Student Financial Aid

Student Financial Aid
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5337 USA
(269) 387-6000

On-Campus Jobs for Employers

Hiring students

  • Create an appropriate job description. Select level and step according to the guidelines established by Career and Student Employment Services. For assistance, please contact (269) 387-2745.
  • Coordinate the pay rate with the model established by Career and Student Employment Services. Pay rates must be assigned based on the position and skills necessary to complete assigned tasks.
  • Confirm that the student has received a Federal Work-study offer. Students who have been offered Federal Work-study may view and print their offer letter any time using goWMU. Please ask them to provide whatever documentation you desire to confirm their offer. To assist you with this task, access COGNOS and run the following report "30.30.30 Work Study Recruitment and Award Confirmation." You will be asked to provide a semester/session. This report provides the current list of students who have received Federal Work-study, the type of Federal Work-study offered, offer status and the amount of the offer. For more information about the COGNOS reporting tool, contact the individual responsible for providing computer support to your area.
  • Complete and submit the appropriate hiring paperwork. Forms and instructions are available through Human Resources. Follow the directions provided and be sure to indicate correct Federal Work-study option on the hiring form. Please note: the workflow appointment form defaults to "Yes" – Pay from Federal Work-study (when available). If you do not intend to pay from work-study, this must be changed to "No." Be sure to check with your student employees to determine whether you are the only employing department intending to use the Federal Work-study offer during the applicable semester/session.
  • Calculate the number of hours per week the student may work within the limits of their offer. Please note that calculations assume the student is working all pay periods assigned to the semester/session.

Fall or spring

Student's offer amount / Hourly pay rate / 18 weeks = hours per week.

Summer l or summer ll

Student's offer amount / Hourly pay rate / 8 weeks = hours per week.

federal Work-Study Compliance and Audit

Maintain records for future audit inquiry, and make them available for review upon request from Student Financial Aid. The Federal Work-study Program is professionally audited each year. In the event that one or more of your student employee records is selected for review, you may be asked to provide documentation of the following program requirements:

  • Maintain a job description for each student in the program.
  • Collect time sheets for hours worked. Time sheets must include both the employee’s and the supervisor’s signature, certifying the accuracy of time reported. For departments that use time clocks instead of time sheets, a copy of the Kronos time card, as well as department approval can be provided in the event a student employee record is selected for audit. 
  • Department must verify the agreement of hours worked, and hours reported by the timekeeper.
  • All departments must verify that a student's work schedule/time reported do not conflict with their class schedule. A student should not be working during scheduled class periods. Please document student employee file with class schedule every semester of Federal Work-study employment. 

Tracking Earnings to Offer

  • Departments are responsible for tracking the student’s earnings against their offer. Once the offer maximum is reached, additional earnings will charge against the department. To assist you with this task, access COGNOS and run the following report "30.30.10 Work-study Departmental Auditing". You will be asked to provide the semester and the name of your department. For more information about the COGNOS reporting tool, contact the individual responsible for providing computer support to your area.
  • After each payroll has been processed, verify that the student’s earnings did not charge to your department’s ff/cc. If you believe your department’s ff/cc has been charged in error for Federal Work-study wages, please perform the following review before contacting financial aid:

1.      Run the following COGNOS report "30.30.10 Work-study Departmental Auditing".

2.      Verify that the student’s name appears on your roster with a corresponding Federal Work-study offer.

3.      Verify that the hiring paperwork was submitted correctly, within established deadlines.

4.      Verify that hours were reported only through the regular payroll process.

5.      Then, contact Student Financial Aid at (269) 387-6752 so we may evaluate the situation.

  • Not all charges are eligible for reimbursement from Federal Work-study. If reimbursement is deemed appropriate, it will appear in “GLOW” by the end of the financial aid year.
  • Unused offers will automatically carry forward to the next semester/session if the semester/session receiving the carry forward is within the same financial aid year (summer II, fall, spring, summer I) and the semester/session receiving the carry forward also includes a work-study offer.
  • Federal Work-study payrolls are assigned as follows:

~    summer II: pay periods 15 through 18.

~    fall: pay periods 19 through 01.

~    spring: pay periods 02 through 10.

~    summer I: pay periods 11 through 14.

Additional Program Requirements

  • Students must be employed during the department’s identified business hours.
  • Adequate supervision must be provided for the students. Supervisor must be able to document performed work.
  • You will process the time for students who have Federal Work-study in the same manner as non- Federal Work-study recipients.
  • Off-cycle payrolls will not charge to Federal Work-study. If the hours are eligible to be paid from Federal Work-study you must submit them on time, through the regular payroll process.
  • Students who are paid using Federal Work-study must work to earn wages. Please do not use Federal Work-study to compensate students for hours of study or other non-work related activities. To do so would be a violation of federal, state and University guidelines.
  • When you employ a student you must compensate them regularly for hours worked. It is not appropriate to permit a student’s hours to accumulate while finalizing the details of the student’s financial aid.