On-Campus Student Employment
Student Employment
Our goal is to provide students with financial support, meaningful work experience, and reflection on their career development. Over 4,000 students work in student employment opportunities every year – this is a great way for students to build experience and make themselves more marketable for future experiential learning opportunities.
Apply on Handshake
Handshake is the sole platform to search for on-campus student jobs, including Work-study positions.
Tips for using Handshake
- In the Jobs tab, search for “UCSC” as a keyword or use the “On Campus Student Employment” job filter.
- If you are eligible for work-study jobs, you can search for these jobs by using the “Work-study” job filter.
Non-Academic Student Employee Handbook
The student employee handbook is designed to help you:
- Prepare, identify, and apply for non-academic on-campus jobs
- Onboard for non-academic on-campus jobs
- Make the most of your non-academic on-campus job
- Reflect on your growth in career readiness competencies
- Understand non-academic student employment policies and procedures
Work-Study
What is Work-Study?
Work-Study provides part-time jobs for undergraduate students with financial need, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses. Work-study programs encourage community service work and work related to the student’s course of study. The student will be paid directly for the hours they work and the amount they earn cannot exceed the total amount awarded by the school for the award year.
Work-Study allows on-campus and select off-campus employers to hire students at a reduced cost. The program pays 75% of the student’s wages through financial aid where the rest is paid by the employer.
Why apply for Work-Study?
Access to job opportunities actively looking for undergraduate students like you, many of which are only open to work-study-eligible students. Work on campus or near campus.
How do I know if I’m eligible for Work-Study?
First step is to review your financial aid offer posted to your MyUCSC student portal. You can view your offer by logging into MyUCSC, clicking on the Financial Aid tile, then selecting “View Financial Aid”. In order to apply to Work-Study jobs, you must accept your Work-Study award (view the video below on how to accept award offers). See the Financial Aid and Scholarship Office’s website for more information.
If you do not see a Work-Study award in your MyUCSC portal and would like to be reconsidered for Work-Study, fill out the Request Work-Study eForm located in MyUCSC.
To locate the eForm:
- Log into MyUCSC
- Go to the Undergraduate Student eForms tile
- Locate and submit the Request Work-Study eForm (select work-study)
- You will be notified on next steps as your eForm is evaluated and processed
If you have concerns about how requesting participation in Work-Study may affect your financial aid, consult with the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office.
How to find Work-Study Opportunities?
UCSC has on and off-campus Work-Study opportunities, which are advertised on Handshake.
Use the work-study jobs filter on Handshake or search for jobs with “work-study” in the title to see current jobs.
While all students may view work-study jobs, we encourage you to wait to apply for a work-study job until you have accepted your work-study award. If you apply prior to accepting the award, the employer may not be able to tell that you qualify for a work-study job.
Work-Study positions are not posted during the summer. They will be available to apply for by the beginning of fall quarter.
Onboarding and Blue Card
Your employer must officially hire you and share that information with Career Success. Once you’re hired, you must go through an onboarding process to get your Blue Card for that job. The Blue Card shows your employer that you have completed onboarding and are signed up for payroll. Your Blue Card will automatically be emailed to you and your employer once your onboarding is complete — when you receive it, you’re all set to start working!
Here are the steps in the onboarding process:
Employment Misconduct Disclosure Process
Once you are officially hired by your supervisor, you will receive an auto-generated email to complete the required employment misconduct disclosure form. Career Success will send you the employment misconduct form via Docusign within 1 business day. You must complete this form within 2 weeks to continue the onboarding process. If you do not complete the form, your hire will be inactivated, and you will not be able to work in the job.
Background Check Process
Background checks are required for students under consideration for hire into critical employment positions.
Students who are required to complete a background check will receive a direct email with instructions regarding how to complete the background check. Students will need to complete their fingerprinting through a Livescan service either on or off campus.
This process needs to be completed BEFORE RSVPing for an onboarding appointment. It normally can take up to 1 week (or longer) for background check results to be processed. Students are not approved to begin working until their onboarding process has been completed entirely and have received the blue card email detailing that they are ready to work.
If you need additional information on completing a background check, please reach out to your supervisor and/or PAT timekeeper directly – Career Success does not perform or support the background check process.
The Onboarding Process
You will receive an auto-generated email stating that you are ready to begin the onboarding process. This email will include a link to RSVP for the onboarding process, as well as instructions for completing Section 1 of your I-9 form.
1. RSVP for the online onboarding process
Complete the RSVP Form
Identify an Authorized Representative (AR) [a friend, family member, roommate, etc.] to complete Section 2 of the I-9 form for you. You will list their name and email address on the RSVP Form. Your AR cannot be you or your supervisor.
Career Success will manually activate Section 2 of your I-9 for your AR during operating hours once you have completed Section 1 and the RSVP form. Your AR will receive a link to complete Section 2 of your I-9 via email. Student Employment operates Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., not including holidays.
2. Complete Section 1 of the I-9 Form
Complete Section 1 of the I-9 Form
If you believe that you may already have a current I-9 on file from a previous campus job, please note this in your RSVP and do not complete another Section 1. We will reach out to confirm if you need to re-complete your I-9.
3. Complete Section 2 of the I-9 Form with the Authorized Representative (AR)
Your AR verifies your original, physical identification and employment authorization documents (see Form I-9 Acceptable Documents) in person. Your AR will complete Section 2 of the I-9 form electronically for you.
When your AR is filling out section 2 electronically, they must follow these steps:
- Enter the entire document number.
- Accurately report the issued and expiration dates (if applicable).
- Electronically sign THEIR name, not yours.
Please be sure your AR does NOT check the receipt boxes. Receipts are not accepted. All documents must be verified in their original form.
4. Complete the Payroll Packet via DocuSign
Once your I-9 is complete, Career Success will send you a payroll packet via DocuSign to your UCSC email address.
- “where you work” is the department where you will work
- “employee ID” is your student ID
5. Receiving a virtual “Blue Card”
- Receiving a virtual “Blue Card”
Once the I-9 and Payroll Packet have been completed, a virtual “Blue Card” will be sent via email to the Supervisor/Student/Timekeeper. This Blue Card means you are approved to work on or after your anticipated start date. If you complete onboarding after the anticipated start date, you may begin working immediately.
Speak with your supervisor to confirm your start date. Do NOT work prior to completing the full onboarding process. If you have not received a Blue Card, you are not approved to begin working.
What if my position requires a background check?
Students who are required to complete background checks will need to complete their fingerprinting through Livescan and receive clearance prior to beginning the onboarding process. This process needs to be completed BEFORE RSVPing for an onboarding appointment. It can take up to 2 weeks to receive clearance from Livescan after you have been fingerprinted. Students are not approved to begin working until their onboarding process has been completed entirely and have received an approval email.
If you need additional information on completing a background check please reach out to your supervisor and/or PAT timekeeper directly – Career Success does not perform or support the background check process.
Support with Onboarding
Contact the Student Employment Team at studentemployment@ucsc.edu
Timesheets and payment
Record your hours with CruzPay
- CruzPay is the online timekeeping system that you will use to record your hours as a student employee. Please allow up to 10 business days after receiving your Blue Card for CruzPay access.
- If you do not submit your timesheet on time, you will need to reach out to your Timekeeper to see what is needed in order to get paid on time. Please note that BYA positions do not require logging hours in CruzPay.
- Please direct all questions about payment/timesheet issues to the staff HR. Find your department’s Operations/Timekeeper staff in this directory.
Paychecks
- By default, your paycheck will come in the form of a paper check.
- Undergraduate students’ paychecks will be delivered to the current address on file in UCPath unless the student has signed up for a direct deposit.
- Graduate students’ paychecks will be delivered to the current address on file in UCPath unless the student has signed up for a direct deposit.
Signing up for Direct Deposit
We highly recommend that you sign up for Direct Deposit, which you can do in UCPath.
To sign up for direct deposit as a new user:
- Log in to UCPath
- On the left side of the screen, click Employee Actions > Income and Taxes > Direct Deposit
The initial Direct Deposit set-up may take up to two weeks to become effective. If you choose not to sign up for Direct Deposit, your paycheck will be mailed to the home/mailing address on file in UCPath. Please review your personal information to ensure that the address listed is correct.” When you sign up, Direct Deposit will apply to the next pay period.
International student checklist
International students must complete some additional steps as part of the onboarding process.
- Apply for on-campus jobs using Handshake.
- Review immigration requirements for F-1 visa holders or J-1 visa holders
- Obtain a Social Security Number (SSN). See how to obtain an SSN.
- Provide your SSN application receipt to Career Success within 30 days.
- Once you have applied for an SSN and have received the official SSN receipt from the Social Security office, you may then proceed with the onboarding process outlined above.
- You will be approved to work for 30 days from the date that you recieved your Blue Card approval email.
- Provide SSN to Career Success, as soon as it is issued.
- After filling out the necessary onboarding process, you will also fill out a GLACIER form. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which is the U.S. government tax authority, requires UCSC to collect this information from all non-US citizens to determine the appropriate rate of tax withholding and reporting for any payments that are made to such individuals.