Federal Work Study (FWS) Student Financial Services

Financial Aid Specialist Kristie Signorello Financial Aid Specialist 977-3438 signorkn@slu.edu

Eligibility In order for students to be eligible for participation in the FWS program at Saint Louis University, the following criteria are necessary: Student with full-time registration in a degree-seeking program and charged the full-time tuition rate will receive priority review. Three-fourths and half time students will be reviewed thereafter. Student must show financial need as determined by the Office of Student Financial Services. Student must file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) each year. .

Student’s financial aid file must be complete Student’s financial aid file must be complete. All requested documents must have been submitted and verification of data completed prior to receipt of FWS Request Form. Student must make Satisfactory Academic Progress for receipt of Title IV student aid as verified by the Office of Student Financial Services. Student must be requested via the FWS Request Form and be approved and assigned by the Office of Student Financial Services.

What is “Financial Need”? Estimated cost of attendance – School determines the estimated amount that it will cost to attend. Minus EFC (Expected Family Contribution) – Determined each year through the FAFSA. Equals financial need.

Posting your job: Prepare your job description. The form for this, as well as all other forms you’ll need, are online at finaid.slu.edu under “Forms and Information” – Faculty/Staff Documents. Send the job description to signorkn@slu.edu. You will need to send a job description each year, even if the job has not changed, to stay in compliance with the Federal Work Study regulations. Post the job at http://slu.edu/x30305.xml. You will have to register as an employer. This site is administered through Career Services. You will indicate that you are looking for FWS-eligible student workers.

Departments may only hire a student for an FWS position with official approval from the Office of Student Financial Services. This request must be in writing/email to the FWS Specialist on the FWS Request Form. Departments will receive the request form back with the appropriate response and/or eligibility amount. Copies of all requests are kept on file in the Office of Student Financial Services.

Term Dates Fall Term: August 28, 2011 – December 24, 2011 - up to 15 hours per week Holiday Break: December 25, 2011 – January 14, 2012 – up to 40 hours per week Spring Term: January 15, 2012 – May 12, 2012 –

Students may work up to 40 hours per week during the summer term. Summer term is always handled separately from fall/spring. A student who is FWS eligible for fall and spring may or may not be eligible for summer, as there are some different criteria involved. If a student is not enrolled for summer term, but is enrolled for the following fall term, they may still be eligible for FWS during the summer. In those cases, the student’s eligibility is based on the following year’s FAFSA information. Even if a student has been working for your department during the fall and/or spring, you must do a new FWS Request and EPAF for summer.

In order for a student to move from one assignment to another, we must have verification from the original employer/department in writing, through email or fax, stating that the department is ending the student’s assignment. The verification must include the date the assignment has ended or will end. The department must also send a revised EPAF to Human Resources showing the new end date. No additional hours should be submitted on the ended FWS assignment once the new end date has passed. This is to help prevent double EPAFs for the same student at different departments and students being paid out of incorrect accounts. When verification is completed, SFS will be able to re-assign the student to a new department if requested and the new department may submit an EPAF.

FWS REQUEST PROCEDURE Use the FWS Request Form provided online to send requests for students to participate in the FWS program. This is the ONLY form used for this purpose. As stated, the FWS Request Form is only a request to hire a student. The request form does not guarantee that the student is eligible to work in your department. FWS eligibility can change after being reported to the department on the FWS Request Form. Such things as FAFSA changes and financial aid award revisions can change FWS eligibility at any point during the year. If this happens, we will make every attempt to keep the FWS eligibility as close to the original award as possible, but there may be times when funds will have to be charged back to the departmental account.

STUDENTS MAY BE INELIGIBLE FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS: Ineligible: The student has applied for financial aid and has a valid FAFSA Record on file, but does not show sufficient need for FWS. No FAFSA: We have not yet received a valid FAFSA record for the 2011/12 academic year and cannot determine eligibility for financial aid at this time. If the students have questions, advise them to contact their financial aid counselor at 977-2350 for assistance. Assigned: The student has already been requested by and assigned to another department and is not presently available for your request. On Wait List: Student is eligible for FWS however funds are not available at time of request. Review of these funds will be conducted on a monthly basis. Department requests have been noted in system. Departments will need to request them again after the 15th of the next month. Incomplete file: The student’s financial aid file is incomplete at this time. No further action may be taken. Advise the student to contact his or her financial aid counselor immediately. Refer to Me: A situation exists within the student’s financial aid file, which requires the student to contact this office for assistance. These are CONFIDENTAL MATTERS and no information may be disclosed. Have the student contact his or her financial aid counselor or me immediately. RFWS - after one month, you must request the student again. (We review FWS funds and requests on or about the 15th of every month.) Students are sent a notification when they receive FWS. If they let you know, then you can request them again.

Federal Work Study Off Campus Agreements If you are requesting students that will work outside of the University (meaning non-University owned buildings), I will work with you directly to make sure additional Federal Program guidelines are followed before you can submit an EPAF. Please indicate on your FWS request form if this student will work outside the University.

Please make note, email is the quickest way to have your request processed! You may fax it or send it inter-office mail, but realize these two options have delays in getting processed. Email comes right to the desk for processing. So I encourage everyone to email the request to me! signorkn@slu.edu

HOURS AND ACCOUNTING The FWS federal account will cover 75% of the federal minimum wage toward the student’s salary. The standard Federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. The FWS account will cover $5.43 per hour of the Federal minimum wage. The department’s share of the FWS expense is the remaining 25%.

Students should only be paid for actual hours worked which does not include lunch breaks, appointments, holidays, sick time or studying time. No student is allowed to exceed the maximum total hours authorized for any given period. If the total maximum hours are exceeded, the excess hours will be charged to your departmental account. If there is a possibility that your student(s) will exceed that maximum or if you had reallocations processed last year, please set up a regular student worker assignment initially when you submit your EPAF(s) to cover any hours worked over the maximum allowed.

EPAFs-Electronic Personnel Action Form Please make sure when completing your EPAFs that you are using the correct information. Some common reasons why an EPAF will be sent back for corrections are: Incorrect fund number: Correct fund # is 397211 until July 1, 2012. Incorrect account number: Correct FWS Account # is 662000 Incorrect labor distribution %: See labor distribution chart

Work Study is a FEDERAL Program, and we must stay in compliance with the Federal program guidelines! There are no exceptions. We must use correct forms, calculations, fund and account numbers. If it is not correct, FWS Requests and EPAFs can not be processed.

Step by Step Guide to FWS 1. Prepare the FWS Job Description. http://www.slu.edu/Documents/enrollment/sfs/12y%20FWS%20Job%20Description%280%29.doc 2. Send it to FWS Specialist: signorkn@slu.edu 3. Post the job through Career Services (977-2828) on http://slu.edu/x30305.xml 4. Interview students, and once you know who you want to hire, complete the FWS Request Form, found at: http://www.slu.edu/Documents/enrollment/sfs/12y%20fwsrequest.xls 5. Forward it to my email. 6. I will determine the student’s eligibility and send it back to you. If the student is eligible, you submit their EPAF. **Some important information you will need for the EPAF Fall/Spring term dates: 8/28/11 – 5/12/12 Holiday Break: 12/25/11 – 1/14/12 FWS Fund Code: 397211 FWS Account Number – 662000 Labor Distribution - http://www.slu.edu/services/fin_aid/forms/FWSLaborDistribution.pdf 8. The student submits proof of eligibility to work to Human Resources. 9. Once the EPAF is approved by all approvers, a time sheet is created in the student’s “MySLU”, where they can log their hours.

Post job on career services site. FWS Job Description Post job on career services site. No Yes Student Worker Assignment FWS Request FWS Approval & Amount Submit EPAF (comes to FWS Queue) EPAF goes through Queue HR Approval Timesheet created

Kristie Signorello, FWS Specialist: 977-3438 Contacts: Kristie Signorello, FWS Specialist: 977-3438 Email: signorkn@slu.edu Student Financial Services: 977-2350 Career Services: 977-2828