Departments can now hire federal work study students for the upcoming academic year. Unfortunately, IIT’s FWS allocation was reduced again for the 2012-13 academic year. As a result and to account for our more limited funding, the Office of Financial Aid has decided to do away with the departmental allocation that was used in previous years, which means departments will not be limited in the number of students to hire. However, departments will be required to contribute 25% of the student’s wages. For example, if a student’s award is $2500, the FWS account will pay up to $1875 and the department will be responsible for $625, plus any overages.

In order to hire students, please complete the following:

1. Post a job description on the financial aid website as soon as possible. You can do so by filling out this online form (you must be logged into the myIIT portal to access this form). When you have submitted this form, the Financial Aid Office will review and post the description on their website. The Financial Aid Office will also inform all students who have been awarded FWS of the posting.
2. After you have made your hiring decision, submit an online PA through the EPAF system. You will be asked to provide a departmental FOAP to cover your 25% contribution and any overages incurred after the student has exhausted their FWS earnings.
3. Once your PA has been submitted, the financial aid office and/or payroll must collect certain employment-related documents before the student officially becomes an employee. Please do NOT allow students to work until your PA has been approved.
4. Once the Financial Aid Office determines IIT will exhaust the university’s FWS allocation for the 2012-2013 academic year, we will reject any further PAs submitted with the FWS FOAP. PAs will be processed on a first come, first served basis.

The Office of Financial Aid strongly encourage all departments to use Federal Work-Study funding to further IIT’s mission of providing a truly valuable work experience for our students. Please contact Liz Zeigler (zeigler@iit.edu) in the Office of Financial Aid with any questions about this process.