Dear FWS Employers,

Effective June 28, 2007, the hiring process for Federal Work Study (FWS) students has changed. All employment actions for FWS students will now be initiated using the Personnel Action Form (PAF). The Office of Student Financial Assistance (SFA) has worked very closely with Human Resources to implement this change in an effort to simplify the employment process.

To ensure proper utilization of the FWS program, it is required that you continue to collect the student’s Class Schedule and Award Summary each semester. These items must be retained in your records for auditing purposes. For your convenience, we have created an electronic release system (Student Eligibility Search) located under your Employer Login. This system has replaced the paper release letter, and its purpose is to verify that a student has been released to work. If an ineligible student is inadvertently hired on a FWS account, the student must be terminated from the FWS account, and your OPS account will be billed for any charges incurred.

It is vital that account numbers are used correctly on the PAF. Departments will not be reimbursed for FWS students who are accidentally hired or transferred onto an OPS account instead of a FWS account. To confirm that your student was hired on the correct account number, you should review the PAF log as well as your Cost Center Reports on a regular basis. This will allow you to catch and correct any mistakes in a timely fashion.

Please continue to follow the FWS guidelines established by SFA to maintain the University of Central Florida’s compliance with federal rules and regulations. This includes but is not limited to maintaining employment records, using the predetermined starting pay rates, and adhering to pay raise schedules. Compliance with SFA guidelines for FWS will be monitored with periodic audits of FWS employers. While these audits need not be considered cumbersome since many of the required documents are also required for general employment purposes, participation in the FWS program can be revoked if your department is found in noncompliance.

An Employer Procedures page (http://finaid.ucf.edu/fws/em_procedures.htm) has been added to the Student Employment section of the Office of Student Financial Assistance Web site to assist you in navigating through the new process. Any further changes will be listed on this page as well.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter. We feel confident that the new, simplified process will provide relief to all those involved in FWS employment once the initial adjustment period has come to an end.

Sincerely,

Alicia Piñeiro
Federal Work Study Coordinator