Student Employment | WVU Tech Financial Aid | West Virginia University Institute of Technology

Federal Work Study

Federal Work-Study is awarded as part of a need-based Financial Aid based on information received from the FAFSA. The Federal Work-Study Program provides jobs on campus for students with financial need allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses.

Students will earn at least the current federal minimum wage, but the amount could be higher depending on the type of work performed and the skills required. The total Federal Work-Study award depends on when you apply, your level of need, and available funds.

Students will be paid by the hour for all hours worked. The school will pay the student directly by check or the student may elect to have the school make payments by direct-deposit to their bank account. Awards are not paid directly to the university for institutional charges such as tuition, fees, and room and board.

Students may work a maximum of 20 hours per week but not more than 8 hours in a 24 hour period during full-time enrollment periods or a maximum of 40 hours per week during non-enrollment periods, such as Thanksgiving, and Spring break. The amount you earn cannot exceed your total Federal Work-Study award.

Application process

Student Employment will be moving to Handshake online. This includes Federal Funded, Federal Funded Community Service, State Funded, and Grant Funded programs.

The work flow of the work study process, is as follows:

The employer will complete a Work Study Request Form .
Financial Aid will post the job in Handshake.
Students may view all job postings and upload a resume to Handshake.
Employer will then review resumes and select prospective student(s) and complete the Work Study Selection Form.
Financial Aid will email the student, Human Resources and Employer on whether they are federal or state, how much the student is awarded (Federal), the hiring department, job title, rate of pay and for the student to report to HR with the proper documents for payroll.
Human Resources will input the information in the hiring wizard to Employee Processing Service (EPS) for processing. EPS will sen d the o n boarding notification to the supervisors and HR to let them know the start date.

Important notice for international students who are student workers:

According to current US immigration rules and regulations, on-campus work for international students is limited to 20 hours when school is in session (or 40 hours per week during official periods of break including the Summer term). School is considered to be in session from the Sunday before the first day of classes through the Saturday after the last day of finals. In order to ensure compliance with these provisions and also institutional policies, International Students and Scholars Services (ISSS) and WVU Tax Services monitors the hours worked by International Student Employees (ISE).

Failure by the ISE to comply with the aforementioned regulations will result in termination of employment at WVU and of their F-1/J-1 Visa immigration status. ISSS will contact the ISE regarding the consequences of the violation and the necessary steps to regain valid immigration status. Notice of the violation will also be provided by Tax Services to the EBO/Department. Upon receipt of a notice of non-compliance, the ISE has been advised to contact their supervisor within the time frame noted in the non-compliance notice if they feel that their work hours have been reported incorrectly.

Please note that the “3 Strike” rules are no longer permitted. Additional information and answers to frequently asked questions are available online on the ISSS page. Please contact ISSS with any additional questions at (304) 293-3519 or at isss-students@mail.wvu.edu.