Student Awards and Weekly Hour Allotments
Undergraduate students may receive a Federal Work-Study award of up to $5,000 for an academic year. The actual amount may vary depending on your federal financial aid eligibility. The award amount divided by the pay rate and the number of weeks in the semester provides the maximum number of hours per week a student may work.
In general, you should work no more than 10-12 hours per week to spread your award throughout the fall and spring semesters. During the fall and spring semesters, USD policy prohibits students from working more than 25 hours per week. The Student Employment Center recommends students work no more than 20 hours per week to promote academic success.
During periods of non-enrollment, you may work more than these indicated hours per week, but should never work more than 8 hours a day and no more than 40 hours per week, in an "overtime" status.
January Intersession and Summer Session
You may be eligible to work during intersession and summer session. For each session, you must complete the Federal Work-Study Intersession Application or the Summer College Work Opportunity Application, which are available in the MySanDiego portal. Supervisors will also need to notify the Student Employment Center of any students they wish to hire during intersession and summer session via the appropriate Google forms, which will be sent to the supervisor's USD email address around October and March, respectively.
To be eligible for intersession employment, you must have worked during the fall semester (exceptions may be granted if you were studying abroad) and not plan to graduate at the end of intersession. You will not be awarded additional funds for intersession; you work off any unused hours from the fall semester.
Summer College Work Opportunity requires that you have Federal Work-Study eligibility for either the prior academic year or the upcoming academic year and to be enrolled during the upcoming fall semester. Funding levels will dictate if additional criteria will be used in selecting eligible students. For summer sessions, you may receive an additional award based on available university employment funds. You cannot transfer any unused hours from the academic year FWS Award.
Breaks and Meal Periods
Rest breaks under California labor law are required for non-exempt employees who work four (4) or more hours in a day. Employees are entitled to ten (10) minutes of paid rest period for each four (4) hours, or substantial fraction thereof, that they work in a day. You do not need to clock out on your time card for this break. All employees are prohibited from working more than five (5) hours without a 30-minute unpaid meal period. During meal periods, employees must be relieved of all duties.
Exception: If the student's work day will conclude in 6 hours, the meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer and employee. The required meal break waiver form must be forwarded to Payroll before the end of the pay period.
Appeals
If you're earning your award before the end of the academic period, you may submit an appeal for an increase in the FWS award, or your FWS job will be closed when the full award has been earned. Factors contributing to the approval of an appeal include whether or not there's room for the increase in your financial aid award and whether sufficient funds remain in the FWS budget to support the increase. Any hours worked beyond your award will be charged to the department (unless an appeal has been granted). Any hours worked beyond the fall semester award will be charged to the department if you do not return for the spring semester.
Due to class schedules and other activities, you may choose not to earn your full award. At the end of the spring semester, all unused funds are returned to the general Federal Work-Study fund; they cannot be rolled over into the next academic year.
Federal Work-Study Pay Rates
Effective January 1, 2026, all USD Federal Work-Study employees are assigned a pay rate of $17.75 per hour. Undergraduate FWS Pay Rates will be $17.75, $18.25 and $18.75 per hour. The Graduate FWS Pay Rate will be $19.45. Some jobs may require a higher level of skills and/or responsibilities. In these situations, supervisors may request a higher job classification for a student.
The $18.25 hour pay rate is reserved for students with supervisory roles and increased responsibilities. The $18.75 per hour pay rate is reserved for students who have specialized training, experience and skills (i.e., a certification to teach a yoga class). Promotions to the $18.25 per hour pay rate must be approved by the Student Employment Center.
Promotion to higher pay levels is not based on the length of service, but on supervisory assessment that you are capable of the increased responsibilities and tasks of the higher classification. Since the work performed at the higher levels will be different than in an entry level job, separate job descriptions are necessary for each job classification used within a hiring department. Requests to move to $18.25 or $18.75 per hour without the appropriate job description on file with the Student Employment Center will not be honored.
Supervisors are to contact the Student Employment Center if they are unsure about the classification of jobs in their department.
Pay Rate Notes
- $17.75 Entry-level work/first-year students
- $18.25 Students with supervisory roles and increased responsibilities
- $18.75 Students with specialized training/certifications (must be approved by the Student Employment Center)
- $19.45 Graduate students only
To request an increase in a FWS student assistant's pay, supervisors must complete a Job Change.
Paid Sick Leave
Effective July 1, 2015, all USD Federal Work-Study employees are eligible to receive paid sick leave under the California paid sick leave law (AB 1522). USD Policy 3.9.3 states that student employees will accrue one (1) hour of sick leave for every thirty (30) hours worked. Please visit the USD Policy Manual for additional information.