Student Employment Work Study Information
Most positions with the Law School require that you apply for a work study award. The applications come open twice a year, once for the academic year (usually in July) and once for the summer session (usually the end of February) and the link for the FAFSA form can be found at https://fafsa.ed.gov/, and on the MYCUInfo portal page under financial aid information. Work study awards are part of financial aid so you must complete the FAFSA form to be considered for an award. The acceptance of an award may result in the reduction in the amount of loans you are able to take.
Work Study awards are made on a first come, first served basis, so it is important you submit your application for each application period, as soon as you can, when the period opens up. APPLY EARLY!
How does work study relate to your pay? A work study award a certain amount of money allotted for the Fall Semester, the Spring Semester, and the Summer Session, based on your registration during that semester. You are paid on a biweekly basis for each biweekly pay period, per the schedule. Your gross hourly pay is used to reduce the award each time you receive your pay. The benefit of an award is that your pay is funded from 2 sources: one is the department's budget (30% of gross) and the other is the Federal Government sources (70% of gross). The department can afford to keep you working more hours if the award is funding some of your pay.
EXAMPLE: You receive a $1500 work study award and are in a position that pays $15/hr. During your first pay period, you work 30 hours and you are paid a gross salary of $450 for this pay period. The department will pay $135.00 (30% of the $450) and the award will pay $315.00 (70% of the $450). Your entire $1500 award will be reduced by $450 so you will have $1050 of the award remaining for the rest of the Semester. You can always determine how many hours you can work during a semester by dividing the entire award amount by your hourly rate so in this example you could work a total of 100 hours for the semester before the award is exhausted ($1500/$15). It is an easy way to budget your hours for an award.
A student can work beyond the award made, however the department will be paying 100% of the gross for the hours worked beyond the award.
REQUEST TO INCREASE AN AWARD. There are forms here on the Student Employment website to request additional award amounts during the semester and the requests are usually granted as long as the funds are available. The forms should be submitted by the student’s supervisor. Those funds come available through awards that have been granted to other students and not utilized, and have been cancelled. If you are not going to begin working during the first few pay periods of the semester, you must contact Student Employment to let them know, or your award will be cancelled.