Federal Work Study

By | January 25, 2018

I high encourage all of you guys to do Federal Work Study (FWS) and mark that down when you do the FAFSA. The purpose of FWS is to help undergraduate and graduate students earn some income, based on their financial need. Especially at Loyola University, we are known for hiring student workers for a lot of part-time positions in multiple offices – Damen Student center, Tutoring office, First-and-Second Year Advising, Undergraduate Admissions (THE BEST), and so much more.

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With federal work-study, you get paid like any other job (at least once a month), and the job is part-time (probably around 20 hours a week). The amount you earn, according to Federal Student Aid (studentaid.ed.gov), can’t exceed your federal work-study award.

Most of my friends also do FWS in different departments -First-and-Second Year Advising, Residence Life, and Undergraduate Admissions. Balancing a job and school is quite doable. These departments already know they have student workers, so obviously scheduling hours is flexible based off of students’ class times. In addition to flexibility, the departments/bosses are understanding. If you cannot make it to a shift because of an exam or emergency, it is a-okay. My personal opinion is that if you are a hard worker, are very responsible, and have a good work ethic, things can work in your favor. I cannot speak on behalf of many other student workers nor do I wish to represent a department’s way of dealing with student workers– this is just my opinion.

At Loyola, we have a website called Ramblerlink.

Here’s the link: https://www.luc.edu/career/RamblerLink_Login.html

Ramblerlink is a website for Loyola students, staff, and faculty to use (with their school login) to see any job positions within the university. Like any other job, there are requirements, resumes, and other specifications; they vary. It is quite helpful and useful for our Ramblers because every school job is located in one website and there are tabs to filter out things that they are eligible/qualify for. In order to successfully use Ramblerlink and apply for a job, it is required for everyone to submit a cover letter and resume that is up to university standards. This means that the Career and Development Center (CDC) will look over your two documents first and if they approve, access is granted to actually apply. This is fantastic because CDC reviews and gives you comments on how to make your documents PROFESSIONAL and COMPLETE, as a free service. How great is that?!

Perks to doing FWS also include, but are not limited to:

Gaining experience in the particular department
Developing a better work ethic/become more responsible
Improve speaking skills
Have friendships with other student workers and staff members
Tons of funnn!

And remember, Loyola is a very student-oriented school. The work environment is pretty nice – Student of the month, funny wall of student workers, etc. With all that being said, consider applying for a LUC job once you become a Rambler!!!