Work Study FAQs

An offer of Federal Work Study does not guarantee a job position is available. Penn State offers work-study positions both on-campus and off-campus. Typical offer is $4000 for undergraduate and graduate students. Federal work study funds are applicable only to the term in which they are offered. Any funding not earned cannot be deferred or applied to a subsequent academic term. Work study must be accepted and students must complete all onboarding tasks prior to earning. Student earnings are directly-deposited into their bank accounts - not reflected in their Bursar account. Earning totals are reflected in LionPATH. Notifications are sent to STUDENTS at 50% and 75%, and after each pay-period beyond that. Increases can be requested - pending eligibility review and funding availability. If you were not offered work-study and are interested, please contact the Office of Student Aid to request a review

You are responsible for monitoring your balance and communicating with your manager. Should you lose your funding or eligibility it is your responsibility to communicate with your supervisor/manager. Should your funds be exhausted, you will need to cease working as a federal work-study student. Additional opportunities for continued employment in your position would be at the discretion of the manager/supervisor as any future earnings would be their department’s responsibility.

Employment policies: Supervisors must verify student eligibility prior to hire. All FWS positions require a documented job description. Students must know whom their immediate supervisor is and who to contact if the supervisor is not available. If the Office of Student Aid is reviewing a student's FAFSA information for accuracy, the student must stop working until the verification process is complete. Students are responsible for communicating this information with their supervisor and complying with any verification “to-do” items within their LionPATH account. A student's aid may not exceed their demonstrated federal financial need as determined by the FAFSA and as indicated on the Student Aid Summary in LionPATH. FWS will be reduced if the student's financial aid exceeds their demonstrated federal financial need. Students are encouraged to communicate with their supervisors regarding any changes to FWS. Conditions and limits of all FWS positions: FWS positions must not displace employees or impair existing service contracts. FWS positions must not involve constructing, operating, or maintaining any part of a building used for religious worship or sectarian instruction. FWS students cannot operate a vehicle as a condition of the job. Students are not permitted to work in FWS positions during scheduled class times, with few exceptions. Any exceptions must be approved and documented. Please contact the Office of Student Aid for details. Site Supervisors should establish a procedure for recording and verifying hours worked for all FWS students. Submitting falsified time sheets is considered fraud against the University and the federal government; legal action may be taken against the student. Federal regulation 34 CFR 668.16(g) requires the University to report to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General if a school has credible information that a student may have committed fraud or other criminal misconduct in connection with his or her application or eligibility for federal student aid. Therefore, instances of student misconduct involving falsification of timesheets must be reported to the Penn State Office of Student Aid to ensure the University’s compliance with this federal reporting requirement.

Information relating to FWS payroll schedules will be provided to all supervisors via email listserv communication prior to the beginning of each semester and can also be found by visiting https://budgetandfinance.psu.edu/references. Supervisors are expected to adhere to the established payroll approval schedules. Late payroll approvals should be submitted within 30 days. Processing delayed beyond that point risks a department’s assumption of 100% of the FWS students’ wages.

The recommended rate for FWS positions is $12.00/hour for undergraduate students and $14.00/hour for graduate students. FWS positions are funded with a combination of federal work-study funding (75%), University funding (15%). and a departmental share (10%). Errors in the establishment of FWS positions, student ineligibility, or exhausted funding may result in a department’s assumption of 100% of the FWS student’s wages. “Funds from programs sponsored by federal agencies (such as the National Science Foundation or the National Institutes of Health) may be used to pay the departmental share of student earnings, as long as the programs have the authority to pay student wages. Departments should contact the appropriate federal agency to see if the program in question does have this authority. Department's must maintain all supporting documentation.” (Nature and source of FWS institutional share 34 CFR 675.27)