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Work-Study is a financial aid program that promotes part-time employment for undergraduate and graduate students to help finance their education. By participating in the Work-Study Program, your organization can hire student workers and obtain a subsidy for a portion of the student’s wages.
Employers will pay a net cost between 45 to 60 percent of eligible wages and the program will provide the subsidy for the remainder of the wages. The range of the net cost to an off-campus employer varies, as it is dependent on the employer type and if this is a non-profit, for profit, federal, state or local public agency.
As an off-campus employer, you will have access to a large pool of applicants with diverse personal, academic and career interests to contribute to your business needs. Our students actively participate in the Work-Study Program and during the 2022-2023 academic year, over 2,600 students benefited from the program. In addition, your participation in the program will help students gain valuable work experience to reach their academic and career goals while helping them avoid loan debt.
Benefits to the Student
You can help students avoid increasing their student loans by earning part of their college costs through work-study. In addition to the financial benefits, students gain valuable work experience and develop transferable skills while in school, putting them in a stronger position to pursue graduate school and/or employment opportunities when they graduate.
Benefits to the Employer
Employers can hire UC Berkeley students for half the cost with the work-study subsidy! As an off-campus employer, you can have access to a talented pool of job applicants that bring with them diverse personal, academic and career interests that can meaningfully contribute to meeting your business needs.
Become an Off-Campus Employer
The first step to become an off-campus employer is to submit an application/contract to be reviewed by the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office for processing and approval. We advise prospective employers to review federal guidance to determine if their organization may be eligible to participate in the Work-Study Program. Employers located out of the state of CA are ineligible for participation in work-study. Employers located outside of the local SF Bay Area will be reviewed on a case by case basis. Questions regarding employer eligibility can be submitted to wsp@berkeley.edu
If you are interested in becoming an off-campus employer, please submit the off-campus employer interest form and the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office will follow up with instructions on how to submit the work-study application and contract.
In order to connect a student’s Work-Study award to a specific job to receive the subsidy, you must first register a job in the Work-Study Management System (WSMS) and complete the referral process as detailed below. Both must be complete to ensure that you can receive the Work-Study subsidy.
A. Register a job in the Work-Study Management System (WSMS)
Steps:
Complete the job request form. All fields are required
When finished, select "Process Job Request" at the bottom of the page
Reminders:
Jobs must be reviewed and validated by the Work-Study staff for approval. The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office validates new job requests within 2-3 business days.
Jobs registered within WSMS are for advertisement purposes; this does not replace the HR hiring process for your organization
Jobs must be re-registered within WSMS each program year, they do not roll over from one year to the next.
B. The Referral Process Part 1: Offer the Job
Steps
Locate the job and click on the 10-digit job number in the left column
Select "Offer Job"
Enter the Student ID (SID) and follow the instructions displayed on the page
Once you receive the confirmation message of a successful offer, proceed to part 2 of the referral process below
Reminders:
To offer the job to your selected student through WSMS, you will need the student ID (SID).
This process is directly linked to student eligibility. If a student is confirmed eligible at the time you attempt the offer, you’ll receive a confirmation message. If the student is not work-study eligible, you will receive an error message, as an offer cannot be processed for anyone who is not eligible.
If you proceed with hiring a student who is not eligible (as determined by an unsuccessful offer), the employer is responsible for 100% of the earnings and will not receive the subsidy; this is not a Work-Study job.
The work-study referral process must be completed each year, even if the same student will be working in the same job. A student’s eligibility is subject to change each year, so work-study referrals do not roll over from year-to-year.
Unused work-study awards do not carry forward to the next year.
C. The Referral Process Part 2: Confirm Student Accepted Job Offer/Referral
Steps:
Enter the Student ID (SID) in the SID field and click search
Review the search results and locate the correct student record based on the job number
Review the “Status” column for the current job offer status.
Pending: The job was offered, but has not been accepted nor declined by the student
Accepted: The job was accepted by the student
Declined: The job was declined by the student
The work-study referral is confirmed once the status column reflects an accepted status
Reminders:
Once you’ve successfully offered a job to your selected candidate, the student will then need to log in to the student portal of the Work-Study Management System (WSMS) where they can accept or decline the job offered.
The process is complete only after the student accepts the job offer. This step officially links a student’s work-study award to a specific job.
WSMS will generate an email to notify the three contacts (payroll representative, general contact, supervisor) listed on the work-study job that the job was accepted. This email contains important information such as the students earnings limit for the academic year and the work-study referral effective date. This same information can be viewed on the Work-Study Management System (WSMS) > Students > Student Earnings Report.
Earnings prior to a student’s work-study referral effective date are not eligible for the subsidy. There are no exceptions to this policy.
Get Reimbursed - Timekeeping and Payroll
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To get reimbursed for the work-study subsidy, you must create a timesheet within the Work-Study Management System (WSMS) and submit a proof of payment to the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office. Work-study students are paid 100% of their earnings by the employer. Once the student has been paid, employers can receive reimbursement for the work-study subsidy by following the steps below.
Select "Students" and the "Student Earnings Report"
Select "Timesheet for:" (far left column) for the student
Within “Add New Timesheet Pay Period”, enter the pay period dates and select "Create Timesheet."
Note: the pay period dates entered MUST match the pay period on the proof of payment/pay stub.
Submit the "Proof of Payment #". The “Proof of Payment #” can be the check number, or some identifier to match the proof of payment with the entry - NOTE: Never enter a student's social security number anywhere within the Work-Study fields.
Enter the hours worked for the corresponding dates and select "Process Timesheet"
Tips and Reminders:
If you do not see a timesheet link, notify us immediately at wsp@berkeley.edu
Verify the pay rate indicated matches the current rate the student is being paid. If the pay rate is incorrect, you can type over the existing pay rate to make a change. If the pay rate is incorrect the timesheet will not match the proof of payment and reimbursement will not be approved.
B. Send Proof of Payment
Send proof of payments via email to wsp@berkeley.edu within 30 days of paying the student(s), with the following the subject line, “WSP: Proof of Payment”.
The proof of payment must match the information entered on the Work-Study timesheet including hourly rate, gross amount earned, and hours worked.
The proof of payment must show payroll tax deductions to ensure students are not being hired as contractors, as this is not permitted.
In accordance with the FERPA federal regulations and the Privacy Act, when submitting proof of payment(s), please do not include social security numbers (you may redact or totally obscure the number) in your email communications to us.
Tips and Reminders:
The Work Study Program does not subsidize holiday, sick, vacation, or any other fringe benefits. Do not include these hours worked on the timesheet.
Pay stubs, ledgers, or other official records are acceptable as long as they specify name of employer, name of student, and the pay period (check date alone is not acceptable).
C. Monitor Work-Study Timesheets for Student Validation/Approval
Once a timesheet is created and processed, the student will receive an auto generated email informing the student a timesheet is ready for their validation/ approval. Next, the student must log into the student portal of the Work-Study Management System and validate/approve their timesheet
To check whether or not students have validated timesheets, log into the Work-Study Management System (WSMS). > Reports > Reimbursements Pending. The "Student Approved" column will be populated with a date once the student approves. If the field is blank, the student has not yet approved their timesheet.
Tips and Reminders:
Reimbursements will not be approved until the online timesheet has been validated/approved by the student.
Upon approval for reimbursement, confirmation emails are sent to the email addresses listed in the job listing when reimbursements are processed. If the employer has arranged Electronic Fund Transfer/Direct Deposit, the reimbursement is usually deposited within three business days. If the employer has opted for a paper check, it should arrive in four to six weeks
Conditions of Work-Study Employment
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In accordance with Federal Regulations, employment under the Work-Study Program must follow the specific guidelines and conditions as outlined below.
A. Undergraduate students must be paid by the hour; however, graduate students can be paid by the hour or salary.
B. Work must be regulated by employment conditions, including wages that are appropriate for the type of work, the geographic location, and proficiency of the employee.
C. Students must be paid at least the federal, state, or local minimum wage, whichever is higher.
D. Work-study employment must not displace employees and must not impair any existing service contracts.
This includes filling jobs that are vacant because employees are on strike.
Replacement is interpreted as displacement- You cannot replace a full-time employee, whose position was eliminated, with a student who is paid work-study funds.
E. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, prohibits employers (including schools) from accepting voluntary services from any paid employee. Any student employed under the Work-Study Program must be paid for all hours worked.
F. Students are not permitted to work during scheduled class times. Exceptions include:
When a class is cancelled
An Instructor has excused the student from attending during a particular day
The student is receiving credit for their employment in an internship or externship
Any exceptions must be documented
G. A student may earn academic credit as well as compensation for work-study jobs. However, a student employed in a work-study job and receiving academic credit for that job may not be paid less than he or she would be if no academic credit were given.
H. Work-study does not subsidize fringe benefits such as sick leave, vacation pay, holiday pay, or employer’s contributions to Social Security, workers’ compensation, retirement, or any other welfare or insurance program. If such costs are incurred, the employer covers 100% of the cost.
I. Allow no student to work for more than forty (40) hours in any week.
J. You must maintain timesheet records of all hours worked for work-study students. Timesheets must:
Be certified by the supervisor/ school official
Show the hours a student worked during each day and the total worked during each pay cycle
Match the hours for which the student is paid
K. Solicitation or acceptance of gifts, fees, or commissions as a condition for a student’s work-study employment is prohibited.
Employer Portal: Work-Study Management System (WSMS) Instructions
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Gaining Access
Employers are granted access after the Work-Study Program application and agreement are approved by the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office. After approval, our office will provide instructions to gain access to WSMS.
FERPA
All new and existing WSMS users will be required to complete FERPA 101: Colleges and Universities training and provide a certificate of completion to wsp@berkeley.edu. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. All WSMS users are required to complete FERPA training as WSMS contains confidential, privileged, and/or FERPA-protected information.
If you wish to grant someone within your organization access, you can grant access by following these steps:
Select "Create New User Account" and completed the new user profile information requested.
When finished, select "Create My Account" at the bottom of the page.
Please note that the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act FERPA is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The Work-Study Management System (WSMS) contains confidential, privileged, and/or FERPA-protected information is the responsibility of the hiring department.
Register/Create a New Job
Log in to the Employer Portal of the Work-Study Management System (WSMS).
Select "Jobs" from the menu bar
Select "New Job"
Complete the job request form. All fields are required
When finished, select "Process Job Request" at the bottom of the page
** Jobs must be reviewed and validated by work-study staff for approval. The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office validates new job requests within two-three business days.
Use Existing Job as a Template for a New Job
Log in to the Employer Portal of the Work-Study Management System (WSMS).
Select "Jobs" from the menu bar
Select "Current Jobs"
Locate the job you want to use as the template and click on the 10-digit job number in the left column
Select "Use the current job listing as a template for a NEW job"
Enter a job begin date and complete the “Posting Information” section, these fields will not auto populate form the previous job
Review all other fields for accuracy and make any updates as needed
When finished, select "Process Job Request" at the bottom of the page
** Jobs must be reviewed and validated by work-study staff for approval. The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office validates new job requests within 2-3 business days.
Modify an Existing Job
Log in to the Employer Portal of the Work-Study Management System (WSMS).
Select “Jobs” from the menu bar
Select “Current Jobs”
Locate the job number you’re looking to modify and click on the 10-digit job number in the left column
Select “Modify and Re-submit Listing”
Make your desired changes to the job
When finished, select "Process Job Request" at the bottom of the page
** If you modified the description or qualifications, the job must be reviewed and validated by work-study staff for approval. The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office validates job requests within 2-3 business days.
Delete a Job
You can only delete a job if you haven't yet offered the job to any students.
Log in to the Employer Portal of the Work-Study Management System (WSMS).
Select “Jobs” from the menu bar
Select “Current Jobs”
Locate the job number you’re looking to modify and click on the 10-digit job number in the left column
Select "Delete Job"
**The “Delete Job” link will only appear if the job has not yet been offered to any students.
Unpost a Job
You can only delete a job if you haven't yet offered the job to any students.
Log in to the Employer Portal of the Work-Study Management System (WSMS).
Select “Jobs” from the menu bar
Select “Current Jobs”
Locate the job number you’re looking to modify and click on the 10-digit job number in the left column
Select “Modify and Re-submit Listing”
Select Within Posting Information, edit the posting end date or click on the radio button - “Do not post, I have someone selected”
