<p>i agree the work-study policy is confusing as ****. but as a student who doesn’t qualify for financial aid who has held a work-study job for the past 2 semesters, let me try to clear some things up:</p>
<p>-there are 2 different kinds of work-study, duke work study (50% of your pay is subsidized by duke) and federal work study (75% of your pay is subsidized by the federal govt)</p>
<p>-any duke student can get duke work study, there is no financial requirement. for federal work study you have to demonstrate need.</p>
<p>-however, you must fill out the fafsa. i don’t know why. but once you do, explain to them that you only want duke work study, and they can do that.</p>
<p>-do all this EARLY (like, summer) if you want a job as soon as possible. the finaid office can take forever to email you your work study papers under these circumstances (because students who need it are higher priority), but you can’t get paid without them.</p>
<p>-it’s true that most jobs don’t require work study, but all employers prefer work-study students (duh, you only have to pay them half as much) and since it’s possible to get it, they usually won’t hire you non-work-study.</p>