Issue Briefs

About

Along with Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, FWS is a campus-based aid program in which institutions match federal dollars allocated to campuses and direct funding individually to undergraduate and graduate students based on need. Under FWS, financial aid administrators ensure that participating low-income students have part-time, generally on-campus work opportunities as part of their student aid packages, though no statutory or regulatory limits on the number of hours per week or payment period exist, except for when earnings would exceed a student’s need. Students who participate in the FWS program are generally more likely to persist to graduation and succeed in securing post-graduation employment, according to research.  

Unlike other types of financial aid, work-study earnings are not applied directly to tuition and fees.  Students who are awarded work-study receive funds in a paycheck as they earn them, based on hours worked or, for graduate students, by salary.  Typically, FWS earnings are meant to help with a student's daily expenses and not meant to cover large costs like tuition and on-campus housing.  

Recent Developments

FWS has recently been targeted for funding cuts in the annual appropriations process to meet spending reduction goals.  While funding has, thus far, been maintained, critics of the program say it is poorly targeted and should be reformed to ensure federal dollars are helping the students most in need at the least-resourced institutions. NAICU supports maintaining the current structure of the FWS program and increasing program funding to keep pace with inflation.