My daughter had a floor mate (SUNY) whose family also didn’t understand work study. My daughter said that the girl had shifts until 3 am, at one of the dining commons, and came into the dorm really late missing a lot of her early classes. She also took non-work study hours in the cafeteria to supplement her WS dollars.
The girl was from California (like my daughter) and had no problem finding shifts in the cafeteria. Her problem was finding shifts that would work with her early schedule. She dropped out of the school after the first semester because she, and her family, used that money to fund her school fees and, I guess, she explained that she couldn’t keep up with her grades and do late night hours at the commons.
My ddd2 worked the campus jobs at UC Davis which paid more than the WS jobs her friends had. Initially, she was applying for WS jobs that were available to both sets of students. Davis had every type of work study job for every lab and every professor. When she learned that the WS jobs would go to WS students, she went over to the campus job listings. My daughter’s friends eventually sought out the campus and community jobs because the hours were often better and the pay was better.
I worked at my work study job for two years. (My job entailed time-stamping student papers and assignments for the Social Work department and running a few copies for the students; the rest of the time I was encouraged to study, at my “desk”. I had about 10 hours a week). I later discovered that I could go off campus for a few steps and make more money working at the clinic.
I think most kids and their families ASSUME that work study dollars, listed in their offer, will match what was presented in their packet.