It’s not only Financial Literacy Month {#FLM2015} but, as I was reminded by the American Association of University Women members at the Caltrain station this morning, it’s also Equal Pay Day {#EqualPayDay}. Many of the day’s initiatives seem to center around negotiating for one’s pay, so it inspired this Question of the Day:

How much are students paid for college work-study jobs?

So, my first new learning is that not all colleges offer work-study; your college needs to participate in the Federal program to do so, so the folks at Federal Student Aid recommend calling the college’s financial aid office to see if work-study is an option. You qualify for work-study based on your FAFSA responses, and you’re given a set allotment of total dollars you can earn that year through work-study. Federal Student Aid says your total allotment is based on 1) your demonstrated need, 2) when you apply as it’s first come, first served, and 3) your college’s funding level. So, for example, if you are given $1500 in work-study aid, you can’t work longer or harder to earn more than that.

This brings us to the question of wage: You make at least the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25. CollegeData.com says that your rate will depend on not only the factors listed above, but also by the type of work you do and your skill or experience level. So, that begs the question of whether students can negotiate their pay rate for work-study jobs. While the total amount you earn won’t change (if you’ve got a $1500 cap, working 500 hours won’t do you any good), if you are paid a higher rate, you could presumably earn your money earlier in the school year or with far fewer hours committed per week.

A quick Google search of whether wage negotiation for work-study jobs is possible leads me to believe it depends on policies set by each college. For example:

• At the University of South Florida departments set their own wages but in general they’re $8-9.50 for general support, $9.50-10.50 for reading tutors, and $9-12.50 for specialists and technicians. Yearly raises are allowed but typically limited to $0.25 per hour.
• At Quinsigamond Community College (in MA), the base rate is $8.50 per hour; however, if you stay in the same position and enroll in professional development courses, you can receive raises up to $9/hr. They also have options for converting your off-campus community service agency job to work-study.
• The University of Houston doesn’t give a pay rate, other to say you’ll be paid at least minimum wage and wages are based on skills and experience.
• University of California Santa Cruz provides the chart featured at the top of this blog post, but it’s unclear if those are guidelines of possible pay rates or the three discrete pay rates they offer.
• Carnegie Mellon bases all its examples of work-study pay off of a $12/hour rate; it’s unclear whether that’s a set rate, a general standard, or something else.
• My alma mater, Case Western Reserve University, has four tiers of work-study pay rates, based on skills and experience, that pay between $9.20 and $13.90 an hour.
• De Anza College, in nearby Cupertino, also has four tiers, with entry level earning $8-8.75 and technical level earning $14-14.75, the highest wage I found.

Other than Case, I picked those colleges randomly by what arose earliest in my Googling, so it may or may not be fully representative of the nation’s work-study pay rates. Using my own reasoning, it appears there IS INDEED room for negotiating one’s starting rate. While a student won’t earn more total dollars than they were allotted in aid, they will earn their money in fewer hours, which will leave more time for whatever it is they’d like to do in college — study more? sleep more? socialize more? join more clubs? do more research? play more IM sports?

So, today, on Equal Pay Day, I’d recommend students of both genders represent their skills and experiences accurately, but with gusto, to achieve the best starting work-study rate they can.

About the Author

Jessica Endlich

When I started working at Next Gen Personal Finance, it's as though my undergraduate degree in finance, followed by ten years as an educator in an NYC public high school, suddenly all made sense.