Policies & Limitations of Federal Work-Study Positions

Employment policies:

  • Supervisors must verify student eligibility prior to hire.
  • All FWS positions require a documented job description.
  • Students must know whom their immediate supervisor is and who to contact if the supervisor is not available.
  • If the Office of Student Aid is reviewing a student's FAFSA information for accuracy, the student must stop working until the verification process is complete. Students are responsible for communicating this information with their supervisor and complying with any verification “to-do” items within their LionPATH account.
  • A student's aid may not exceed their demonstrated federal financial need as determined by the FAFSA and as indicated on the Student Aid Summary in LionPATH. FWS will be reduced if the student's financial aid exceeds their demonstrated federal financial need. Students are encouraged to communicate with their supervisors regarding any changes to FWS.

Conditions and limits of all FWS positions:

  • FWS positions must not displace employees or impair existing service contracts.
  • FWS positions must not involve constructing, operating, or maintaining any part of a building used for religious worship or sectarian instruction.
  • FWS students cannot operate a vehicle as a condition of the job.
  • Students are not permitted to work in FWS positions during scheduled class times, with few exceptions. Any exceptions must be approved and documented. Please contact the Office of Student Aid for details.

Site Supervisors should establish a procedure for recording and verifying hours worked for all FWS students. Please see Monitoring and Approving Time Sheets/Hours for more information.

Submitting falsified time sheets is considered fraud against the University and the federal government; legal action may be taken against the student. Federal regulation 34 CFR 668.16(g) requires the University to report to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General if a school has credible information that a student may have committed fraud or other criminal misconduct in connection with his or her application or eligibility for federal student aid. Therefore, instances of student misconduct involving falsification of timesheets must be reported to the Penn State Office of Student Aid to ensure the University’s compliance with this federal reporting requirement.