Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships 218 Kerr Administration Building, Corvallis OR 97331-2120 T 541-737-2241 F 541-737-4494 E financial.aid@oregonstate.edu/ Federal Work-Study Program OSU Off-Campus Employer Handbook 2012-2013 Table of Contents Purpose Off-Campus Employer Requirements Process for New Off-Campus Work- Study Employers FWS Program Requirements Student Eligibility Provisions of Work Hiring Checklist OSU Campus Resources Post Jobs on Beaver JobNet including Reposting Previous Jobs Complete Federal Work-Study Off- Campus Employment Referral forms Off-Campus Employer Work Study Template Work Study Wage-to-Hours Table Page 1 of 14
Purpose The Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program provides employment opportunities for students with financial need. FWS enables students to work and earn money during the summer and academic year to help pay for educational costs. The OSU Financial Aid Office determines the eligibility of all students who apply for Federal Work-Study funding. The program is designed to create new and expanded job opportunities and to enable as many students to work as possible. Off-Campus Employer Requirements 1. Employer must be a qualified non-profit, public or private agency. 2. Positions for work-study students must meet federal and OSU requirements for work-study jobs. 3. Off-Campus employers must sign a work-study agreement with OSU. 4. Each year the employer must submit a non-discrimination statement. 5. Off-campus employers must obtain access to Beaver JobNet where jobs are posted. 6. The employer must require that students being interviewed bring with them a Federal Work-Study Off-Campus Employment Referral from the Office of Financial Aid to verify their eligibility for work-study hiring. 7. Students will be paid through OSU's payroll: a. Off-campus employers must send new hires to OSU Payroll with the Federal Work-Study Off-Campus Employment Referral completed by the student and employer for completion of required paperwork (I-9, W-4, etc.). Students must bring their social security card (not a copy) and a photo ID to the Payroll windows 17 or 18 on the first floor of the Kerr Administration Building. b. The employer will submit student timesheets to OSU Payroll Department for processing. 8. Off-campus employers may need to submit an advance payment for the agency's portion of the student's wages. 9. Employers are required to indicate on the time sheet whether the student's performance is satisfactory. 10. Students should be referred to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships if there are questions concerning their ability to work beyond their Federal Work- Study Off-Campus Employment Referral authorization or maintaining their eligibility for the FWS program. Page 2 of 14
Process for New Off-Campus Work-Study Employers: 1. Submit information about the agency, including proof of IRS tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) if non-profit, and a position description for each potential work-study position to the Work-Study Coordinator at OSU. 2. OSU's Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships will determine if the employer and positions meet the requirements for federal work-study. 3. Once the employer is determined eligible for work-study, an OSU workstudy agreement and a non-discrimination statement must be signed and submitted to OSU. 4. Pay OSU any advance required for payroll. 5. Set up an account on Beaver JobNet and post positions. FWS Program Requirements 1. Employment must be with a qualified non-profit, public, or private agency. 2. Duties performed by work-study students must be appropriate and reasonable considering the type of work performed in the geographical region, and proficiency of each employee. Work-study duties performed cannot: a. displace any Classified employee(s), impair the existing contracts, or fill vacant positions because employer's regular employee(s) are on strike. b. involve any religious or political activity, or lobbying on the federal level. c. primarily benefit the members of an organization that has membership limits, such as a credit union, a fraternal or religious order, or a cooperative. 3. Work-study students must: a. be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. b. be admitted to or be enrolled a minimum of half-time at OSU. c. maintain good academic standing while employed under the program by meeting the Satisfactory Academic Progress requirements established by the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. Page 3 of 14
d. apply each year for financial aid with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by the Feb 28 priority deadline. The students' eligibility for and continuation in the FWS program from year to year is not guaranteed and depends on: the status of their application the extent of financial need the availability of federal funds 4. The employer is responsible for verifying that the student is initially enrolled a minimum of half-time during each term the student is employed. 5. If you are unable to fill a position only listed as a Federal Work- Study position with a work-study student, you may hire a non-workstudy student under regular student employment and pay their full wage. You cannot advertise the position as volunteer or offer course credit instead of paying for the work. Opening the position to volunteer work or for course credit instead of pay disqualifies the position for the Federal Work-Study Program. Student Eligibility 1. A student who will be employed part-time by an agency on FWS during the academic year must have: (1) received and accepted Federal Work-Study as part of a financial aid award prior to beginning employment and (2) completed the necessary payroll paperwork. 2. Students must be initially enrolled at least half-time each term to remain eligible for FWS funds throughout the academic year. 3. Students must maintain good academic standing in order to maintain eligibility to work in a FWS position. 4. Students who were approved for FWS in the previous year do not automatically qualify for the program the following year. Students must reapply for this program each year and be awarded the funds as a part of their financial aid package. It is not a good policy to promise students a work-study position for future years. 5. Students who will be employed by an off-campus agency or organization must obtain an authorized Federal Work-Study Off Campus Employment Referral Form from the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships prior to beginning work. Referral Forms are available from the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships during the academic year for which the student has a work-study award. Page 4 of 14
Provisions of Work 1. The first day a student may be paid from FWS funds is July 2 for Summer term or the first day of the term during Fall, Winter, and Spring terms. Hours worked prior to the first eligible day must be paid 100 percent by the employer. 2. No student will be placed on full-time employment under the Federal Work- Study Program. The maximum number of hours during a term that a student may work is 20 hours per week, 8 hours per day. 3. Students may work up to but no more than 40 hours per week between terms IF they are enrolled at least half-time for the next consecutive term, and if they have remaining funds. 4. Employers are required to pay students the state minimum wage or more. 5. The maximum hourly wage allowed is $14.15. A written request must be submitted by the employer to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships for an hourly rate over $14.15. A written request must include special skills/qualifications the employee must have to perform the job as justification for the higher wage. 6. Off-campus employers must pay 40 percent of the gross earnings while 60 percent is paid from FWS funds. The employer is also responsible for actual employee benefit costs which are approximately 7%. 7. Schools hiring reading and math tutors in the America Reads program are exempt from the earning participation. The Federal Government pays 100 percent of the work-study earnings. 8. The student can work during the terms of the award as long as the student has not earned all the work study funding for the year. Once the student has earned the full amount of his/her FWS award, s/he can continue to work in the position ONLY if the agency is able to pay 100% of the wages. Note: Peak employment search is at the beginning of Fall term. Page 5 of 14
Hiring Checklist for Work-Study Employment 1. Determine the need for student employees (insure the position is not replacing regular staff). 2. Determine the type of student employment, i.e. regular (100% agency paid) or Federal Work-Study 3. Determine the number of students desired, the pay rate and develop the job description. 4. Submit the job posting to Beaver JobNet receive email back that confirms the posting was added to the pending queue. 5. Advertise the position on the Beaver JobNet web site through OSU Career Services for a minimum of 3 business days and through other public media if desired. 6. Once the job posting has been reviewed and accepted by the workstudy staff, it is posted to the active student list and an email is sent to the employer contact with the work-study job code. This is when the minimum posting clock begins. 7. Accept applications, screen applicants and decide who to interview. 8. Require interviewees bring a Federal Work-Study Off-Campus Employment Referral form from the OSU Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships with them when they come to interview this is how you verify the students have Federal work-study funds in their financial aid award. 9. Determine who you will hire and make offers to the students. 10. Fill out the student and employer sections of the hire s Federal Work- Study Employment Referral forms, both student and employer sign the forms and give the forms to the students. Be sure to fill out this form entirely. Incomplete forms will not be accepted. Ask the students to take the forms to OSU Payroll, Windows 17 & 18 on the first floor of the Kerr Administration Bldg. Students must take their social security card (NOT a photocopy) and picture ID to the Payroll window. 11. Once Payroll has signed the Referral form, the student turns in the completed form to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. 12. ONLY NOW can the student begin work for your agency. If a student begins working before the completed form is received by the Financial Aid office, employers will be responsible for 100% of wages earned prior to receiving the completed form. 13. Once you have filled your openings, you may remove the job listing on Beaver JobNet by changing the date in the Expiration Date section to a past date. Page 6 of 14
OSU CAMPUS RESOURCES For Questions about: Call OSU Payroll (541) 737-0576 Payroll Technician Beaver JobNet and (541) 737-0520 Student Employment General Student Employment Coordinator Work Study & Financial Aid (541) 737-2241 Financial Aid Federal Work-Study Advisor Page 7 of 14
Post Jobs and Hire Work-Study Students The basic steps for the required posting of jobs to hire work-study student employees are: 1. Establish yourself as an employer on the Beaver JobNet system. 2. Submit new jobs to the Beaver JobNet database as required and specified below. 3. Complete the Federal Work-Study Off-Campus Employment Referral Form for students you choose to hire. Students must take the referral form to the OSU Payroll Office and then submit the completed to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships BEFORE they begin work. 1. Establish yourself as an employer on the Beaver JobNet system Work-study employers use the OSU Career Services web based recruiting system called Beaver JobNet to post jobs, and provide position description, schedules, and application information. You will be able to post jobs for free on Beaver JobNet after creating an account with OSU Career Services. If you already have an account: Login using your username and password. As a reminder, your username is your email address. If you don t have your password, you may request a new one by selecting Forgot Password. The system will recognize the existing employer school account and you will automatically be connected to the Beaver JobNet system. The following will introduce new employers to the one-time process for creating an account on Beaver JobNet: Step 1: Click on the following link to access the employer login page. https://oregonstate-csm.symplicity.com/employers/. Step 2: Select to Register or Register and Post Job with OSU. Step 3: Enter the required company and contact information. Step 4: Click the Submit button to complete the account creation process. Career Services will be alerted to the pending request for access and will view the employer details and choose to "Accept" or "Decline." If accepted, Career Services will create the new employer record, or match you to an existing one if you are a new contact to that employer. If your application is "Declined," you will be sent email notification. Declining will permanently remove your request. After creating your account and after Career Services has activated your link to OSU, you will receive a confirmation email from Career Services that will contain Page 8 of 14
general instructions and specific guidelines for using the free posting service. Please retain your username and password. 2. Submit new jobs to the job database. After your account and link are established you can post jobs any time using your username and password. NOTE: Open Federal Work Study Positions must be posted on Beaver JobNet BEFORE a student is hired. It is an institutional policy that all FWS jobs be posted a minimum of 3 business days on Beaver JobNet. All students are due a fair and equitable hiring process. Please allow one week for the review of your job posting. To post jobs on Beaver JobNet: 1. Go to https://oregonstate-csm.symplicity.com/employers/. 2. Enter your username and your password. 3. On the next page under Shortcuts (on the right hand side of the screen), you will see the options: Create Job Posting and View Job Postings. 4. Select Create Job Posting to begin. Follow the on screen prompts to enter your information. NOTE: If you want to update and re-submit a job that was posted the previous year or earlier the current year, see below Step 10 Reposting Previous Jobs. 5. Description Box Requirements: PLEASE NOTE: The U.S. Department of Education requires specific information to be in the job description for work-study positions. Because the primary field seen by students who log in as Benny Beaver is the Description box in Beaver JobNet, you must include all of the following elements in the Description box in order for your job to be posted. In an attempt to make it easier, a template for the job description is included in this handbook. 6. SAVE when all data is entered to submit the job. 7. All jobs that you submit go into a pending queue called Pending Job Postings. NOTE: You will receive an email at this point from the Beaver JobNet system to let you know the job has been put into the Pending Job Postings queue. The job you submitted has not yet been processed. Page 9 of 14
8. Review and Posting to the active job board Jobs marked only as regular student employment (non-work-study) will be activated by Career Services. Jobs marked as work-study or as both work-study and regular student employment are reviewed by the work-study staff in the Financial Aid office. If job posting is complete, the staff will approve and activate all work-study jobs posted in Beaver JobNet and assign job codes. 9. Please allow a week for the review of job postings to be completed. You will receive an email from the work-study staff in the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships when the job has been approved. This email includes the newly assigned job code and information as to when the job will be visible to students on the active job board. 10. Re-Posting Previous Jobs Select Create Job Posting to begin. You can view your archived jobs in the Copy Existing section. Click Show Archived, retrieve the old job and click on it. Edit accordingly noting changes in dates, wage amounts or responsibilities. Please be sure the job description section includes all the required elements included in the template mentioned above. Save to submit the job. The job will then follow the process described above. 11. Reserving a Federal Work Study Position: Departments can only Reserve work study positions for those students returning to the work study position they previously held in the department. Regular student employees, now eligible for Federal Work Study funds, can only use their work study funds in the same position if the job was originally posted as a work study job. NOTE: When reserving a job, please provide the name and student ID of the student in the Description box (see template for details) along with information giving the basis for the reserved status. Page 10 of 14
3. Complete the Federal Work-Study (FWS) Off- Campus Employment Referral forms for students you choose to hire. FWS students must obtain FWS Off-Campus Employment Referral Form from the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships prior to being hired (students should pick up a referral form prior to interviewing for the position). 1. The FWS Off-Campus Employment Referral Form is the official notification to the employer that the student is eligible to participate in the FWS program. 2. Employers will be responsible for 100% of a student's wages for any hours worked prior to the student submitting a completed FWS Off-Campus Employment Referral to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships after OSU Payroll has signed it. Incomplete forms will not be accepted. The total gross amount a student may earn and the last day the student may work are indicated on the FWS Off-Campus Employment Referral form. The employer is responsible for terminating a student's employment when the student has earned the gross amount authorized or has reached the expiration date as indicated on the referral form. The employer will be responsible for 100% of the student's earnings in excess of the referral form authorization. Once the FWS Off-Campus Employment Referral Form is signed by the employer, the student must take the referral form to the OSU Payroll Office along with his/her social security card (not a copy) and photo ID. OSU Payroll is located at windows 17 & 18 on the first floor of the Kerr Administration Building. After Payroll has signed the form, the final step is for the student to take the completed referral form to the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. The FWS Off-Campus Employment Referral form is not valid if it is signed after the expiration date. There is no guarantee that the student is still eligible for Federal Work-Study after the expiration date on the referral form. Page 11 of 14
Academic Year: 2012-13 Off-Campus Employers 2012-13 Federal Work-Study Template For Description Box in Beaver JobNet Job is for Summer Term (July 2 earliest start date) OR Job is for Fall Term (September 24 earliest start date) Any RESERVED positions? (YES or NO) If YES please list each student below: NAME ID Basis for RESERVE status Do you also want to hire additional students? (YES or NO) If YES, how many? Date to begin public advertising (September 1 is earliest date for fall term). Number of positions total (new hires plus reserved): Employment begins and ends Name & Address of Employer: (source of agency funds) Job Location Name & Address: (if different from employer name and address) Purpose of Job: Duties & Responsibilities: Job Qualifications: Job Wage Rate or Range: Name of Supervisor: How to Apply: If off-campus job, make sure instructions tell the student to pick up a paper referral form at the OSU Financial Aid Office no sooner than two weeks Page 12 of 14
prior to their interview with you [this form is your proof that the student actually has Federal work-study funds to use]. Page 13 of 14
Federal Work-Study Wage-to-Hours Table Use this table to help you determine how many hours per week students can work through the academic year. They may choose to work more hours, but they will use the award before the end of the year. When the student runs out of funding, the hiring agency must end the student s employment, or pay the student from the agency s own budget. If the award is: And the hourly wage is: Average weekly hours to work (33 weeks) $2,100 $8.80 7.2 $2,100 $9.10 7.0 $2,100 $9.50 6.7 $2,100 $10.20 6.2 $2,100 $10.60 6.0 $2,100 $11.10 5.7 $2,100 $11.50 5.5 $2,100 $12.00 5.3 $2,100 $12.49 5.1 $2,100 $12.74 5.0 $2,100 $14.15 4.5 $2,100 $14.65 4.3 Page 14 of 14