Hire a Student

While potential employers must follow a specific process to post open positions and hire work-study students, it doesn't take long for employer partners to reap the benefits of employing a work-study student, including reduced payroll costs and investing in the future of a motivated college student.

How to Become a Work-Study Employer

STEP 1: Contact the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships
Whether you are an on-campus departments or agency, or you are an off-campus employer, initiating the process is as simple as picking up the telephone. Simply contact the University of South Carolina's Federal Work-Study Program Assistant in the Financial Aid Office by calling 803-777-8134.

STEP 2: Complete a Contract with the University (off-campus employers only)
After contacting our office, off-campus agencies must also complete a contract with the university. This contract details the relationship between your agency and your employees, as well as your relationship with USC. During your call, our staff will walk you through the process for completing a university contract, which details the relationship between your agency and your employees, as well as your relationship with USC.

Hiring Restrictions

USC Federal Work-Study students work in a wide array of on- and off-campus jobs for both public and private nonprofit agencies. However, there are some restrictions on the type of tasks that work-study students can perform. For example, work-study students may not be used to displace full-time employees.

We encourage departments to hire students for the fall and spring semesters. If a student or employee decides that they do not want to work for the following semester, a Student Status Change can be used to modify. Departments must be aware that they are responsible for keeping up with the hours a student is working for FWS. Because payroll generates time a month in lag, the financial aid office is unable to calculate the amount of hours to determine students' present hours. We can only provide award amounts for the past month.

The vast majority of work-study students work on campus in various departments of the university. Work performed by work-study students must be in the public interest. Therefore, work-study students may NOT participate in USC's for-profit activities such as rental of athletic fields, auditoriums, theaters or parking lots.

Students are encouraged to work off campus with both public (federal, state and local) and private nonprofit employers. However, there are certain activities strictly prohibited by federal law. Work-study students may NOT work:

for the U.S. Department of Education
for limited membership organization (e.g. credit union, fraternal or religious order, cooperatives)
in the construction, operation or maintenance of any part of a facility used for religious purposes
in any political activity
in any activity that involves lobbying at the federal, state or local level

Advertising Your Work-Study Position

Handshake

All employers are required to post jobs through Handshake.

Academic Colleges, Schools and Departments (optional)

If you are looking for students with particular skills or interests, you may want to contact individual colleges and schools to determine how to post work-study opportunities. For example, if you need a student with IT skills, you might try the College of Engineering and Computing.

The Daily Gamecock (optional)

USC's student newspaper, The Daily Gamecock, is published each weekday during the academic year and each Wednesday during the summer months. Call 803-777-3888 to purchase print advertising space for a nominal fee, and be sure to identify the position as "work-study."