Work-Study Employers
Welcome federal work-study supervisors and employers! Northwestern students provide essential support to many Northwestern campus departments and Evanston community organizations. The Federal Work-Study program is intended to help students offset educational costs by means of earning a portion of their offered federal student financial aid, not to replace employees in the workplace.
Our website strives to serve as a living handbook for federal work-study students and federal work-study supervisors. Please choose the appropriate link below according to your affiliation with the Northwestern Federal Work-Study Program. Additional information is available on subsequent web pages.
On-Campus Work-Study Employers
Any work performed by eligible federal work-study students for which there is a professional staff or faculty member of the university to provide regular supervision is eligible to participate in the Federal Work-Study Program.
Work performed for a Northwestern faculty member must be related to their work as a Northwestern University professor, not for personal projects.
Federal work-study students may not be employed by graduate students to assist in research for their academic degree program.
All Ph.D. students wishing to employ another graduate student or an undergraduate student as a research assistant (RA), should contact the Dean of Student Office (DOS). Students are NOT permitted to hire another student on their own and all student employment must go through the Dean of Students Office.
Off-Campus Community Partners & America Reads
Employers
Northwestern's Federal Work-Study Program is happy to partner with approved off-campus community service agencies, schools, government, or 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 federal work-study students should provide services that are open and accessible to Evanston community residents and are designed to improve the quality of life for Evanston residents, particularly low-income individuals, and to solve issues related to their needs. Such services include 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. While Northwestern is the employer of record, the federal work-study employee must be supervised by a professional employee of the off-campus organization. The off campus supervisor will work with a Liason within Northwestern's Federal Work-Study Office.
Northwestern University also participates in America Reads , a federal program created by the Clinton Administration to help students read at the 3rd grade level. Students are hired to tutor reading or math in Evanston public elementary schools or after-school programs.