Writersmom12

I posted a few weeks ago and in the meantime, both my son and I have spoken with Financial Aid regarding his work/study schedule. His "supervisor" stated that his hours cannot be reduced as this is what Financial Aid stated. Financial Aid stated that it's up to his supervisor. Does anyone know whether there is any rule/regulation that states that a student cannot reduce work/study hours or is at risk of either losing the work/study entirely or being reassigned? If the purpose of the work/study is to help with financial aid and to enable the student to work while attending class yet if the academics are at risk because of a grueling schedule, it would appear as though reducing hours (and yes, also pay) would be an easy change. Yet both "sides" are stating that it's the other side who needs to decide. I simply need to know whether there is anything *precluding* such a change. Any information or direction would be most appreciated.

3togo

I am not an expert but I'm pretty sure there is no federal law that requires all work study be used (the feds subsidize work study) ... that said, the school might have such a rule. I'm sure the logic of why a student would be required to fully utilize their work study allotment ... using less hours just means the student has less bucks ... if they can live with less bucks is seems to be the students business only IMO.

romanigypsyeyes

If you don't use the full amount, your school can decide to award you less or none the next year. That is a SCHOOL decision though.

There is no federal law that says that you have to use ANY of the funds let alone all of them.

mom2collegekids

There is no fed law that requires a student to work all the hours.

the problem may be that the particular job, when offered, stipulated that it was a certain number of hours of work each week.

kelsmom

There is no federal rule regarding this issue. Schools make their own policies regarding work study. It sounds like the financial aid policies do not stipulate any particular number of hours. The work study supervisor may simply not understand that the hours are not "mandatory." Then again, the supervisor may want a worker who works that particular number of hours & may be using this as a convenient excuse.

Writersmom12

Thank you to all who responded. This is frustrating beyond description as it appears to be an easy *fix* yet somehow both sides either don't know what the other is saying or there are some games being played. If there is no federal rule but it will put the work/study at risk, something isn't right somewhere.

Snowdog

There is no federal rule. My daughter's academic advisor actually recommended she not use all of her work study because of her demanding class load. (Which is a separate issue from the financial aid implications of not using all of it.)

kelsmom

Definitely no federal rule (I am in charge of work study for my school).

thumper1

Did your son accept a job with more hours than he wants to work...hoping that the hours could be reduced? If so, this may be the issue. I agree with others...there are no stipulations regarding using all of the hours awarded. However, if the supervisor wanted and hired your student for a 10 hour a week job, and the student wants to do this job for only 5 hours, the supervisor may be using this as a reason to remove your son from this job. I will say, at my daughter's college, there were some work study jobs where the student accepting the job understood there was a minimum number of required hours per week to KEEP the job.