The Federal Work-Study Program May Be An Appealing Way To Work Part-Time And Pay Debts

Are you hoping to graduate from college with as little debt as possible? If so, you may be planning to work during college to cover some of your tuition expenses. While there are many part-time jobs out there that are suited to college students, the Federal Work-Study Program is often the best deal for students who qualify. While you'll still have to work for your money, you'll know you are receiving fair, dependable compensation that won't count against you in your application for financial aid.

What are the financial benefits of participating in the Work-Study program? The biggest benefit is that your earnings won't count when your financial aid eligibility is being calculated. If you earn over $3,000 in a year from a job that is not part of the program, your earnings will decrease the amount of your federal financial aid package. The earnings from your job, however, will not be used in calculating your Expected Family Contribution for college.

There are many additional benefits to a Work-Study job, as well. For one, though it is mandated that Work-Study salaries meet the minimum wage, many of these jobs pay more than this. You will likely earn more from your Work-Study job than you would earn working in retail or doing a similar student-friendly job. In addition, you'll probably be given the option to have your wages applied directly to your college tuition, so you won't have the temptation to spend your money on other things.

In most cases, your employer will be your college itself. Colleges have a certain amount of funding each year to hire Work-Study employees. The jobs you could do are varied and will depend on the openings at your college. You may do clerical work for your department or another office within the college. You could serve as a tutor, librarian's assistant, or even a cafeteria worker.

You may be interested to know that a minimum percentage of an institution's work-study funding must be used to support community service jobs. This means that you may be able to find a Work-Study position doing something you love that helps the community. Serving as a literacy tutor for young students in the community or working on an emergency response team are some examples.

You can even get a Work-Study job with a private for-profit organization, a non-profit organization, or a federal, state, or local public organization. Even though in most cases, your school will be your employer, there are many related employment opportunities out there if you know where to look.

But how do you know if you are eligible for this type of program? Not every student meets federal requirements. Basically, you must have unmet financial need as determined by your FAFSA report. Your Expected Family Contribution must be under seven thousand dollars for you to officially qualify.

Work-Study is a great opportunity for college students to take a more proactive role in reducing their college debts and limiting financial aid. Qualified students will be glad that they worked hard to pay off some of their tuition while they were still attending online school.

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Profit From The Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program

For new nurses, the prospect of paying off several years worth of education loans can be intimidating. Some people even choose to avoid furthering their education for fear of becoming trapped by student loans.

For those who choose to enter the nursing profession, the US Government has great news, in the form of the Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program. The goal of the program is to help reduce the drastic shortage of registered nurses that many agencies are facing by helping nurses in certain positions repay their student loans.

The program is fairly simple. When a nurse signs up for the program, he or she must make a two year commitment to work in an underserved facility, usually a non-profit group. In exchange for successfully completing those two years of work, nurses receive sixty percent of their total student loans. If a nurse chooses to stay for an additional year, he or she will receive another twenty five percent of their original loan balance.

While nurses are working in these positions, they are earning a regular salary and receiving benefits that are the same as they would be for those not participating in the program. In essence, the program offers nurses the ability to nearly eliminate their loans in three years without doing anything extra.

Sound too good to be true? There are a few rules that nurses considering the Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program should know about. First, the program is for registered nurses who have completed an educational program that resulted in the awarding of a diploma, associate's degree, bachelor's degree, or a graduate level program in nursing from a school that is located within the United States. Nurses must be licensed and eligible to work at full-time status in one of the eligible non-profit facilities listed by the government. Students must be either US Citizens or must be legal, Lawful Permanent Residents of the United States.

The next part is where nurses will need to do a little homework. You will need to be working at an eligible non-profit facility or be working as a teacher in a non-profit school that teaches nursing. There are a number of different non-profit facilities that are eligible for the program, including hospitals, nursing homes, state or local health and human services departments, certain hospice programs, skilled nursing facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, home health agencies, and federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics.

There is a limit on the number of nurses who receive funding through this program, and preference is given to nurses who receive lower pay and who work in areas with the most drastic nursing shortages. Applications for the program are accepted annually, and nurses should read the information provided with the application packet completely because they will be entering into a contract with the government if they are selected. The Nursing Education Loan Repayment Program can help you start the career you have been training for without the burden of student loans.

Steven C. Brown is helping nursing students prepare for exams and tests. Read more about nursing careers and the TEAS test when applying for a nursing school.

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