New guidelines for Community Service Federal Work Study?

Posted by on March 5, 2004

[posted from Campus Compact policy update]

New Guidelines for Community Service Federal Work-Study?

In his 2005 budget President Bush has proposed doing away with the 7% mandate for Community Service Work Study and instead he suggests earmarking 20% of the total FWS budget for a special community service work-study fund to which college and universities can apply to in addition to their other allotment.

The full language is pasted below from his ’05 budget. Campus Compact is trying to get the details of this new program from the Department of Education.

>From President Bush?s FY 05 Budget Request

"Federal Work Study.?Federal funds are awarded by formula to qualifying institutions, which provide part-time jobs to eligible undergraduate and graduate students. Hourly earnings under this program must be at least equal to the Federal minimum wage. Federal funding in most cases pays 75 percent of a student?s hourly wages, with the remaining 25 percent paid by the employer. The Administration proposes $999 million for the Federal Work Study program, which will provide $1.2 billion in aid to over one million students. The Federal Work Study program also requires participating institutions to use at least 7 percent of the total funds granted to compensate students employed in community service jobs. However, the PART found that, while institutions placed an average of 15 percent of their students in community service jobs, many institutions (including many ??elite?? colleges and universities) fail to meet even the 7 percent requirement. To address this issue, the Administration proposes to replace the 7 percent community service requirement with a separate set-aside for community service equal to 20 percent of the Work Study appropriation. Schools would apply for these community service funds separate from their regular allocation."