Nov. 9, 2015
April Wefler
[email protected]
1,455 students employed on campus hold either student hourly positions or work study positions.
Work study is awarded to students based on financial need and can be funded by the state or federal governments or UCCS.
“It’s a type of financial aid that is earned through working in a position,” said Shannon Cable, assistant director of student employment for Financial Aid.
In order to be eligible for work study, students must complete their FAFSA’s by the priority date, March 1.
Some students believe work study makes them an easy hire.
“Supposedly (work study) makes me more hirable because they (the employer) don’t have to pay as much,” said Harlee Wollyung, a junior English major who transferred from Florida. Wollyung works at Coffee at Columbine.
“I just kind of applied my freshman year and stuck with this job. It’s the only job I’ve had on campus,” said Corey Wright, senior criminal justice major. Wright works at Kraemer Family Library.
Wollyung and Wright said they were not aware of the major differences between being a student employee and being a work study employee.
Student hourly is paid in full by the department the student works in. Work study, however, is paid for by 74 percent from financial aid and 26 percent from the department.
“Sometimes, departments are not able to pay 100 percent of students’ wages, but can come up with 26 percent and can start to employ some of these students because they are able to pay a small percentage. It really increases job opportunities,” Cable said.
“For all intents and purposes, student hourly and work study are the exact same. They get paid the same rate, do the same job, get paid bi-weekly, there’s not really a significant difference,” she said.
Cable explained there are no negative marks against the student in applying for a needbased work study.
“The benefit for having a work study for a student is if it’s a need-based work study, it doesn’t count against them when they record their FAFSA’s,” Cable said.
She said several community organizations and most departments offer work study programs. Currently, these include the Pikes Peak Library District, Children’s Literacy Center and the Colorado Springs Pioneer’s Museum.
“We have a ton of off-campus work locations,” Cable said.
Some departments include the Family Development Center, the Rec Center, Dining and Food Services, the Office of Financial Aid and the Bursars Office.
“Whether the job is work study paid or student hourly, it provides a student with a great campus connection and it helps them be more successful overall here as a student,” Cable said.
“Our student hourly and work study employees really do a great amount of work for our campus,” she said. “They really do so much for the campus that we couldn’t function without them.”
For more information about work study jobs on campus students can go to www.uccs.edu/stuemp/workstudy.html.