Students who receive a federal work-study award may earn their awards in the community at non-profit agencies.  This is a great way to make a positive impact on the local community. 

Some of the agencies where our students have worked in the past include the Bristol Animal Shelter, Bristol Good Neighbors Soup Kitchen, Audubon Society of RI, Roger Williams Park Zoo, the Bristol Reads Program, Coggeshall Farm Museum, Linden Place Museum, and Blithewold Gardens and Arboretum.

If you are interested in securing a work-study position in a community-service setting, please contact:
KC Ferrara, Service Learning Coordinator 
Center for Student Development, Suite 100                    
Phone: 401-254-3765
FAX:  401-254-3523
E-Mail:  kferrara@rwu.edu or service@rwu.edu

The following policies are from the 2007/2008 RWU Community Service Work Study Manual:

Work-Study Locations

• You may only hold a community service work-study position at a non-profit agency. “A non-profit organization is one in which no part of the net earnings  of the agency benefits any private shareholder or individual.  The  organization must be incorporated as a non-profit under federal or  state  law.  Work done at the agency must be done in the public interest. “ 
  From the 2003-2004 Federal Work-study Compliance Manual
• You may not work at a for-profit business.
• You may work at a religious institution, but the work you do may not be religious in nature (i.e. you can coach CYO basketball but may not teach Sunday school) or take place in a worship space (i.e. you cannot paint a chapel).
• You may hold two work-study positions only if at least one of them is a community service work-study position.  One may be on-campus, or both may be community service work. In the case of multiple positions, you must list all work-study employers with our office. 
• You must be a volunteer at the agency and not paid by the agency at the same time you are being paid work-study funds.
• Practicum or student teaching will not be approved as community service work-study positions.
• You may not use paid hours to fulfill your FSL requirement.
• It is the student’s responsibility to keep track of monies earned and not exceed their federal work-study award.  The FSL Coordinator will receive periodic updates about students’ status in regard to their award limit. 

Time Sheets

• Community service work-study students must use a YELLOW time sheet.  They are available in the FSL office only.  On-campus work-study timesheets will not be accepted and may delay processing your paycheck.  Stock up!
• Provide the site name in the appropriate space on the timesheet. 
• Timesheets must be signed by both the student and the site supervisor.  If these signatures are missing, the timesheet will not be processed.
• Timesheets are due to the FSL office NO LATER THAN 9AM on the due date.  Due dates are listed on the back of the timesheet.
• Do not submit timesheets to financial aid directly.  They will route them back to the FSL office and this may delay processing your timesheet.
• Incomplete timesheets may cause a delay in your being paid on time!! 
• If a timesheet is received after the deadline, it will be processed with the next available payroll. 
• Any student falsifying their timesheet may be immediately dismissed and could lose any work-study monies they have been awarded. 

Payable Time

• Travel time is payable time.  Please be reasonable in your estimates.
• Training time is payable time.

Workplace Situations

The FSL Coordinator is your supervisor, but you will have a site supervisor that works with you at the agency.  Any problems you encounter at the agency should be reported to your site supervisor immediately. These include injury, illness, and theft of personal items.  If you encounter situations on site that make you uncomfortable for any reason at all, please contact the FSL supervisor immediately. 

updated 10/20/2008