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FWS FAQ for Off-Campus Employers
The FWS Program is a federally-funded work program that allows students who have received a Federal Work Study award from GW’s Office of Student Financial Assistance to earn wages while working at pre-approved organizations—the University itself, government agencies, and local nonprofits.
Each year, a limited number of off-campus nonprofit applicants apply and are chosen to participate in GW’s Off-Campus FWS program. Acceptance is based on an organization’s compliance with the federal guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Education. Many questions regarding your hiring of FWS students can be found in the following FAQ section. If you need assistance, please contact us at 202.994.8046 or email fws@gwu.edu.
2009-2010 Important Dates for FWS Off-Campus Employers
| Am I eligible to hire FWS students?
How do I find FWS student workers? What is my department's financial obligation? |
How do I monitor student earnings? What do I do when a student leaves my FWS job? |
Off Campus Employers Frequently Asked Questions
George Washington University has an annual application process to determine which organizations will be part of the Off-Campus FWS Program for the upcoming academic year.
Each year we receive more applications than we can accommodate. We cannot guarantee acceptance into the program based solely on eligibility. We take into account the order in which we receive applications, the balance of organizational variety in our off-campus employer group, interests expressed by our student body, and the initiatives and priorities of the University.
You must complete the 2009-2010 Federal Work Study Participation Agreement for Off-Campus Employers. This document serves as both the application and the contract that establishes your obligations if accepted to the program. Click here to download the 2009-2010 Federal Work Study Participation Agreement.
The application is due back to us by 5:00 pm. (Eastern Standard Time) on Thursday, July 2, 2009. (GW is closed on Friday, July 3, in observance of the Independence Day holiday) There are no exceptions to this deadline. All applications are reviewed by committee during July. You will be notified in writing of your acceptance or declination status no later than the week beginning July 20, 2009.
You must meet federal as well as institutional guidelines.
1. You must be a federal, state or local government agency OR you must be incorporated as a nonprofit under federal or state law. You must provide evidence of your nonprofit incorporation status.
2. Once your organization meets either condition (1) or (2) above, you must demonstrate to us that the work you intend to have the students perform is in the public interest. This is accomplished by providing a detailed job description for each position you intend to fill (this form attached to application – please copy the form and submit one for each distinct position you’d like to fill). Work in the public interest is defined as work performed for the welfare of the nation or community, rather than work performed for a particular interest or group. The federal guidelines state that:
Work is NOT considered in the public interest IF:
(a) it primarily benefits the members of an organization that has membership limits, such as a credit union, a fraternal or religious order, or a cooperative;
(b) it involves any partisan or nonpartisan political activity or is associated with a faction in an election for public or party office;
(c) it is for an elected official unless the official is responsible for the regular administration of federal, state, or local government;
(d) it is work as a political aide for any elected official;
(e) it takes into account a student’s political support or party affiliation in hiring him or her; or
(f) it involves lobbying on the federal, state, or local level.
You must agree to meet and abide by all of the conditions detailed in the Federal Work Study Participation Agreement through the duration of the 2009-2010 program year. Preference will be given to those organizations who agree to hire three (3) or more students and those who are located near GW or are Metro accessible.
NOTE: New for 2009-2010: You must make available to all FWS students a touch-tone telephone which they must use to dial into GW’s timekeeping system (“clocking in”) upon arrival and again when they are finished working and about to depart your premises (“clocking out”).
Connect with students who have worked for you in the past and ask if they know of eligible students seeking FWS jobs.
Submit one completed Job Posting Form for each distinct position you intend to fill with your FWS Participation Agreement to the Career Center by July 2, 2009. We will load your job(s) into GWork (our online jobs database) and students can view your posting(s) beginning on August 23, 2009.
Time recording and reporting is a critically important responsibility that you agree to when you sign the FWS Participation Agreement. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act requires that employees be paid within a certain timeframe, as does GW’s own compliance policy. Failure to meet time recording obligations will result in your termination from the program. All deadlines and protocols are designed to remain compliant and synchronized with the University’s overall payroll processes and cycles.
This year, students will be using the same system that is used by the rest of the GW workforce to record hours. Upon arrival, students will dial into GW’s timekeeping system and enter a series of codes. These codes identify the student, the off-campus employer, and the actions of “clocking in” (upon arrival at your work site) and “clocking out” (upon departure). We will pull a summary of the student’s hours from this system and either fax or e-mail it to the primary contact you appoint to oversee FWS matters. Within a specified turnaround time, your primary contact will indicate to us if the summary of hours is accurate or requires change.
GW will issue biweekly paychecks to the student throughout the academic year. We invoice organizations every June for their portion of the student’s FWS funds for the previous academic year. Your organization pays 25% of the student’s wages and the federal government pays 75%, as long as the student’s wages do not exceed his/her FWS award. An 8.3% fringe fee is added to cover your FICA and unemployment obligation. You will pay 100% of any wages earned in excess of the student’s FWS award. The 75%-25% funding split takes place “behind the scenes” and is invisible to the FWS student.
The pay rate for a student working at an off-campus FWS job is typically between $10 - $14/hour depending on the job complexity, the skill set required, and the student’s experience level with the kind of work in question. You must pay at least the minimum wage in the District of Columbia, which will be $8.25/hour for the 2009-2010 FWS year. The minimum wage rises to $8.25/hour on July 24, 2009. Click here if you need guidance with wage rates. Students are not paid for time in transit to and from your worksite, sick leave, or lunch breaks.
After selecting the student(s) you'd like to hire, instruct the student to print the 2009-2010 Student Employment Checklist and follow all instructions. (the student will have completed some of the steps on this form by the time you extend a job offer).
Before starting work, each student must:
You must:
We will:
We suggest that on the first day of the month you ask the student to print a copy of his/her Employment Authorization Form, which will show the amount of FWS funds remaining. Students may also contact their financial aid counselor with questions. We can also provide you with a pre-programmed Excel spreadsheet into which you would enter the student’s name, FWS award amount (this is printed on the student’s Employment Authorization Form) and hourly pay rate.
Each week you’d enter the number of hours the student had worked, and the sheet will calculate how much the student has earned, deduct that from the FWS award amount, and show you how much money remains to be earned. We strongly suggest that you devise some sort of paper recordkeeping system to track how many hours the students works for you each day - this will be very useful if your student forgets to use the phone to “clock in” or “clock out.”.
If a student runs out of FWS funds, you must either terminate the student's employment or hire the student directly onto your organization's payroll, in which case the student is working directly for you – no longer under the auspices of the FWS program – and you are responsible for 100% of the student's wages. If a student has questions about the amount of his/her FWS award, the student must contact his/her financial aid counselor.
Notify the Career Center by emailing fws@gwu.edu with the student's name, GW identification number, and last date of work.
If you wish to change a student's rate of pay, ask the student to print a new Employment Authorization Form and submit this to the Career Center with the new pay rate and the effective date of the rate change.
All the important 2009-2010 FWS off-campus employer forms are right here:
GWork: The job and internship listing service exclusively for all GW students and alumni.
Students/ Alumni Employers