Qualify as an Off-Campus Work-Study Employer

To qualify as an off-campus work-study employer, the following requirements must be met:

• Non-Profit: The organization may be public or private, must be non-profit and tax-exempt as certified by the IRS. Eligibility for membership to the organization may not be limited in any way.
• Non-Political: The Work-Study job must be directly supervised and may not involve the employee in political activities which include working for a candidate for public office or an elected official, working on a political campaign, or lobbying on the federal, state, or local level.
  • New US Dept of Education Guidance: 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.”
• Non-Religious: Maintenance of any facility used, or to be used, for sectarian instruction, or as a place of worship is prohibited.
• For National/Community Welfare: A Work-Study employee may only perform work that is for national or community welfare, rather than for a particular interest or group.

View our information session recording for non-profits here. Please contact us at ucscel@ucsc.edu with any questions about the process.

All employers (both new and returning) must submit a Work-Study Application Packet before hiring Work-Study students. A complete packet contains the following:

1. Off-Campus Work-Study Application Bundle
2. Detailed job description for each student position (provided by you)
3. IRS/State Tax Exemption Letters or Articles of Incorporation (provided by you)

Digital or scanned copies are acceptable and can be emailed to ucscel@ucsc.edu. We do not accept contracts by mail. If you have difficulty emailing signed contracts, please contact ucscel@ucsc.edu. 

Career Success strives to review applications within 1 business day, but incomplete packets or incorrectly filled-out forms will result in a delay. Career Success will conduct a site visit once the contract is received and then grant approval after the site visit.

Once your application is approved, you will receive a confirmation email with details about how to get started recruiting students on Handshake.

Returning Work-Study employers must clear any past due balances with the University before an application can be approved. Career Success will contact you upon receipt of your application if your organization has a past due balance.