Need help in your department, lab or office? Student Financial Services can help locate and hire part-time student workers for the 2012-13 academic year — and, at the same time, help stretch WUSTL budgets a bit further.
Departments hiring eligible federal work-study students pay only 55 percent of the student’s total earnings. The other 45 percent is covered with U.S. Department of Education funding. For the 2012-13 academic year, approximately 1,200 students are eligible for work-study.
More than 900 work-study-eligible undergraduates worked in more than 170 university departments and offices during the 2011-12 academic year, including the Department of Biology and Performing Arts Department (PAD), both in Arts & Sciences. Students also worked as federal work-study reading tutors with St. Louis-area elementary school students.
“We are truly delighted each year to welcome our new work-study students in biology,” says Judy Musick, administrative director in biology. “Very quickly they become part of our department — and thus our ‘family’ — while contributing countless hours and talent to working in offices and labs.
“The best contribution our work-study students bring, in my opinion, is their enthusiasm and ‘can-do’ attitude, regardless of the level of complexity of the task at hand,” Musick says.
Each year, the U.S. Department of Education provides WUSTL with funding that subsidizes the wages of student workers eligible to participate in the Federal Work-Study Program.
This helps departments and offices obtain talented, part-time employees and, at the same time, helps students finance some of their education costs.
“The show would not go on without the work-study students in the Performing Arts Department,” says Cynthia Kahn, assistant to the chair of the PAD. “They are responsible for all aspects of our productions: They build and paint the sets and props, sew the costumes, run the lights and sound, and strategize and implement the marketing.
“They are a valuable resource for our professional designers and technical staff,” Kahn says. “In addition, by taking advantage of the Federal Work-Study Program, the department saves more than $12,000 per year.”
For assistance with hiring work-study-eligible students, contact James McDonald, assistant director of Student Financial Services, at (314) 935-6847 or James_McDonald@wustl.edu.