Work-Study FAQs

Congratulations! The first step to receiving your work-study award is accepting it in your Student Financial Aid portal. We recommend accepting your award if you intend on using it, even if you don’t have a job yet. This lets us know that you are still interested. Work-study is optional, not a requirement. You don’t have to pursue employment, employment is not guaranteed, and there is no penalty for declining this part of your award package.

• We may cancel your award after 30 days, if you have not accepted it, so other students can be awarded from the waitlist.
• If you do not intend on using your work-study award, you can decline it. This will help free up funds for another student on the waitlist to be awarded.
• Declining your work-study award could make you eligible for more loans. Likewise, canceling subsidized loans may make you eligible for more work-study funds. Contact us to discuss your options.

If you do not already have a job lined up, you can find a job and apply through Handshake. While most on-campus jobs are eligible for work-study, not all meet federal requirements. Jobs that require work-study funding will be indicated as work-study only. Otherwise, departments who are hiring students with their own funding may still hire you and utilize your award. You may apply to on-campus positions and let the hiring supervisor know that you have an accepted work-study award. Once hired, you will work to earn a paycheck every two weeks until you have earned your full award amount.

Possibly. If you are already working and receive a work-study award, you can ask your supervisor if your position is work-study eligible. If they determine that it is, they will need to hire you into another work-study specific job assignment so funding can come from us. You will then submit hours under the newly created job assignment number on your timesheet.

We recommend not to terminate regular student employee job assignments until all work ends. This allows you to submit any potential hours outside of work-study regulations with ease.

You can be employed in two work-study positions at the same time. Between the two work-study jobs you are limited to no more than 20 hours per week. Due to this you will need to coordinate between your positions to ensure you do not exceed 20 hours weekly. Please note this may impact your utilization rates on your work-study award.

There is an option to be hired into a second, regular student employee job assignment with your hiring department’s funding to provide seamless timesheet submissions. This can be done if you plan to continue working beyond work-study regulations. This includes more than 20 hours per week or over summer break while we set up the new aid year awards. You will need to ensure you select the correct job assignment number when submitting your time sheet to separate your work-study hours from the regular student employee hours.

You’ll receive funding once you start working and earn bi-weekly paychecks. The award amount offered to you represents the maximum amount you are eligible to earn in a work-study position.

• Work-Study Employee Enter, Save or Submit a Timecard (pay close attention to steps 6 and 7 for selecting the correct work-study job assignment, which attaches accurate funding and time reporting codes)

• Work-study funding does not disburse to your student account to pay your fees. Instead, you will receive a paycheck from Boise State according to our payroll calendar.
• You may earn wages up to the amount offered in work-study funding. Once your total paycheck earnings reach your award limit, you must discontinue working and submitting hours under your work-study job assignment. Your employer may choose to pay your wages from a different funding source through a separate, regular student employee job assignment.
• Paycheck amounts vary based on the wage offered by your employer and number of hours you work. How much you earn overall is determined by your total paycheck earnings throughout the aid year.
• Unused funds cannot be carried over to the next academic year.

All work can be performed at any time between July 1 and the end of the fiscal year (usually the second week of June), for the academic year in which you were awarded.

• You must be rehired, with a new job assignment, each year so earnings are correctly assigned to your aid year award.
• You may work at any time within a semester as long as you are enrolled.
• You may work up to 20 hours per week with your work-study job assignment.
• During summer and winter breaks, you may work up to 20 hours per week as long as you are enrolled for the upcoming semester. 
• The majority of work-study assignments will end on the last day of classes for Fall or Spring term, depending on each student’s enrollment.

Awards are specific to each Academic Year. Therefore, you must be hired into new job assignments and separated by the end of the year to accurately match your total earnings to your award amount. Job assignments may NOT roll over from one year to the next, even if you are working in the same position.

To be eligible to work during winter or summer break you must be enrolled for the following semester.

This means:

• During winter break, you must be enrolled for Spring.
• At the start of Summer term you may continue to work using that aid year’s award, through the beginning of June, if you are enrolled in the summer term.
• Starting July 1, you must be enrolled in Fall and have an award for the upcoming aid year.