Federal Work Study Employment During Periods of Non-Attendance

A student may be employed under FWS during a period of nonattendance, such as a summer or equivalent vacation period or the full-time work period of a cooperative education program. To be eligible for this employment, a student must be planning to enroll (or to re-enroll) for the next regular session. The student’s earnings during this period of nonattendance (earning minus taxes and job related costs) must be used to pay his/her cost of attendance for the next period of enrollment.

A student whose eligibility for summer FWS employment was based on anticipated enrollment in the subsequent term may fail to register or may decide to attend another school. When a student fails to register for the subsequent term, the school that employed the student must be able to demonstrate that the student was eligible for employment and that the school had reason to believe the student intended to study at that school in the next term. At minimum, the school that employed the student must keep a written record in its files showing that the student had accepted the school’s offer of admittance in the upcoming session.

A student in an eligible program of study abroad may be employed during the summer preceding the study abroad if he/she will be continuously enrolled in his/her American school while abroad and if the student’s study is part of the American school’s own program. In such a case, a student may be employed in a qualified position in the United States, at the American school’s branch campus in a foreign country, at a U.S. government facility abroad, or in an American company abroad.