Policies and Procedures

Guidelines for Federal Work Study (FWS) Graduate Assistantships for the Academic Year 2008-2009

Federal Work-Study (FWS) is a financial aid program through which the federal government subsidizes the compensation of appointed students who qualify for FWS on the basis of financial need.

Federal Work-Study Graduate Assistantships are a special subset of the traditional FWS program, using FWS funds for assistantship stipends. The nature of work and financial compensation is the same as that for other graduate assistantships. The value of the assistantship is included as part of the student's total financial aid package and can therefore affect the student's eligibility for other aid, particularly student loans.

This program is jointly administered by the Graduate College and the Office of Student Financial Aid (OSFA).

A. Student Application Process

Eligibility Criteria. Students must:

Be U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens;
Be enrolled as degree candidates in the Graduate, Law, or Veterinary Medicine Colleges and registered for at least 12 hours per term;
Be free from educational loan default; and
Demonstrate financial need. The needs-analysis formula used to determine a student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is determined by the federal processor. The EFC is then subtracted from the Cost of Attendance (COA) budget for graduate students (determined by the OSFA) to arrive at the student's financial need. An FWS assistant's earnings are limited to the maximum FWS award set by OSFA.

NOTE: Eligibility for Federal Work-Study alone does not guarantee appointment. Students should check with their departments as to the availability of assistantships. Likewise, the availability of an assistantship does not guarantee that a student interested in that position will be eligible to receive Federal Work-Study.

Application Procedure.

Required Form - The student must complete the 2008-09 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) ideally by March 15, 2008. Federal tax information from calendar year 2007 is required to complete the FAFSA. For the fastest results, students should file the FAFSA electronically. FAFSA on the Web may be accessed from the OSFA Web site at www.osfa.uiuc.edu or directly at www.fafsa.ed.gov
Award Notification - OSFA sends the student a financial aid award letter after the student's financial need and financial aid package have been determined. Federal Work-Study is not automatically awarded to graduate students. Initial award letters are typically sent to graduate students in late March or early April. A graduate student's initial award letter will normally reflect loan eligibility only. FWS is need-based aid-thus, a student must demonstrate need before he/she can be awarded FWS.

OSFA will review the FWS Graduate Assistantship Appointment Request Form received from the program to determine whether the student is eligible for FWS. If the FWS appointment is approved for the hiring unit, a revised award letter reflecting the FWS award along with the appropriate tuition and fee waivers will be sent to the student. If the student has questions or concerns about the aid offered on the award letter, he/she should contact LaVonne Novakofski at OSFA.

NOTE: The FWS stipend as well as the value of the waivers counts against a student's borrowing eligibility.

B. Departmental Procedures for Requesting a Federal Work-Study Graduate Assistantship

Establishing the Appointment: The FWS Graduate Assistantship Appointment Request Form.
To request a FWS appointment, this form must be completed and sent to the Office of Student Financial Aid by April 11, 2008 for each student under consideration for a FWS graduate assistantship. The assistantship being described must be professional in nature, with duties similar to those performed by other teaching, research, graduate (administrative), and pre-professional graduate assistants. The signed form is forwarded to the Office of Student Financial Aid (Attention: LaVonne Novakofski) through the department's college where appropriate.

NOTE: The FWS Graduate Assistantship Appointment Request Form should only be completed for those students who meet the eligibility criteria above, who have completed a FAFSA, and who are willing to accept a FWS graduate assistantship position if an appointment is approved.

Assistantship Type: Please designate the type of assistantship appointment being requested.
Student Name and UIN
Appointment Percent Time and Dates: All FWS graduate assistantships are for a definite period, for a definite percent of time. The appointment to these positions must be not more than 50% FTE to comply with University and Federal regulations. A FWS graduate assistantship appointment carries tuition and fee waivers comparable to waivers given for other assistantship appointments to students in that curriculum. Eligibility for tuition and fee waivers for all assistants is based on satisfaction of the all criteria: total assistantship FTE, student academic status and appointment duration.
Stipend Amounts: Provide the requested stipend amount to be paid to the student and the minimum stipend amount set by the department. Stipend amounts must comply with the campus stipend minima (proportionate to FTE). Additionally, stipend amounts for assistants represented by the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) must comply with the provisions of the contract in effect for the assistant's appointment period. More information on appointing graduate assistants, including campus minimum stipend, can be found at http://www.ahr.uiuc.edu/Grads/index.htm.
Student Academic Department and Curriculum Code
Type of Tuition Waiver: A unit considering appointing a student to a FWS assistantship is strongly advised to check the student's curriculum for the type of tuition waiver that will be granted and for the possibility that reimbursement for the tuition waiver might be sought. For additional information on assistantship waivers, please review A Guide to the Campus Tuition Waiver Policy on Graduate Assistantships at www.grad.uiuc.edu/policies/tuitionwaiver.htm.
Department Contact Information and FOAPAL
Please note that the appointing unit provides 40% of the total stipend; the remaining 60% comes from Federal Work-Study funds. In planning for FWS assistantships, one guiding principle to follow is that the total amount of the institutional funds currently budgeted to support students in the appointing unit may not be reduced by FWS funds. The total support must remain at least the same while the number of students supported is increased. Funds for the employing unit's contribution to FWS graduate assistantships must come from non-federal sources.

Notice to the Departments
In May or June 2008, LaVonne Novakofski from OSFA will notify the department by e-mail if the student and the department have been approved to receive the FWS Graduate Assistantship appointment.

NOTE: There are strict federal regulations to which the OSFA must adhere in awarding FWS. For this reason, if a department wishes to increase or decrease the stipend amount for the student, it must first check with the Graduate College Fellowship Office and the OSFA.

General questions about FWS may be addressed to the Graduate College Fellowship Office (333-0036, gradfellowships@uiuc.edu) or LaVonne Novakofski, OSFA (244-3789, novakofs@uiuc.edu).

Related Materials

2008-2009 FWS Graduate Assistant Information Packet (PDF)
In addition to the contents of this page, the packet also includes the content of each of the following documents:

PDF files require Adobe Reader.