Federal Work-Study
Qualifying as a Work-Study Employer
Qualifying as a Work-Study Employer
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.
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:
- Off-Campus Work-Study Application Bundle (or download individual documents below)
- Detailed job description for each student position (provided by you)
- IRS/State Tax Exemption Letters or Articles of Incorporation (provided by you)
Digital or scanned copies are acceptable and can be sent to ccamicia@ucsc.edu. Or you can mail in the packet to:
UC Santa Cruz Financial Aid & Scholarship Office
205 Hahn Student Services Building
1156 High St
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Application Approval Process
The Financial Aid & Scholarship Office will strive to approve applications within 24 hours of receipt, but incomplete packets or incorrectly filled-out forms will result in delay.
Once your application is approved, you will receive a confirmation email with your username and password for the Employee Request System, where you can post jobs, review applications, and hire students (see below).
Returning Work-Study employers must clear any past due balances with the University before an application can be approved. The Financial Aid & Scholarship Office will contact you upon receipt of your application if your organization has a past due balance.
Posting Jobs and Hiring Students
Creating an Employee Request
The Employee Request (ER) System is the University's sole portal for Off-Campus Work-Study employers to post jobs and hire students.
For new employers, choose the "New ER" option after logging in to create a new Work-Study position. Check out our Quick User Guide for a step-by-step tutorial (with screenshots!) on creating an ER.
For returning employers, use the "Search ERs" link to find and edit your existing ER. If you are listed as the supervisor for the ER, there will be an "edit" button to click on to start the editing process. Any proposed changes must go through an approval process with the Financial Aid & Scholarship Office before the changes go live. Also, be aware that your ER will not post if there are unreviewed applications from last year.
Student Applications and Hires
The system will notify you each time a student applies to your ER. You can view all of your applicants by clicking on the "Applications" link on the menu bar. Click on a student's name to view his or her application.
To hire a student, click on the "Start Hire" button at the bottom of that student's application. You will have an opportunity to adjust the student's start and end dates, as well as the hours per week. Make sure you click "Complete Hire"! The student will receive a confirmation email with instructions to report to the Financial Aid & Scholarship Office to complete new hire paperwork (if needed).
Remember: a student may not begin working until they have been officially hired via the ER System! You can always check on a student's employment status by clicking "View Hire Status" on their application.
In the example below, the student still needs to go to the Financial Aid & Scholarship Office to complete new hire paperwork. The student may not work until this is done, 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 call (831) 459-2963 or email workstudy@ucsc.edu.
