Students on laptop

Federal Work-Study


You may begin posting work-study roles for the 2025-2026 academic year on Sept. 2, 2025. Student’s work-study awards may be applied for work done Sept. 20, 2025 through June 11, 2026. Work-study roles will not be approved past May 29, 2026.

New guidelines from the U.S. Department of Education: The Department’s regulations under 34 CFR § 675.22(b)(5) prohibit FWS funds from being used, among other things, to employ students whose work “involves any partisan or nonpartisan political activity.” Jobs involving partisan or nonpartisan voter registration, voter assistance at a polling place or through a voter hotline, or serving as a poll worker—whether this takes place on or off campus—involve political activity because these activities support the process of voting which is a quintessential political activity whereby voters formally support partisan or nonpartisan political candidates by casting ballots.”

What is Federal Work-Study?
Does my campus unit qualify for the Work-Study program?
Where and how can I advertise my Work-Study job listing?
Why won’t my work-study job post?
When are students able to see my job listings?
When can students work in a Work-Study postion?
How do I view the applications?
How do I hire a Work-Study student?
How do I rehire students returning to a job they had last year?

Note: before hiring the student, you must confirm with them that they want to use their remaining Work-Study award.

 A student I’ve hired wants to use their Work-Study award. How can they make this change after they have been hired?
  • If work-study authorization is received before work-study has begun, work-study will be applied to the job effective 9/20/25.
  • For authorization received on or after 9/20/25, work-study will be effective the date the authorization is received and cannot be made retroactive.
  • Work-study is not applicable to Resident Assistants or any BYA job.
  • This process is not applicable to Academic Reader or Tutor jobs; please contact your Academic Division business office.
How do I know when the student can begin work?
What documents does the student need to begin work?
What do I do if a student employee is no longer working for my organization?
How many hours is a student allowed to work for my organization?
If I hire a Work-Study student, what are their maximum earnings?
Am I responsible for keeping track of the student’s Work-Study earnings?

In addition, it is your responsibility to ensure that student hours are distributed equally throughout the academic year. In most cases, students will be enrolled for three quarters, so we encourage you to plan their hours in advance.

Work-study Pay Details
Work-study Amount Pay Rate Weeks Remaining
Work-Study Pay Calculator
Hours Per Week
What if I am late turning in time sheets?
If I want to give my student a pay raise, what should I do?
  • Employee's name
  • New rate of pay
  • Effective date of the change
  • Reason for the raise
Who determines Work-Study eligibility and award amount for UCSC students?
Am I responsible for dividing a Work-Study award between multiple jobs?
As an employer, do I need to know the student eligibility requirements?

Students are not eligible to work if they:

  • are registered less than half-time at UCSC.
  • lose eligibility for financial aid/Work-Study.
  • have withdrawn, are on a leave of absence or have been barred from enrollment.
  • have earned wages that exceed the total Work-Study award.
How do the the UCSC Payroll/Personnel System policies apply to Work-Study employees?

Last modified: Sep 19, 2025