General Considerations
As much as possible, FWS positions should be meaningful and related to the student’s education. Supervisors should also be as flexible as possible in structuring work hours since each student’s primary purpose is obtaining an education. Students must have a Work-Study offer as part of their financial aid to be hired as a Work-Study employee. Students who drop below half-time, graduate, withdraw, are academically dismissed, are not meeting the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Standards for Financial Aid Applicants, or are otherwise no longer enrolled are no longer eligible for Work-Study. The student’s last day of enrollment is their last day of Work-Study eligibility.
Establish an employer account on Handshake and post a Work-Study position.
- Indicate that you are seeking a student who is awarded Work-Study or have it as a requirement.
- If you are hiring a returning student or know who you would like to hire, then you do not have to post the position as it is not a requirement. Please reach out to the Office of Financial Aid to ensure the student is still eligible for work-study in the upcoming year.
- As students apply for the position, you may reach out to those you are interested in interviewing to set up a time.
- If you (prospective employer) agree to hire the student, then the FWS hiring paperwork must be completed.
- Submit all required documentation to the Office of Financial Aid before the student begins working. Students will not be paid out of Federal Work-Study funds for any hours worked prior to the completion of their hiring and on-boarding.
- Federal Work-Study students are paid on an hourly basis.
- Students may not work more than 20 hours per week or 8 hours per day. Students must also work no longer than 5 hours without taking a break.
- Timesheets must be signed by the supervisor or authorized person indicated on the Hiring Forms.
- You may submit the timesheet via email to financialaid@cgu.edu, but it must be signed with a digitally configured Adobe ID (pictures of signatures or scanned signatures are not acceptable) or it may be a wet signature submitted in person to the Office of Financial Aid (Facsimile signatures and stamps are not acceptable). Please note during times of remote instruction, in-person timesheets cannot be submitted.
- Students can only be paid from the work-study program for the terms they have been awarded and enrolled in at least half-time. Any unused portion of work-study funds is not recoverable after the last date attended half-time or upon graduation.
- Students should not be accruing meal penalties or overtime. Such hours will be billed to the department in full. If the issue persists, students may be subject to retraction of their work-study allocation.
- Employers are responsible to budget hours according to their staffing needs and available budget over the course of the academic year.
- When a student submits a timesheet for signature, the supervisor must review the timesheet for accuracy, completeness, and compliance with general employment and federal work-study policies. Once the supervisor determines that the total hours reported are correct, they should sign the timesheet and retain a copy for their records.
- Timesheets with discrepancies will be returned to the supervisor/student to make corrections.
- Students are required to submit their timesheet by the deadlines specified on the Payroll Calendar. Late submission of timesheets will not be accepted per CGU Payroll and TCCS policy
- You must notify the Office of Financial Aid and the Office of Information Technology if a student leaves your employment or violates the confidentiality policy.
- A percentage of the wages will be paid from the Federal Work-Study funds, which Claremont Graduate University receives from the federal government, and the other portion is paid by the agency/employer or on-campus department.
- Supervisors and/or Payroll reporters must include the billing account number on the student’s FWS hiring paperwork. The department will be billed at the end of each semester for a portion of the student’s wages.
- Students and supervisors are made aware that they should not be accruing overtime and/or meal penalties. If such time is accrued, both parties will be issued a warning and the department will be charged in full for these hours. Consistent breaking of this policy may result in retraction of the student’s work-study allocation.
- Wage rates between work-study and non-work-study employees working in similar capacities must be equal, and also between work-study employees performing comparable functions.
- The agency/department is responsible for both establishing a student’s hourly rate of pay and working hours. Criteria useful in establishing the hourly wage rate include:
- Result in the replacement of employed workers or impair existing contracts for services;
- Involve any partisan or non-partisan political activity associated with a candidate, or contending faction or group in an election for public or party office;
- Involve the construction, operation, or maintenance of any facility which is to be used for sectarian instruction or as a place of religious worship.
- Since students may not earn more than their approved Federal Work-Study allocation, students are expected to keep track of their allocation and notify their supervisor of its status. If they near exhaustion, they may reach out to the Office of Financial Aid to determine whether an increase is possible. If this is not possible, the student must stop working or begin getting paid out of the supervisor’s department’s wages in full.
- If a student becomes ineligible for Federal Work-Study and/or if the student’s eligibility changes, the Office of Financial Aid will notify the student. It is the student’s responsibility to provide the information to the supervisor so that work hours are adjusted accordingly.
- The agency/department has the right to terminate students according to their own policies and procedures. Written notification of the date and reason of termination must be directed to the Office of Financial Aid.
- How do we pay the student?
- How do I approve timesheets?
- How do I submit timesheets?
- How can I keep track of what a student has left on their FWS offer?
- What are the steps in giving a student a pay increase?
- Is anyone else allowed to sign my employee’s timesheet?
- Can I request more FWS offered to a student?
- Do I need to renew the position with my student each year?
You will need to provide billing information (for example department cost centers) at the time of the hire. This information will be used for billing at the end of each semester.
Supervisors (or authorized persons) are required to sign off on student’s pdf timesheets with a digitally configured Adobe ID.
Timesheets can be submitted to financialaid@cgu.edu. They must be submitted by 12:00 pm PST on the date listed within the Payroll Calendar.
Students are provided with an allocation tracking tool. You may ask your student employee how much is left in their allocation according to their records. Alternatively, you may also utilize the allocation tracking tool for your student worker to keep track of their earnings and overall allocation.
Your student worker may be eligible for a pay increase if the work required to complete their role has changed since the initial hire. If a student worker is given more complex tasks or additional responsibilities, this can be justification for an increase in pay. Ultimately, if a supervisor would like to request a pay increase due to a change in the nature of the position, they must submit a revised Form 1 to the Office of Financial Aid.
Yes, more than one individual may be authorized to sign off on a student’s timesheet. Please ensure the 3rd page of Form 1 is completed in order to authorize additional persons to sign your student employee’s timesheet.
If you anticipate your student employee will exhaust their allocation, you may inquire about the possibility of an increase by contacting the Office of Financial Aid. Our office performs a regular review of the budget. Upon the next review, we will be able to determine whether an allocation increase is possible.
Yes, if your student is continuing and wishes to remain in their position, they will need to submit the FAFSA for the upcoming year. This will allow our office to re-verify eligibility. Prior to beginning work in the next academic year, students will also need to submit a new set of hiring paperwork.