Work-Study

What is Work Study?

Work-Study is a federal program that allows on-campus and select off-campus employers to hire students at a reduced cost. The Federal Work-Study Program allows you as an employer to hire UCSC students at a reduced cost while providing students valuable work experience. The employer would contribute 25% of the student’s salary along with a 10% administrative fee – the program subsidizes the remaining 75% of the student's wages through their financial aid award.

Students who receive the Work-Study option are awarded a set dollar amount which their wages for the academic year may not exceed. Only students who qualify for Work-Study may apply for Work-Study positions. Students can find out more information about work-study on our student facing page.

On-Campus Work-Study Recruitment

Faculty and staff can recruit students for work-study in Handshake. All students may view and apply to work-study job postings. You may view which student applicants are work-study eligible by navigating to the applicant tab of your job posting in Handshake. 

Please label your work-study roles with the title “Your Descriptive Title - Work-Study” to ensure it is easy for students to locate your work-study jobs. Follow our posting on-campus work-study roles guide or video to learn more about how to post an on-campus federal work-study role on Handshake. We recommend you follow our guide on writing effective job descriptions when posting your work-study job.

You may begin posting work-study roles for the 2024-2025 academic year on September 3, 2024. Student's work-study awards may be applied for work between September 21, 2024 through June 12, 2025.