The State Work Study Program is funded in part by the Washington State Legislature and administered by the Higher Education Coordinating Board through the Work Study Office of Financial Aid. These funds are generally used for jobs which must be academically relevant to the student's major or hold career interest.

The initial action for you as a prospective state approved employer is to fill out and sign the State of Washington Work Study Program Employer Contract and the State Work Study Employer Profile available on-line or from the Work Study Office.

Once your forms have been processed by our office and the state offices, you will need to complete and submit a Washington State Work Study Program Job Description on an annual basis. The job descriptions are valid from July 1st to June 30th of each calendar year. The job description form is necessary so that we may determine the type of position you are opening. You are required to submit only one Help Requisition for each position title.

• Example-You may hire 5 Office Assistants with one form, but you would need a new job description on file if you wished to hire a dental assistant. Be sure to list complete, precise duties you will be asking students to perform and the requirements needed for the job.

Once your Job Description form is on file, and you have indicated that you have an open position, we will then post your job (both in our office and on this website) and begin referring students to you.

Please feel free to call the Work Study Office should you have questions or need additional assistance in this process.

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State Work Study students may work up to a maximum of 19 hours per week not to exceed their quarterly award amount. If the student has not used their full award during the quarter, they can work up to 40 hours per week during breaks as long as they still do not exceed their award and are planning to enroll in the next quarter.

It is against the law for Federal or State Work Study students to volunteer their time on any job for which they are already being paid.

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You have the final authority in selecting students referred to you by the Work Study office and should consider each student's skills when making your decision.

Some tips to aid in your selection of your new student employee:

• Prepare an accurate job description of job duties to attract the most appropriate candidates
• Set out your expectations during the initial interview, so that the student can adequately convey to you his/her ability to perform the work
• Explain your standards and how you expect them to be followed
• Outline causes for termination right at the beginning
• Make your employment selection carefully
• Early on, outline your preferred method for changing schedules, for calling in sick, and all the other "unwritten" rules of your workplace

Send all referral forms back to the Work Study office as soon as a selection is made. Fill out the bottom section of each referral form, sign it and mail it back. Students may not begin work until this step is complete. Please notify all referred students of your decision to hire or not hire. Refer students not hired back to the Work Study office for other employment opportunities.

You are to inform student employees of safety procedures for your particular department. The Student Employment Handbook is a valuable resource for both you and the student with regard to safety information. A special Safety Orientation Checklist, available here, is provided for your use.

If you are having difficulty with non-performance or performance problems with your student employee, be sure to convey your dissatisfaction and offer the student a chance to correct the problem. As with any employee, student employment is an "at will" situation so either you or the student may terminate the relationship at any time and for any cause.

Please refer to the Student Employment Handbook for detailed information regarding the State Work Study Program. This handbook is also available by contacting the Work Study Office.

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Monitoring hours worked is both your responsibility and that of the student. A Monitoring Student Earnings form is available for your use. It is both your responsibility and the student employee's to be sure that you are keeping a correct record of hours worked each quarter so that you will not exceed the student's allowable quarterly award. The gross amount of student earnings is the total that will be tallied as you keep track of the earnings that are eligible for reimbursement up to the student's quarterly award. You cannot be reimbursed for hours worked over the student's award so you will bear the entire cost in this instance.

Student employees do not receive holiday or vacation pay. If a student works hours on a holiday it must be pre-approved and initialed by the supervisor on each time sheet. The student will receive regular pay for those hours worked. By initialing such hours, you are affirming the student did indeed work the time indicated.

Washington State Work Study Timesheets serve as a voucher for reimbursement claims, as well as a record of student hours worked. The time sheet must be signed and dated by the student and by the person directly responsible for supervising the work of the student. Please file all time sheets with the Clark College Work Study Office within 15 days of the end of your payroll period so that reimbursement to you will not be delayed.

Under normal conditions, you should receive your reimbursement checks in about 3-6 weeks of submitting correct timesheets to the Work Study Office.

At the end of the fiscal year, it is important that you submit all time sheets for June hours on or before July 10th.

If you have questions, please refer to the Student Employment Handbook.

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To evaluate your student employee, you may wish to apply your normal performance-review procedures utilized for other employees on staff. Or, you may wish to modify your standards by reviewing performance more often. A review every 3-6 months seems to work well in many cases. This can help to counsel students in improving work habits, and offer opportunities to convey dissatisfaction or areas where you would like to see job improvement. We do have a Student Employee Evaluation form available should you wish to utilize it for your student workers.

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