position and you can then reach out to them for an interview
  3. A student’s Work Study award is for a specific amount and period of time (summer or the academic year). The student may only work under the program during the period of time specified and may not exceed the grant amount. Once the amount of the award is reached, your department is then responsible for 100% of the student’s wages
  4. Your department covers 50% of every dollar the student earns while employed in your department, and Work Study covers the remaining 50% (up to their maximum award amount)
    Example: Your department hires a student with a $2000 award Student works 15 hours at $10/hr = $150 earnings $75 paid by department and $75 paid by the Work Study program Student’s remaining award = $1850 ($2000 – $150 earned) (Assuming this student earned their entire award, your department would have paid $1000 and the WorkStudy program would have paid $1000 for a total of $2000)

What you need to do now?

  1. Create a Job Description
    • Clearly define job functions for students to determine if the job is related to their course of study
    • Establish clear work expectations to avoid misunderstandings
  2. Establish Rate of Pay
    • Must be based on the established range of a job classification as stated in the University’s Title and Pay Plan.
      Please Note: the Assistant series were designed to cover student classifications)
    • Must be comparable to rate of pay for other similar positions for students who do not have Work Study

Steps to hiring a Work Study student:

  1. If you are interested in posting for your department, please complete the Work Study Posting template and email it to the Compensation & Payroll Services Manager at the HRPCN
  2. The Work Study students will reach out to you, as instructed in the posting. Interview qualified applicants and make a job offer
  3. Prepare a PAF and mark that the student is Work Study eligible and send to the HRPCN

If a student’s eligibility is invalid, one of two things has happened:

  1. The student has not accepted their online award notice on their MyUCLA account
  2. The student has not completed the FAFSA application

Helpful Tips for Work Study Deadlines

  • Hiring managers should be mindful of the work-study hiring deadlines throughout the academic year and during the Summer Quarter by referencing the Work Study Calendar for 2021-2022
  • Hiring work study students in a timely manner ensures timely accounting of Work Study hours upon new hire date (provided that work-study awards are accepted upon new hire date)
  • Hiring Work Study students after the deadlines have passed does not guarantee eligibility and the department may have to be responsible for 100% of the student’s wages
  • Alleviate your payroll expenses with Work Study hires throughout the academic year
  • HRPCN will notify the department upon exhaustion of Work Study funds, if this is a department fiscal concern in the future
  • Work Study funding must be renewed each academic year to ensure work study eligibility. If the work study student is eligible for summer work study it must be renewed at the end of the academic year as well. To do so a new PAF must be submitted for your work study students at the beginning of each eligibility period

Please click the button below to download the Work Study Calendar document.

Work Study Calendar for 2021-2022