Work-Study

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Qualifying as a Work-Study Employer

Work-Study Application Packet

Application Approval Process

Posting Jobs and Hiring Students


Qualifying as a 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 anyway.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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Work-Study Application Packet

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.

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Application Approval Process

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.

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Posting Jobs and Hiring Students

Once your work-study contract is approved for the academic year, you may begin posting your open work-study jobs on Handshake on or after September 3, 2024. For the 2024-2025 academic year, students may work in work-study positions from 9/21/2024 through 6/12/2025.

Account Creation

Create an employer account in Handshake. Review this guide detailing how to create an account. If you are an alumni of UCSC, please follow these directions to create an account linked to your Handshake alumni account. Learn more about how to toggle between an alumni account and an employer account in this quick video.

Next, connect to or create a new company account. Search for your organization's name and request to join that company. The company owner will review your request and grant you access to Handshake. If you cannot find your organization, you will need to create a new company account.

Posting a Job

Utilize this video or guide to assist you in posting your job on Handshake.We also recommend you review our video and guide about creating effective job descriptions and how to target your job postings. Once you post a job, Career Success will review the posting and grant approval or provide feedback within 2 business days. Once the position is approved, students will be able to apply to the posting until the expiration date.

Advertising a Job

Students may search postings using the job title or the job posting ID number. You may find your job posting ID number in Handshake when viewing the jobs tab or looking at an individual job posting. Consider viewing our guide about how to amplify your job posting.

Any students may view and apply for work-study jobs, but you may only hire students with an active, accepted work-study award. The applications tab in your job posting in Handshake will display a yes or no column for work-study eligibility. We encourage you to move forward with students who have a "yes" for work-study eligibility. Students who do not have work-study eligibility will need to appeal and may not be approved for work-study.

Hiring a Student

Once you have successfully selected one or more students, please complete this brief google form with details about the hire. Career Success staff will then begin the onboarding process for the student. Career Success will notify you once the student has completed onboarding and is approved to begin working at your organization.

The student may not work until onboarding is complete, otherwise your organization will be fully responsible for paying the student's wages for all work performed before the student completed the new hire paperwork.


If you have any questions, please email ucscel@ucsc.edu.