Part-Time Campus and Community Employers

Any Duke department can participate in the work-study programs using the JobX system.  Once a department determines they have a work-study position, they will use the JobX system to post the job opportunity.  Because work-study jobs are using federal funds, all the job descriptions must be approved.  Once the position is approved, the job will appear in JobX searches, and students will be able to apply.   We strongly suggest users review the JobX training guide prior to posting a position.  

Once a department identifies a student for hire, and they have verified the student has a work-study award, the hiring manager will submit a request to hire using work-study funds through JobX (we suggest the department reach out to the student to verify that s/he is still available for the position).   An email with the work-study fund & g/l code will be sent to the hiring manager and the payroll clerk .  The email will indicate the type of work study the student has, the date range for which the fund code is valid, the percentage of earnings that can be charged to the work-study fund code, and the amount of earnings eligible for the work-study subsidy.    A separate email will be sent to the student letting them know they have been hired and providing the next steps.

The department can then begin the hiring process using iForms.  The student will be paid based on the information input into iForms and the timecard submitted for each pay period.  Student employees are paid on the bi-weekly payroll system, with the exception of Ph.D graduate students employed as teaching or research assistants who are paid on the monthly payroll. The work-study code and percentage to use can be found on the email received from the JobX system.  Student hours are submitted to Payroll for each pay period.  

Federal Work Study has certain conditions and limitations on employment. One of these conditions is an appropriate rate of pay, according to the type of work performed, the geographic region, the employee’s proficiency, and any applicable federal, state, or local law, including state or locally established minimum wage rates.  

• FWS employment must not displace employees (including those on strike) or impair existing service contracts. Replacement is interpreted as displacement. Also, if the school has an employment agreement with an organization in the private sector, the organization’s employees must not be replaced with FWS students. Replacing a full-time employee whose position was eliminated (for any reason) with a student employee paid with FWS funds is prohibited. Moreover, this prohibition extends to instances where a school first replaces the full-time employee with a student position paid with college funds.
• FWS positions must not involve constructing, operating, or maintaining any part of a building used for religious worship or sectarian instruction. In determining whether any FWS employment will violate this restriction, a school should consider the purpose of the part of the facility in which the work will take place and the nature of the work to be performed. If the part of the facility in which the student will work is used for religious worship or sectarian instruction, the work cannot involve construction, operation, or maintenance responsibilities. If that part of the facility is not being used for religious worship or sectarian instruction, the school should make sure that any work the student will perform meets general employment conditions and that other limitations are not violated.

Neither a school nor an outside employer that has an agreement with the school to hire FWS students may solicit, accept, or permit the soliciting of any fee, commission, contribution, or gift as a condition for a student’s FWS employment. However, a student may pay union dues to an employer if they are a condition of employment and if the employer’s non-FWS employees must also pay dues.

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, prohibits employers (including schools) from accepting voluntary services from any paid employee. Any student employed under FWS must be paid for all hours worked.

• Working during scheduled class time prohibited. In general, students are not permitted to work in FWS positions during scheduled class times. Exceptions are permitted if an individual class is cancelled, if the instructor has excused the student from attending for a particular day, and if the student is receiving credit for employment in an internship, externship, or community work-study experience. Any such exemptions must be documented.

• Establishing wage rates for work-study jobs:
  • Undergraduate students are paid wages on an hourly basis only. 
  • Graduate students may be paid by the hour or may be paid a salary. 
  • Students may not work more than 19.9 hours per week. 
  • In determining an appropriate rate, you must consider the following:
    • the skills needed to perform the job;
    • how much persons with those skills are paid in the local area for doing the same type of job;
    • rates the school would normally pay similar non-FWS employees; and

A student’s need places a limit on the total FWS earnings permissible but has no bearing on their wage rate. It is not acceptable to base the wage rate on need or on any other factor not related to the student’s skills or job description. If a student’s skill level depends on his or her academic advancement, the school may pay a student on that basis. For example, a junior or third-year lab student may be paid a higher rate than a sophomore or second-year lab student. However, in most cases, students performing jobs comparable to those of other employees should be paid comparable wages, whether the other employees are students at different class levels or are regular employees.

Below are the updated University rates for hourly student employees effective July 1, 2025:

• Student Assistant-General $16.50/hr – $21.00/hr
• Student Assistant-Specialized $17.50/hr – $24.00/hr  (Specialized ex: research assistant, advanced computer, technical work)  

No student will be denied employment or subjected to different treatment under the Agreement on the grounds of race, gender, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.  The department must comply with the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964    (Pub. L. 88-352, 78 State 252), and the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Pub. L. 92-318).

Students may work a maximum of 19.9 hours per week during academic periods. 

Use one of the following service type/category(G/L accounts) to charge the total payroll costs of students employed by Duke University under the work-study program, regardless of whether supported by federal funds or University budgeted funds:

• 60/84 Work-Study – Duke Employed – Undergraduate
• 60/85 Work-Study – Duke Employed – Graduate
• 60/86 Work-Study – Duke Employed – House Counselors
• 60/87 Work-Study – Duke Employed (Exempt) – Graduate
• 60/88 Work-Study – Duke Employed – Professional

The first two digits are the service type; the second two digits are the service category. On the Hire Form or Staff Change Form, select the appropriate service type/service category from the list above and use it with both the departmental cost object and the work-study program cost object.

• It is important to monitor the student’s earnings and take action before their earnings exceed their work-study award.  If your student employee is about to exceed his/her work-study award, you must take the following steps immediately – either terminate the student’s employment or submit a “Request for Cost Distribution Change” iForm and set up the student earnings so that 100% is charged to your department’s fund code.  All funds that exceed the work-study award limit will be charged 100% to the departmental cost objects. If the department does not setup the change, then the Office of Student Loans and Personal Finance will do so and charges will be retroactive to the pay period in which the work-study funds were exceeded.
• Fringe benefits may not be charged to work-study fund codes.
• For a student in the work-study program, the work-study job is primary; however, the student may have a secondary job. Usually, the secondary job is not work-study and is paid 100% from a secondary cost object. If the second job is another work-study job, it is paid from a departmental cost object and a work-study cost object. 
• The work-study funds can only subsidize wages earned between the start and end dates specified on the hire email.  Any earnings after the end date will be charged entirely to the department’s fund code.  Work study cannot be paid retroactively.

Yes, the student would need to be hired for both positions within JobX for both employers to receive the work study fund code info needed for Duke@Work. The two employers must agree on how much of the student’s allocation will be used by their departments. If the department holding the primary position within Duke@Work indicates on the form that they plan to use all of the student’s work study award amount, then the secondary position will need to be setup as 100% dept funded.  Both depts should complete & sign the Multiple Job Form.  A completed copy of the form should be sent to studentemployment@duke.edu before the student is placed on the payroll.  

The most common reason for this is that you are trying to use either the student’s DUID or student ID for this (these will be all numbers). The NET ID is required to be input here (this will always have a letter).  You may either ask the student to provide you with their NET ID or you may go into the Duke Directory and find it there.

Sometimes the name you entered is the student’s preferred name but JobX requires their legal name as shown in Duke Hub. If the legal name doesn’t show in the Duke Directory, the student can provide this (they should verify it in their DukeHub account). You can also click on the JobX dropdown at the top under the Student Employment banner & choose Supervisor Search Student. You should then enter the student’s netid into the Employee Id box and it will bring up the student’s legal name as it appears in DukeHub.

Work-study codes change for each academic period (summer 1, summer 2, and fall/spring) so a student has to be hired in JobX into a position that falls within each academic period. There are instructions on the training page on how to re-post a position (this will allow you to edit start & end dates).  Once the position is approved, you can then hire the student (either by having the student apply to this position or manually by entering the student’s name/net id as it appears in the system–you should have that info from the previous hire).  Always make sure the start date of the hire falls within the award term. 

NOTE: After you’ve updated the posting, you may still see the student in the list showing as hired (the hire date will reflect the previous year). As you continue the hire process, it will allow you to hire the student again using the updated start/end dates now reflected in your edited posting.

The Financial Aid Office will let each student know if they have received work-study.  Employers are also able to see if a student has work-study when the student applies for or is hired into a position via JobX.  JobX will provide the employer with the work-study allocation, the dates for which the allocation is valid, and other important information when the student is hired within JobX. This information will be shown as you review a student’s application and re-verified when you submit a hire.

*Reminder: The total amount of work study is the total combined amount for both the work study code and department code.

The WBS Element is used for billing purposes and distinguishes students as Federal or Duke work-study. Please note that the work-study WBS Element changes each fiscal year beginning July 1 (as well as each academic term–summer 1, fall/spring, and summer 2), and no student can have his or her earnings charged to the old work code after that date.

What if the allocation amount changes? What happens when the allocation is depleted?

This information is available in JobX and will be shown as you review a student’s application and re-verified when you submit a hire. Although employers can see this info in JobX, students are responsible for notifying their employer of any changes in their work-study allocation (ie aid has been switched from FWS to DWS or vice versa). Employers should advise students to keep them informed of any changes in their allocation, as the hiring department is responsible for any earnings that exceed the student’s work-study allocation.

Using the hourly rate, the employer and student should plan a work schedule that would permit the student to stay within the earnings authorized on the work-study verification form. When a student employee has earnings that equal his/her work-study allocation, the department/non-profit must begin paying the student 100% from the department/non-profit budget.

An employer can view how much work study a student has remaining by selecting Supervisor Search Student from the JobX drop-down.  Reviewing this periodically will allow a department to update the student within Duke@Work/iForms to the appropriate department code.

Any earnings that are above the work study award amount are the sole responsibility of the department.  Departments should discuss with their student hires how the position will be handled once work study funding is depleted.

Please Note: Due to an unavoidable delay between hours worked in a pay period and accounting data availability, work-study earnings reflected in this system are typically behind by approximately 2 weeks.

Student employees are paid on the Duke University bi-weekly payroll system, with the exception of PhD graduate students employed as research or teaching assistants who are paid on a monthly basis. The departmental payroll clerk must submit a Hire iForm and collect I-9 information the same as for a regular employment. If a student has a primary and a secondary, the iForm will route to the primary for approval. ALL iForms related to work study students are reviewed and approved by the Office of Student Loans & Personal Finance. Direct deposit is required for all work study students.

Going to https://finance.duke.edu/payroll/replist & choosing biweekly or monthly will provide a list of all dept org keys and payroll reps.

You can also go into your MyInfo tab in Duke@Work and under My Profile select View Contact Information for My Payroll Representative

JobX does not distinguish between primary and or secondary positions. JobX does not distinguish between international or domestic students. This will still be done within Duke@Work using iForms.

There are 3 ways to access student information after a hire:

1. Select Access & Audit and choose Hire Archive from the dropdown.  Put in criteria info (ie date range, name, etc) & submit.  You should see the student name & on the right there will be a detail button to click  (this will show the funding info that was contained in the hire email). HOWEVER if you requested that no email be sent originally the system will not have a record of the hire email and you will need to send an email to Student Employment requesting that your hire be deleted and you will then need to hire the student again.
2. Select JobX and choose Supervisor Search Student (this will show the student award with running balance as well as the student schedule)
3. Select Reporting and choose Standard Reports, JobX Award Detail, Run Reports, Filter (this can be left blank), Select report by grouping of choice, Leave Secondary sort blank, & click Next (this will pull report of all work-study students)

If during the hire the bubble next to Send Hire Email is unselected, JobX will not generate the hire/code information.  That bubble must remain filled in to have the email sent.  The student will show as hired but again the hire email isn’t generated.  You can verify if the bubble was unfilled with your hire by selecting Access & Audit and choosing Hire Archive from the dropdown.  Put in criteria info (ie date range, name, etc) & submit.  You should see the student name & on the right there will be a detail button to click (this will show the info that was contained in the hire email).  If the code info is blank, the hire will need to be deleted (Student Employment will have to do this) and then the student can be hired again (making sure to leave the bubble filled in).  

Select Access & Audit and choose Hire Archive from the dropdown. Put in criteria info (ie date range, name, etc) & submit. You should see the student name & on the right there will be a detail button to click (this will show the info that was contained in the hire email)

Click on the position and then update the status.  Depending on what you’re wanting to do will determine the status to be chosen: 

• Active/Not Listed –if you want to move the position from being viewable to students because you may want to make some changes to the position OR
• Inactive –if you’ve made all your hires and you are ready to move the position to be reused for future semesters. Please update the listing date when you repost.

We normally recommend that you provide the student with the JobID for them to use to search for your position. This is because direct links will sometimes require students to log-in to the platform and doing so will not link them to the position because the link may be connected to the employers log-in info. However, you can click on Employees on top left (under Student Employment banner), choose Find a Job from the dropdown, click Advanced Search, input JobID number into the search field, click search & this will list the position, click on the position title to bring up the details of the position, and then copy the web address to provide as the direct link

Non-Profits participate in Duke work-study through the collaboration of the Community Service Center (Duke Civic Engagement). Non-profits must qualify to participate in the program (see the contract). Participating non-profits hire Duke students and pay each student through the non-profit’s normal pay routine. The student will receive paychecks through the non-profit, not through Duke. A student must be paid at least once a month for work performed. After payment of students, the nonprofit submits documentation to the Office of Student Loans & Personal Finance for reimbursement of the student’s work-study earnings. The Office of Student Loans & Personal Finance completes the appropriate paperwork, and Payroll sends a reimbursement to the non-profit. The non-profit can only be reimbursed for the percentage covered by work-study funding (90% of earnings for federal work-study, 50% of earnings for Duke Institutional work-study), up to the amount the student is allocated.

Students receive a limited amount of money for work-study. If a student works more hours than the work-study allotment can reimburse, it is up to the Agency to begin funding 100% of the student’s pay. Academic Year work-study allocations can only be used for hours worked during the designated timeframe for fall & spring semesters of an academic year (specific dates change with each year but timeframes usually start around the 2^nd week in August and end around the 1^st week in May).

Students cannot use the academic year work-study during the summer. If resources exist, students may be awarded summer work-study. In this case, students will receive a new verification paper valid only for the summer. Please note all requests for reimbursements for work performed during the academic year must be submitted to the Office of Student Loans & Personal Finance by mid-May (exact dates for each year will be communicated).

In order to qualify for work-study allocation, a student must have an established and documented financial need in the Financial Aid Office of the college or school in which the student is enrolled. A work-study allocation is one component of a financial aid package and is not a requirement, but an opportunity.

Once your request for access to JobX is approved, you will be provided with log-in credentials.

Employers will post job openings using JobX. To ensure that your information is listed on JobX correctly, it is important that you review your opportunity before submitting it to be posted. Please do not use abbreviations students might not be familiar with or other information students may not know. The job description can be brief but should be appealing. We recommend using images and providing salary information in the description. Employers who wish to do so may place ads in the CHRONICLE at their own expense, as an additional way of advertising their job vacancies.

Please see the JobX training materials under Supervisor Support and Resources and refer to the Best Practices for Job Description Postings.

Active, Listed means the job posting has been approved and is available for students to view.

Active, Not Listed means the creator has decided that the posting needs further review by them or someone in their department before the position should be submitted for approval.

Inactive means the position is closed (all students hired). Moving here will delete all related applications connected to the posting. It will allow the posting to be used again in the future but you must update the listing date.

The Office of Student Loans & Personal Finance does not place students. Students will be provided with information about student employment opportunities, and it will be left to the students to call upon the jobs that most interest them. Employers will post their position on JobX.

Each Agency is responsible for hiring the number of students they need and informing each student of job responsibilities, work schedule, and rate of pay. The Office of Student Loans & Personal Finance does not keep student information on file; therefore each Agency must maintain records for their student employees.

When a student is hired, employers remove their job listing from JobX in order to prevent their department from receiving inquiries about a job vacancy after it has been filled. The agency must also notify our office when they hire a student within JobX so that we can provide the you with the required reimbursement form that is needed in order to request reimbursement.

The Financial Aid Office will let each student know if they have received work-study.  Employers are also able to see if a student has work-study when the student applies for or is hired into a position via JobX.  JobX will provide the employer with the work-study allocation, the dates for which the allocation is valid, and other important information. This information will be shown as you review a student’s application and re-verified when you submit a hire.

*Reminder: The total amount on the work study verification form is the total combined amount for both the work study code and the agency portion.

Maintain a copy of the JobX hire email for your records.

What if the allocation amount changes? What happens when the allocation is depleted?

The Work-Study Verification Form will verify how much a student has been allocated; however, this figure may change during the course of the year. Students are responsible for notifying their employer of any changes in their work-study allocation. Employers should advise students to keep them informed of any changes in their allocation, as the hiring department is responsible for any earnings that exceed the student’s work-study allocation.

Using the hourly rate, the employer and student should plan a work schedule that would permit the student to stay within the earnings authorized on the work-study verification form. When a student employee has earnings that equal his/her work-study allocation, the department/non-profit must begin paying the student 100% from the Agency budget.  Reimbursements that exceed a student’s work-study allocation will not be processed.

Any earnings that are above the work study award amount are the sole responsibility of the Agency. Agencies should discuss with their student hires how the position will be handled once work study funding is depleted.

During the academic year and summer sessions, undergraduate students enrolled in classes are allowed to work no more than 19.9 hours per week. This figure is the maximum amount. Please note that it is not recommended to work students the maximum amount of hours permitted. It is critical that a student’s campus employment be a manageable part of his/her undergraduate career, not an overwhelming experience. Please discuss with your student employees the number of hours that they feel comfortable working given all other obligations of their time.

Graduate students are permitted to work up to 19.9 hours a week during periods of enrollment.

Students may exceed the 19.9 hours during spring and winter breaks.

A student can work on-site, remotely, or a hybrid schedule. Any student doing remote work is required to work within the state of North Carolina.

The Agency places the student on payroll using their current payroll process. The agency notifies our office when they hire a student within JobX so that we can provide the agency with the required reimbursement form that is needed in order to request reimbursement.

Yes, the two employers must first agree on how much of the student’s allocation will be earned at their department. Having both employers sign off on the Multiple Job Form does this. The Multiple Jobs Form is available on the Financial Aid web page in the Work-Study section. A completed copy of the form should be submitted to the Office of Student Loans & Personal Finance before the student is placed on payroll.

Any additional questions may be directed to the Office of Student Loans and Personal Finance by email at studentemployment@duke.edu or by phone at (919)-660-3630.