How It Works

Qualified students receive a Work-Study award as part of their financial aid package. This allows students to earn part of their college expenses rather than accruing more debt through loans.

The UC Berkeley Work-Study Office provides a wage subsidy from the Federal Work-Study Program to the employer as an incentive to hire a Work-Study student.

The employer recruits Work-Study students through the Work-Study website, follows the Work-Study hiring/referral process, and receives the Work-Study subsidy.

Because it's a match program with employers, the UC Berkeley Work-Study Office is able to roughly double the federal government's aid amount. Three million dollars of federal aid translates into approximately six million dollars of student aid. This allows:

• Students to gain major, career-related work experience while minimizing the amount of loan debt they have upon graduation
• Employers to hire high-quality Cal students at a subsidized rate
• The taxpayer-provided Federal Work-Study Program dollars to be doubled in assisting students, thanks to the employer match