Federal Work Study - Student Employment

Hiring students for work-study positions

The Federal Work-Study (FWS) program enables eligible students to acquire work-study jobs, the wages for which are largely funded by the federal government. FWS recipients find their own jobs on campus. Although FWS appears as part of a student's financial-aid package, earnings do not credit directly to the bursar; rather, the student earns a paycheck based on an hourly pay rate. Wages vary but are never below minimum wage.

FWS is a type of campus-based award. This means that federal funds are provided to individual universities to administer at their discretion (although always within federally governed parameters); FWS amounts and eligibility requirements may therefore vary from university to university.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, schools that make use of Federal Work-Study funding "must make FWS jobs reasonably available to all eligible students at the school." In assigning FWS jobs, a school must consider the number of hours per week the student can work, the period of employment, the anticipated wage rate and the amount of other assistance available to the student.

At ONU the Office of Financial Aid is primarily responsible for the administration of the work-study program. The Office of Human Resources is responsible for payment of wages for earned under the Federal Work-Study program. Together the two offices have established the following procedure (outlined in steps below) to ensure the program is administered appropriately.

It is not our intent or desire to make administration of the program cumbersome or burdensome to you in any way; rather it is our intent to ensure jobs are completed, students are employed, student wages are paid and the federal work study program is administered appropriately. To this end, your assistance is both invaluable and greatly appreciated.

All supervisors must read the attachments below on the student employment process and sign-off that they have read and understood the new student employment guidelines before they are eligible to hire student workers.

Please note: Human Resources understands that children of ONU employees may hold a student employment position on campus. While we allow the hiring of son/daughter, you cannot be an approver or proxy for your child.

Procedure for employing students at Ohio Northern University under the Federal Work-Study program.

1. Students must be awarded financial aid to be employed in FWS positions on campus.
2. All student employment positions will be posted on Career Services. The supervisor needs to go to www.onu.edu/careers and post their student employment job once their department decides they need student employees.
3. Career Services will forward the position information to the Budget Director to verify there is a budget for these students.
4. Once the Budget Director verifies there is a budget for these students, he/she will give Career Services the go-ahead to post the position.
5. Career Services will post the position and work with hiring managers to hire a student worker. The hiring manager will give Career Services the names and ID numbers of the students they want to hire.
6. Once Career Services receives the names and ID’s of the students they want to hire, they will forward the information onto Financial Aid for authorization.
7. Financial Aid will forward the position and student information to Human Resources. Human Resources will verify that students have all the required documents turned in. Once this is verified, HR will enter the students into Self Service Banner so their timesheet shows up in Self Service Banner.
8. Students will need to complete the required employment documents, found by clicking on the "Employee Forms" link on the right hand side. The required documents are:
   1. I-9 proof of eligibility (requires presentation of certain documents verifying identity. See forms I-9, available on line for applicable documents)
   2. W-4 Federal tax withholding
   3. IT-4 State tax withholding OR IT-4NR
   4. Direct-deposit information with voided check
   5. Personal data form

Students are paid on a bi-weekly basis in accordance with the Bi-Weekly Payroll Schedule. It is critical that all time worked is input and approved via Web time entry by the bi-weekly payroll deadline. Failure of the student to report and the supervisor to approve time via Web time entry by this deadline will delay the student being paid until the next pay cycle.

• Student Employment Presentation
• How to view your budget in Self Service Banner
• How to add the Banner budget screen to “My Banner”
• Supervisor sign-off form
• Bi-weekly pay schedule