Work-Study Employers
Our website strives to provide guidance and outline regulations of the Federal Work-Study Program. Additional student employment information is available on the Northwestern Student Employment website.
On-Campus Employers
To the greatest extent possible, employers are encouraged to hire FWS-eligible students. Aside from the intrinsic benefits to eligible students, the arrangement is also cost-effective compared to hiring and employing regular temporary student employees in which the student's wages are fully funded by the department's budget. Hiring an FWS employee allows on-campus units to utilize their budget in other meaningful ways or may allow you to extend your budget long enough to justify keeping your student employee on the payroll once their FWS earnings limit has been exhausted. Learn more about the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program here at Northwestern!
Off-Campus Community Employers
- Northwestern's Federal Work-Study Program partners with approved off-campus community service agencies, schools, government, and nonprofits in Evanston. Approved partners must enter into a written contractual relationship with Northwestern University and abide by all program policies and procedures.
- The focus of the off-campus organization and the positions filled by eligible Northwestern students should provide services that are open and accessible to Evanston community residents, particularly low-income individuals and are designed to improve the quality of life and to solve issues related to their needs. Such services may be direct or indirect and address the following areas: health care, child care, literacy training, education, welfare, social services, transportation, housing and neighborhood improvement, public safety, crime prevention, recreation, and community development and improvement.
- The Federal Work-Study student employee must be supervised by a professional employee of the off-campus organization. The off campus supervisor will work with a liaison from Northwestern's Federal Work-Study Office to ensure all program regulations and contractual agreements are adhered to.
- Northwestern invoices off-campus community partners on a quarterly basis for their 25% student wage responsibility. Payments are deposited into your University assigned organization chartstring. To ensure credit to the proper account, all checks should clearly state the organization's name and chartstring number.
- January (October – December wages)
- April (January – March wages)
- July (April – June wages)
- October (July – September wages)