The Work-Study Program is a financial aid program that promotes part-time employment opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to help finance their education. By participating in the Work-Study Program, your department can hire student workers and obtain a subsidy for a portion of the student’s wages.
The Work-Study Program subsidizes 70% of the students wages, Composite benefit rates (CBR), and General, Automobile, and Employment Liability (GAEL) charges if applicable; the department pays for the remaining 30% of the student wages, CBR and GAEL charges if applicable. In addition, there is a 20% administrative surcharge* that departments pay to the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office.
Breakdown of the Work-Study Subsidy and Department Costs
70% Work-Study Subsidy, CBR and GAEL
30% Department Share, CBR and GAEL
20% Administrative Surcharge*
The Department’s Net Cost, on wages, is 50%
* If the source of the Department’s share is a federal fund, the administrative surcharge will be waived.
Benefits of the Work-Study Program
Benefits to the Student
By participating in the Work-Study Program, you can help students avoid increasing their student loans by earning part of their college costs. In addition to the financial benefits, students gain valuable work experience and develop transferable skills while in school, putting them in a stronger position to pursue graduate school and/or employment opportunities when they graduate.
Benefits to the Employer
Departments can employ UC Berkeley students for half the wage cost with the work-study subsidy! As an on-campus employer, you have access to a talented pool of job applicants that bring with them diverse personal, academic and career interests that can meaningfully contribute to meeting your department’s business needs.
Work-Study Eligibility
Undergraduate students must apply to be considered for work-study by submitting the FAFSA or the CA Dream Act Application. If the student has financial need, as reflected in the FAFSA or CA Dream Act application, then the student will be considered for work-study. An eligible undergraduate student with sufficient financial need can receive a work-study award up to $6,000 in the academic year.
Graduate students must apply to be considered for work-study by submitting the FAFSA or the CA Dream Act Application. If the student has financial need, as reflected in the FAFSA or CA Dream Act, the student can request to convert up to $10,000 in loans to work-study, depending on financial need-based eligibility.
Work-Study and DACA
The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office remains committed to ensuring that undocumented students have access to the work-study program. DACA students may participate in the work-study program provided they applied and are eligible for financial aid under the CA Dream Act and have a valid work permit. Students can request a work-study award by contacting the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office and opening a case.
Utilize the Work-Study Employer Guide for a summary on how to get started with the Work-Study Program. To receive the subsidy, follow the steps below to create a job and complete the referral process for your selected student.
1. Register a job on the Work-Study Management System (WSMS)
Complete the job request form. All fields are required
When finished, select "Process Job Request" at the bottom of the page
Reminders:
The department ID used when creating a job in WSMS must match the department ID in the UCPath position number that will be used to hire the student.
Jobs must be reviewed and be approved by the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office; new job requests are reviewed within 2-3 business days.
Jobs registered within WSMS are for advertisement purposes; this does not replace the campus HR hiring process
The campus HR hiring and onboarding process is an independent and separate process from WSMS that must be completed before a student can begin working. Completing the Work-Study referral process in WSMS authorizes the use of the Work-Study award subsidy, but it does not replace standard UC Berkeley HR onboarding or UCPath setup.
Jobs must be re-registered within WSMS each program year, they do not roll over from one year to the next.
Locate the job and click on the 10-digit job number in the left column
Select "Submit a Referral"
Enter the Student ID (SID) and the UCPath Position number and follow the instructions displayed on the page
Select "Submit"
If successful, you will receive a confirmation message to confirm the completion of the referral for your student
Reminders:
To refer your selected student through WSMS, you will need the students ID (SID) and the UCPath position number that they're hired into or will be hired into in UCPath.
Individual, single-headcount positions in UCPath are required for positions utilizing work-study.
The UCPath position must be fully funded for the current fiscal year (i.e. tied to position funding that is not a default chartstring or expired).
This process is directly linked to student eligibility. If a student is confirmed eligible at the time you attempt the referral, you’ll receive a confirmation message. If the student is not work-study eligible, you will receive an error message, as an offer cannot be processed for anyone who is not eligible. View the Referral Error Message Guide for support in resolving the error.
If you proceed with hiring a student who is not eligible (as determined by an unsuccessful offer), the department is responsible for 100% of the earnings and will not receive the subsidy; this is not a work-study job.
The referral process must be completed every year, even if the same student will be working in the same position. A student’s work-study eligibility is subject to change each year, so referrals do not roll over from year-to-year.
Unearned work-study awards do not carry forward to the next year.
WSMS will generate an email to notify the three contacts (payroll representative, general contact, and supervisor) listed on the work-study job to confirm the completion of the referral. This email contains important information such as the students earnings limit for the academic year and the work-study referral effective date. If the student has not yet been onboarded and hired into UCPATH, the referral effective date will be blank. This same information can be viewed on the Work-Study Management System (WSMS) within the Student Earnings Report.
Earnings Limits
A student’s work-study award/earnings limit is the maximum gross amount of potential work-study earnings. It takes into account both the department share and the work-study share. If the student earns more than this amount, the department is responsible for paying 100% of additional costs.
Work-study award/earnings limit can increase or decrease at any time during the award year based on changes to a student’s financial aid. It is not a guaranteed amount for the award year.
Think of the earnings limit as a snapshot of the current work-study award based on the student's financial aid package and eligibility at the time of referral.
Any updates that change the work-study award will trigger an auto-generated email notification to the three contacts listed on the original job request with the updated earnings limit.
Examples of why a work-study award can change include:
Student receives additional financial aid which reduces work-study eligibility
Student has an incomplete financial aid task
Student accepts another work-study job concurrently, and the student decides to split the award between the two jobs.
Student converts loans to work-study or work-study (unearned) to loans
Student is no longer enrolled
Students should be directed to log into CalCentral for award and task review and should be advised to contact Cal Student Central if they have any questions regarding their awards or eligibility. Do not direct students to email wsp@berkeley.edu because this is an employer only email; students should be directed to open a case
Department Responsibilities
In addition to creating a job and completing the referral process in WSMS, departments must coordinate with their regional HR Partner/Generalist directly to submit a UCPath hiring request, and ensure the student completes mandatory onboarding and UC Learning Center training, if applicable.
Further, departments are responsible for tracking a student's work-study earnings, both to confirm that the subsidy is being applied as expected, and to monitor the award limit as it approaches. If a student is permitted to earn more than the work-study earnings limit, departments are responsible for 100% of student earnings exceeding this limit. Departments are also encouraged to consider other potential costs, e.g., fringe benefits which are not subsidized by work-study funds. If such costs are incurred, the department must cover 100% of the cost.
Remote work from outside of the US is not permitted due to tax and labor law implications.
2026-27 Work-Study/Research Aligned Student Employment (RASE, formerly LAEP) Program Year
7/1/2026 - 5/8/2027 is the Work-Study/RASE program year.
Please note: Wages earned outside these dates are 100% the department’s responsibility.
Referral Effective Date
The referral effective date is when the employer can begin receiving the subsidy and is assigned once the referral process has been completed.
Work-Study/RASE Referral Effective Date
A referral effective date is assigned based on student's hire date in UC Path, or 7/1/2026 if the students hire date in UC Path is prior to program start date.
Confirm Your Department is Receiving the Subsidy
It is recommended that departments perform a monthly reconciliation and perform a review of CalAnswers General Ledger Reporting to ensure that your department is receiving the subsidy--do not risk losing the subsidy by waiting until June to reconcile your funds.
If you do not have access to CalAnswers General Ledger, but have access to WSMS, you can confirm that your department is receiving the work-study/RASE subsidy in WSMS.
Navigate to WSMS > Students > Student Earnings Report
Salary Cost Transfer Transactions on Work-Study Funds
Before initiating a Salary Cost Transfer (SCT) transaction that impacts work-study funds, verify and confirm that a current year Pool ID has been added to position data with an effective date that falls within or prior to the pay period that needs adjustment. A salary cost transfer will not split if no Pool ID has been added to the position.
The last day in which student workers on work-study/RASE are eligible for the subsidy is 5/8/2027. To ensure that your department can receive the subsidy for the last pay period of the program year, whether biweekly or monthly, we recommend reviewing the following information and best practices below.
Appointment End Dates - Biweekly*
The last day a student worker on work-study can earn work-study/RASE is 5/8/2027. Any earnings after 5/8/2027 will be 100% the responsibility of the department.
Appointment End Dates - Monthly*
For the 2026-27 program year, monthly employees can receive the subsidy for May 2027 if the job end date in UCPath is no later than 5/8/2027. For example, jobs that end on 5/8/2027 will receive the subsidy. Earnings for monthly employees with a job end date between 5/9/2027 - 5/31/2027 will not receive the subsidy.
*Consult your BRS-HR Partner for assistance in determining appointment end dates for student workers with a work-study/RASE referral based on your unit’s unique labor and budget situation, and based on the student's unique academic personnel requirements, if applicable.
If you are unsure who your HR or Financial Analyst is, you can use the Berkeley Region Finder to identify the appropriate contact.
In accordance with Federal Regulations, employment under the Work-Study Program must follow the specific guidelines and conditions as outlined below.
Undergraduate students must be paid hourly wages; graduate students may be paid hourly or may be paid a salary.
Regardless of who employs the student, the department is responsible for making sure the student is paid for all work performed
Work must be regulated by employment conditions, including wages that are appropriate for the type of work, the geographic location, and proficiency of the employee.
Students must be paid at least the federal, state, or local minimum wage, whichever is higher.
Work-study employment must not displace employees and must not impair any existing service contracts. This includes filling jobs that are vacant because employees are on strike. Replacement is interpreted as displacement- Therefore, replacing a full-time employee, whose position was eliminated, with a student who is paid work-study funds is prohibited. Moreover, this prohibition extends to instances where a school first replaces the full-time employee with a student position paid with college funds.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, prohibits employers (including schools) from accepting voluntary services from any paid employee. Any student employed under the work-study Program must be paid for all hours worked.
Volunteer work is not permitted. Work without pay is in direct violation of the conditions of work-study employment.
Students are not permitted to work during scheduled class times. Exceptions include:
When a class is cancelled
When a class is cancelled
An instructor has excused the student from attending during a particular day
The student is receiving credit for their employment in an internship or externship
Any exceptions must be documented
A student may earn academic credit as well as compensation for work-study jobs. However, a student employed in a work-study job and receiving academic credit for that job may not be paid less than he or she would be if no academic credit were given.
Work-study does not subsidize fringe benefits such as sick leave, vacation pay, holiday pay, or employer’s contributions to Social Security, workers’ compensation, retirement, any kind of leave, or any other welfare or insurance program. Please note that students may be eligible for these types of benefits; however, they are disallowed benefits under the Work-Study Program. If such costs are incurred, the department covers 100% of the cost.
There are no statutory or regulatory limits on the number of hours per week a student may work. Consideration of the impact of combined work and study hours on the student’s health and academic progress is encouraged when assigning hours. Departments are also encouraged to consider other potential costs, e.g., fringe benefits which are not subsidized by work-study funds.
You must maintain timesheet records of all hours worked by student workers.
Timesheets must:
Be certified by the supervisor/ school official
Show the hours a student worked during each day and the total worked during each pay cycle
Match the hours for which the student is paid
Solicitation or acceptance of gifts, fees, or commissions as a condition for a student’s work-study employment is prohibited.
Gaining Access to WSMS:
All new and existing WSMS users will be required to complete FERPA: Privacy of Student Records training - Code: BERIG003 within the UC Learning Center. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. All WSMS users are required to complete FERPA training as WSMS contains confidential, privileged, and/or FERPA-protected information. Please note that all Financial Aid information, which includes Work-Study/RASE, is considered P4 protected data and requires the highest level of confidentiality.
Additionally, before requesting or being granted access to WSMS, please ensure that your email within the campus directory is up to date and not set to 'private mode.' WSMS uses CAS authorization and the campus directory to validate users.
Someone in my department has access:
The person in your department can grant you access by following these steps:
Select "Employer Account" from the menu bar.
Select "Create New User Account" and complete the new user profile information requested.
When finished, select "Create My Account" at the bottom of the page.
No one in my department is available to grant access:
Contact wsp@berkeley.edu and provide your department name and 5 letter department ID. If you are unsure of the department ID, contact your department's Human Resources representative. Alternatively, you can try using the master org tree to determine your 5-letter department ID. Once we have the department name and ID, the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office will provide the next steps in creating an account.
When requesting or being granted access to WSMS, please ensure that the new user information listed within the campus directory is up to date; otherwise, our system will not be able to validate that the new user is part of UC Berkeley organization. Please note that the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office (FASO) does not manage the campus directory. For any issues in this website, please reach out to the campus directory’s website administrator, as listed on their webpage.
