work study job vs regular part time job
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Anonymous
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Our financial aid package for our kid's first choice school showed amount for the parent contribution plus an expectation for our student to contribute 5k from work/study and 5k in a student loan.
Is there any advantage for a student to do work-study over having a regular part time job, assuming the same pay? |
Anonymous
| More flexible hours/job scheduling around classes and exams and jobs where it is more likely to reveive an academic job reference in the future |
Anonymous
| Isn’t it much easier to get work study jobs, as those are partly paid by financial aid? |
Anonymous
| Work study job unlikely to tell kid to work double shifts through class times or get fired. R |
Anonymous
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Depending on the responsibility some jobs on campus allow students to study or read, like welcome desk in library. Student won’t have to worry about commuting and will make friends.
When I was in school my supervisor usually let us leave early if we had a class and “round up” the hours. |
Anonymous
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Work Study - you might have someone looking out for you. Saying - hey I know you are interested in this - go talk to ......
Work study - you can pick up "shifts" sometimes in 1 hour blocks based on your availability so you can really get time in between classes if you want. |
Anonymous
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It really depends. Work study jobs can be hard to come by at some schools, even though in theory there should be position -- in my experience there can be a LOT of competition for jobs. Depending on the work and the location, work study can pay less than other part time jobs.
That said, some work-study jobs are awesome -- either because they're convenient times or locations, or some might be more likely to do double duty on a resume. For example my daughter was an academic tutor at her school for years. My son was a film major and he worked at the equipment cage at his school, which helped him get well acquainted with equipment and make vital connections. That said, if it's between the chick-fil-a on or off campus? Really no difference at all. |
Anonymous
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op here. I didn't realize there were opportunities for academic or major-related jobs for work study. I thought they were basic jobs like library assistant, or cafeteria/food worker etc. Guess we will look into them.
A prof friend of mine suggested that some students might view work study students "differently" as though there may be a stigma associated with it, which I'd want to avoid. Don't recall this issue at all when I was in college - Also wondering how it will affect fafsa/css in the future since we will have to report student income as well. And if work study might be better in this regard than an off-campus job. I'm pretty sure all the work study jobs at this particular college are federally subsidized. |
Anonymous
Yes, this was years ago but if it hasn’t changed - I went in as a bio major and my work study was a great opportunity at a research lab. Was awesome experience, had I gone into medicine, as I had originally planned. I had switched focus by junior year and I was able to get a job sitting in the front office of the Econ department. So low key, spent the entire time studying but also made copies for the professors and got to know many of them well. Helped me get my post college job. Agree with others - both jobs were more flexible about work hours around finals etc. Also, I may be mistaken but in my memory, it felt like maybe the job site/department didn’t pay for me, as it was part of my federal financial aid package, so it felt like easier to get a job. Your kid may have to hustle to get a resume building job. Old info but I don’t believe the program has changed a lot. It could also depend on the individual college, so ask about that. |
Anonymous
| Ack, your kid should get over being embarrassed about being a work study kid. They’re adults now. I’m sure earning other money would impact financial aid for the following year. Why wouldn’t it? And then you’re saying you don’t really need the aid offered. |
Anonymous
| I was in a writing program and my work study job turned out to be in the university’s news office. It was an awesome experience. I had choices of work study jobs in a number of major areas. |
Anonymous
op here. Thanks for this. Sounds like a great experience. Will have my kid look into departmental jobs. |
Anonymous
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Work study jobs have minimal commute time (gas costs), no uniform, and they will work around your class schedules.
Also, depending where you work you can get useful things. I worked in the financial aid office and saw all the scholarship opportunities and learned what they look for when awarding them. My friend worked in the registrar and always got whatever classes she wanted - they were never full for her. |
Anonymous
| My work study jobs in college were a cakewalk. Easy to schedule around classes, generally quiet enough to mostly use the time for studying. |
Anonymous
| IME, the better on campus jobs are reserved for work study students. If you aren't work study, the options are mostly food service. |