Federal Work Study

The UT Dallas Office of Financial Aid awards Federal Work-Study (FWS) as part of your financial aid package when you complete your FAFSA each academic year.

The Office of Student Employment manages your experience after you accept your FWS funds in Galaxy. Once you accept, you’ll need to secure a job to earn those funds – which means that you’ll never have to repay it! Your FWS Award is an amount you work towards, not a grant, scholarship, or tuition credit that kicks in all at once.

In general, any on-campus job qualifies for earning your FWS funds and you can also work off-campus at one of our approved affiliate organizations. The work hours you log in these positions will be paid out to you via a paycheck – either direct deposit to your bank account or by a physical check, if you choose.

Recipient Benefits

The dollars you earn to help meet your college expenses will not be counted as income for your financial aid eligibility determination next year. You will get on-the-job experience that will give you an edge in the job market after graduation. Also, working with accomplished professionals will provide you with valuable references for your future post-graduate careers.

When working with a FWS Award, your wages will be partially federally subsidized, making you even more attractive to employers than you already are! All our affiliated off-campus agencies as well as select on-campus postings are advertised to FWS award recipients only.

What this means for you: you have more chances of being selected to those work-study only jobs since the applicant pool is smaller!

How to Apply

All job listings are accessible online through Handshake, our job listings database. You can find FWS jobs by using the “on-campus” OR “work-study” filter. You will automatically receive a Handshake account when you register for courses. You’ll be using the NetID version of your UTD email (ex: xyz123456@utdallas.edu) to sign in.

Considerations

Guidelines

  • 20 hours of work per week maximum (up to 40 hr/week during Winter Break and Spring Break at supervisor discretion)
  • FWS funds can only be applied to one job at a time
  • Work hours cannot interfere with your class hours, even if classes are cancelled
  • Semi-monthly paychecks (usually on the 1st and 15th)

Award Maximum

Once you reach your award maximum, you can request an increase from Financial Aid or talk to your employer about a continuity plan. You can also reach out to workstudy@utdallas.edu and we’ll facilitate these conversations on your behalf.

Before Starting

Consider your priorities before you begin your job search. What is your maximum FWS funds for the year and how many hours of work can you fit into a typical week? What types of jobs are you interested in? What experiences and skills do you hope to gain from your employment?

If you’re stumped by any of these questions, your Career Consultant can help. Whether you need to update your resume or practice your interview skills, your Career Consultant can drastically increase your odds of getting the job you want.

Questions

We’re always happy to discuss the intricacies of FWS with you directly – you can send your questions by email to workstudy@utdallas.edu.