Work-Study FAQ
Eligibility
What makes a student work-study eligible?
On-Time FAFSA/WASFA
January 31, 2026
New first-years and transfer students
Current/continuing students
Have at least $7,000 of need
$1,000 of unmet need
Student must be degree seeking.
Enrolled in at least half-time.
Meeting Satisfactory Academic Progress for their work-study type.
Checked yes on interest form.
If the student meets all requirements except the on-time date, the student may appeal their eligibility by emailing sfs.workstudy@wsu.edu. However, the student must have secured on-campus, work-study eligible employment before we will grant the exception.
Can Global students get work-study?
It depends.
If a Global student is working on a physical campus, they can apply for an appeal to sfs.workstudy@wsu.edu. To use work-study, a student must be employed by WSU.
Work-Study Portal
Can we use a group email as a secondary contact so that multiple HR partners can access that information? Or does it have to be a specific person?
No.
The secondary contact needs to be an email tied to a person with Okta Verify. Without that, they won’t be able to log in and view the created Work-Study Authorizations.
What happens if I use a departmental email?
No one will be able to log in to the account, which removes the ability to log into the Work-Study Portal and view your team’s Work-Study Authorizations.
What should I do if a group of HR Partners need to be able to see the WSAs?
We recommend having one person as a designated point person who is responsible for forwarding emails to the departmental contact.
Two people can be on the Work-Study Authorization—the person who entered it and a secondary contact. You can potentially have two HR Partners on the WSA if that is more beneficial to your team.
What is the point of the termination date in the Work-Study Portal?
If a student stops working for your department, that is when you would add that termination date. This tracks staff turnover or student employment changes within departments.
Previously, when students leave one job and move to a new job, the second employer wasn’t able to add a WSA for that student because one already existed. This prevented accurate tracking for the second employer.
If the first employer sets a termination date in the Work-Study Portal, it then allows Student Financial Services to reassess the student’s work-study eligibility. Then the new employer could submit a new Work-Study Authorization and then track that student’s usage.
The Portal can assist in tracking active work-study employment. If a student is no longer working with your department, you no longer need to track them. And so you can add that termination date.
This is also helpful for SFS’s tracking of work-study funds and potentially allow more students to access work-study.
If I terminate somebody in the fall in the Work-Study Portal, are you removing work-study from the student completely?
No.
Work-study is earned and not dispersed, so past earnings aren’t affected by staff changes. Only financial aid changes can impact past work-study earnings due to need-based aid and cost of attendance limits.
Once a termination date has been entered, SFS will communicate with the student to see if they intend to work in a different work-study job. If they say no, we can potentially remove a portion of the work-study award. For example, if a student stops working in the fall and chooses not to work in the spring, only their spring work-study would be removed. This could open up work-study for another student.
The student could change their mind—at that time, we would reevaluate their financial aid package to see if there’s available room.
Employment
Can a student be denied a position because they aren’t work-study eligible?
Yes.
SFS leaves that up to employers. If you submit an authorization for a student, and SFS is unable to fit work-study on their financial aid offer, you have to evaluate if you can afford to employ the student entirely with departmental funds.
This is partly why we suggest waiting for that authorization to be processed before the student starts working.
If a student chooses to use work-study for another job instead of the position they were originally used, do you terminate in the Work-Study Authorization or remove the work-study pay in Workday?
In this case, you would add a termination date in the Work-Study Portal and move the student to a student-hourly position in Workday.
Payroll recommends students have two positions in Workday—one that is tied to a work-study compensation grade and one that is tied to a student-hourly compensation grade. Once the student has exhausted their work-study award, you would have the employee report their time on the student-hourly position. The work study position should be maintained until the end of the semester. To assist with the identification of positions, departments can assign display names and label which position should be used for time entry.
If you have questions regarding Workday, please reach out to Payroll Services at payroll@wsu.edu.
If work-study follows the student, would switching jobs mean the new job would have access to the student’s remaining work-study funds?
Not necessarily.
Work-study is tied to the student, not the employer. However, the new employer needs to have an active Work-Study Authorization so SFS knows where the student is actually working.
Below is an example of steps that could be taken in this situation:
Student is hired at Job A by Employer A.
Employer A submits a Work-Study Authorization for the full academic year.
SFS process it and awards work-study to the student for the full academic year.
Employer A creates a position in Workday with a work-study compensation grade.
Student works at Job A.
Student leaves Job A at the end of the fall semester.
Employer A submits a termination date in the student’s WSA in the Work-Study Portal.
This doesn’t remove already earned work-study. It only communicates that the student is no longer working with Employer A.
SFS communicates with the student to see if they plan to get a new on-campus, work-study eligible job.
If the student says yes, they do plan to use work-study at a new job, SFS will determine if they meet requirements at that time and set a new work-study eligible checklist on their account.
If a student says no, their work-study will be canceled. If a student changes their mind, they will need to email sfs.workstudy@wsu.edu so we can determine if they are still eligible for work-study.
Student gets hired at Job B by Employer B in the spring semester.
Employer B submits a Work-Study Authorization for the student for the spring.
Student begins working at Job B.
That termination date is an additional tool to track work-study employment for employers and SFS. How work-study works in Workday is still the same.
To use work-study funds appropriately, SFS needs to know if students are actually using the work-study, which is why we’ve implemented this tool. The more we know, the more likely it is that a greater number of students can utilize work-study.
If a department neglected to ask if their newly hired students had work-study, can you submit a Work-Study Authorization retroactively for the semester that just ended?
No.
We don't process retroactively due to constraints in Payroll. After the term has ended, Payroll reconciles work-study funds so we can accurately reflect students' actual work-study earnings in their financial aid offer.
However, if it’s within the semester, you can set dates retroactively on a position with a work-study compensation grade in Workday.
Tracking Work-Study Usage
What report do I use to track work-study earnings?
CR PAY Work-Study Payroll Transactions report in Workday. If you type it into the search bar in Workday, it should pop up.
This report shows the funding split—SWS (state) or FWS (federal) is the department budget (40% of the position) and SWT or FWT is the work-study funding (60% of the position). Both funds together can go up to the earnings cap in the chart below.
For example, as soon as both SWS and SWT equal $3,000 for the spring 2026 term, the student should be switched to student hourly, which is 100% funded by the department. Here’s an equation, just in case it helps:
SWS (40%) + SWT (60%) = | Work-Study earnings cap (100%) |
$1,200 + $1,800 = | $3,000 |
I recommend coordinating with your department’s fiscal team (if you’re not a part of the fiscal team) because they may be more familiar with Workday and funding splits.
How does the 60% work-study and 40% department fund work?
For 2026-27, students can earn up to $6,000 in work-study, $3,000 in the fall and $3,000 in the spring. The 60% and the 40% together can equal the earnings cap.
In other words, the student can earn up to $3000 combined. So it would be 60% of the $3,000 ($1,800) and 40% of the $3000 ($1,200).
If you’re having trouble tracking or understanding the reports, please reach out to us at sfs.workstudy@wsu.edu. We can Zoom or Teams call to discuss your students.
If a student has multiple positions on campus, can only one be associated with their work-study?
Yes.
However, if a student has multiple positions in one department, it is possible for both positions to have work-study, but it requires very detailed tracking on the employer’s part. If an employer chooses to do this, the student will use their work-study much faster than if it’s tied to one position.
We don’t recommend work-study on multiple positions across departments because it increases the likelihood of retroactive adjustments by Payroll at the end of the term, which will revert the work-study award back to student-hourly if the student has gone over their work-study earnings cap.
If a student has multiple positions across departments, it’s recommended the student chose one position to use their work-study in. A student can use work-study at Position 1 in the fall and Position 2 in the spring and still work at both positions if their employer is able to fund their position without work-study.
Now that the semester has ended, does that affect the what student receives in financial aid moving forward?
No.
What they have on their financial aid package tends to be the same because we don’t award work-study in the summer. There are some exceptions, so donors will sometimes give a late scholarship and that will get added to a student’s financial aid offer or a scholarship will move. Usually, after the terms have ended financial aid is pretty stagnant.
Compensation
What compensation grade should I assign to my student employees?
Please ensure the correct> Work-Study compensation grade> is assigned to the position in Workday.
Workday’s work-study data integration runs nightly. After the work-study compensation grade is assigned to the employee's position, the work-study award information appears in the employee’s Position Restrictions → Additional Data tab the following day. Access to this data is typically limited to your department's HR Partner, so coordination with them may be necessary.
Please make sure the Work-Study position complies with the student employee classification and compensation guidelines provided by HRS:
https://hrs.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/StudentClassCompPlan-_-Jan-1-2026.pdf
For WSU guides on how to assign work-study in Workday, please see:
If they worked in semester funding was pulled out in October. Are we on the hook for the funding coverage in September?
Yes.
The funding would be reverted to student hourly, and 100% of that would come out of your departmental budget.
What dates can work-study be applied?
2026-27 Work-Study Appointment Dates
Fall semester: August 16–December 31
Spring semester: January 1–May 15
During a semester, work-study can be backdated to the start of the current term.
Work-study is generally not awarded during the summer.
After a student is hired and work-study eligible, can we pay a higher rate that would be changed back once the student reached their work-study earnings cap i.e. minimum wage, civil service comparable?
Yes.
After a student has exhausted their work-study, it is possible to change their future compensation to the wage that all your other student-hourly employees are earning. If the student’s work-study pay is a classified comparable wage, that student-hourly wage could be lower than what they were earning under work-study.
However, you cannot retroactively adjust a student’s rate. For example, if the student’s work-study is at a classified-comparable rate and their work-study was reduced two months later, you can’t change the rate of those wages already earned during those two months. If that were to happen, the student would owe money to their employer. At the end of the term, the HR Compensation team would revert the student’s wage back to the wage the student was originally earning, so it’s best to not touch it.
Please note that we are constantly working with Human Resources Services to ensure accuracy and will notify you all if anything changes.
Financial Aid
What are some of the reasons a student would decline to use work study?
Oftentimes we see it due to loans, especially if they've already taken out all of their loans up to their need-based aid limits and cost of attendance limits. If a student is in that position and they want to add work-study, they would have to pay back some of those loans immediately. And some students don't want that bill.
Some students prefer to receive a lump sum. If they prefer to get the money up front, work-study isn't for them. But we do provide those options to them. Whatever the student prefers is what we will do.
In cases where student declines work study, SFS will asks them to work with their employer to see if they can remain employed without that funding, because we do know that that can alleviate pressures on the department.
Why would work-study be reduced?
Work-study may be reduced if a student receives additional need-based aid, like scholarships, later than they were awarded work-study. Because we have to stay within those need-based aid and cost of attendance limits, we may adjust work-study to make room for that additional aid.