The Federal Work-Study Program (FWS) provides part-time employment to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students attending institutions of higher education to help meet their cost of postsecondary education. The program is available to full- or part-time students and is administered through the CSU Office of Financial Aid.

FWS pays a portion of the student’s wages. At Colorado State University that is  70% of the earnings. The institution is responsible for the remaining share of the student’s wages. According to federal regulation (34 CFR 675.27), an institution may use any resource available to it, except funds allocated under the FWS program, to pay the institutional share of FWS compensation to its students. 

Consistent with 2 CRF 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Assistance Awards, cost sharing or matching cannot be paid by the federal government under another federal award, except where federal statute authorizes a program to do so. Given that most of our awards are under federal programs that are not authorized to match federal dollars with federal dollars, FWS students should not be placed on federal awards.

It should be noted, however, that in addition to FWS, CSU also has State and Institutional work study programs. Students receiving State and Institutional awards may be able to be placed on federal awards, as long as the originating funds are not from the federal government (i.e., federal flow through). 

 Additionally, all three work-study types, Federal, State, and Institutional, charge to the same object code in KFS. Departments need to see the award notice from the student to find what award type they have and should check to see if funding is federal flow through.

FWS supports our CSU mission as a Land Grant University and our Principles of Community. It supports students in their need to pay for their education, while also supporting community service jobs such as reading tutors for preschool age or elementary school children; mathematics tutors for students enrolled in elementary school through ninth grade; literacy tutors in a family literacy project performing family literacy activities; or emergency preparedness and response. But the program can be tricky to manage. Knowing what type of work study a student has, and where the money comes from, is necessary for successful management and compliance with federal statute.