Work Study Process for 23/24 Academic Year

Work Study Process for 23/24 Academic Year

 

Units hiring students under the federal work-study program requirements process: 

 

The work-study eligibility period for 2023/2024 Academic Year is August 6, 2023 – May 4, 2024 (unless otherwise stated on the student’s work-study authorization form).

 

Step 1: Job Posting

1. Determine your unit’s budget availability and work-study limit (TBA) to hire students. Hiring units are responsible for 25% of the student’s pay, and are required to stay within the allowed limit.
   1. Note that students cannot be paid with federal work-study funds until the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (FA&S) determines their eligibility for an award. Any student who begins working prior to being approved by the office, MUST be hired and paid as a regular hourly student employee.
   2. Federal law requires that a work-study student be paid the same wage as any other person in the position, but not less than minimum wage. Minimum wage at IU South Bend is $10.15 per hour.
2. You are recommended to post position(s) with the IUSB Career Services Office. Complete the Work-Study Job Posting located at W:\Financial Aid\Work Study job posting.doc and email it to sbcareer@iusb.edu
   1. The “contact person” on the form is the person you want students to contact for an interview.
3. If the unit is planning to hire for more than one work-study position with different duties, then each position has to have a separate job posting.

 

Step 2: Interview and Hiring

1. Interview the student applicants

Note: Some student applicants have been pre-approved by the FA&S office to be eligible to seek work-study positions while other student applicants can submit a request to the office to determine their eligibility.

Pre-approved students have been emailed three things:

1. Work Study Newsletter describing the work-study award
2. Work-Study Authorization form listing the total $ amount the student can earn. This form has additional fields that need to be filled out by the employing unit and submitted with the student’s hiring paperwork to Human Resources (HR).

Note: The Gross Limit of Earnings (LOE) referenced on the student’s approved work-study authorization form is the MAXIMUM TOTAL PAY the student can earn for the listed dates/session(s) and IS NOT the departmental share. For example, if the authorization form lists $3,000 and the student is hired at $10.15 per hour, then the maximum hours they can work will be approximately 295 hours. In the above example, if the student works for 200 hours overall, then the department pays $507.50 which is equal to 25% of the total salary.

• Fillable Work-Study Job Description form that needs to be completed and submitted to Human Resources by the employing unit with their hiring paperwork.

2. Hiring the work-study eligible student
   1. Obtain the Work-Study Authorization form from the student. Fill the form with your unit information. Submit hiring paper work along with the student’s work-study authorization form to HR. IUSB Payroll will forward the student’s Work-Study Authorization and Position Description to the FA&S office.
      1. The IU background check policy (cost to be paid by hiring department) requires all areas of Indiana University to conduct criminal history and a sex and violent offender check on all new hourly employees, including work-study. Questions must be directed to HR.  You may view the policy here: https://hr.iu.edu/eev/background_checks.html

 

1. Complete the Work-Study Job Description form (W:\Financial Aid\Work study job description.docx). Submit it with the hiring paperwork to HR. Federal Regulations require that the FA&S office retain a position description for every student hired.

 

Step 3: Determine Work Schedule

1. Federal regulations prohibit a student from working during hours when he/she is scheduled to be attending classes. It is the responsibility of the supervisor to make certain this does not occur. Each supervisor should request a copy of the student’s class schedule each session and review this information when establishing the student’s work schedule.
3. It is recommended that students working part-time while attending classes full-time be limited to working an average of 20 hours per week while classes are in session. The 20-hour average is calculated over the period of enrollment for which the student has received an award. Work performed during break periods may exceed the 20 hour per week average.
4. Hourly students are required to stay within the 116 hour policy, however, federal work-study students are exempt from this rule.  Students and timesheet approvers are reminded on the student timesheet on the top portion in red to alert the supervisor once someone nears the 29-hour mark. The 29 hour limit is calculated by adding the total hours worked at all jobs. Learn more about the Part Time Positions policy at https://policies.iu.edu/policies/hr-01-40-temporary-positions/index.html

 

Step 4: Payroll and Timesheet

1. Hiring units are responsible for keeping track of the total student pay and for 25% of the Gross LOE, and the unit’s work-study limit.
2. Supervisors must monitor the student pay to ensure that the student does not exceed his/her work-study allotment as specified on the Work-Study Authorization form. If the amount is exceeded, then supervisors are required to work with HR to pay the student as a regular hourly employee. If the total approved amount needs to be increased, ask the student to contact the FA&S office at least two weeks prior to exhausting funds, to explore additional funding possibilities.
3. Time Sheet Verification Requirement: Supervisors are required to verify and approve time sheets for all employees, including Work-Study. Allowing time sheets to ‘auto approve’ is not an acceptable practice. Departments that routinely have time sheets ‘auto approve’ may lose eligibility to employ Work-Study students.

 

Need Help or Have Questions?

We appreciate your continued cooperation and thank you for taking the time to become familiar with the information contained herein. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact Cyndi Lang at clang@iusb.edu or Melissa Pace at mepace@iusb.edu at the IU South Bend Office of Financial Aid.