Hiring students through work-study funding

Call for Employer Applications

The Financial Aid and Awards Office (FAAO) is will acccept applications for work-study funding 2024-2025 academic year starting March 15, 2024. (Due to an overwhelming response, Work Study projects approvals have been completed and a waiting list is now opened.)

The work-study program is designed to help full-time Concordia students in financial need by offering part-time employment on campus. Under the terms of this program, the FAAO will subsidise up to 50% of the labour cost (salary and benefits) of all approved work-study projects at the approved work-study salary rate ($15.75 to $17.75 per hour). The maximum hours for each project is 200 hours per term.

Student eligibility criteria

• Students from Quebec must have applied for and be receiving Quebec government student aid
• Students from the rest of Canada must have applied for and be receiving government student aid from their home province 
• International students, including students from the United States, must provide a statement describing the change in their financial resources since applying for their student visa
• International students must be at least in their second year of attendance at Concordia University and paying the full international tuition fee
• Students must be studying full time in a degree program and making satisfactory academic progress 

Work-study is a financial aid program funded by the Quebec government's Aide financière aux études and La Direction des affaires étudiantes et de la coopération internationale and Concordia University.

Please note all work-study positions are casual appointments as defined in the Human Resources Introduction and Definitions Policy HR1.

Guidelines for employers

Any department with a Concordia operating or research account may submit a request for work-study funding. Note the following conditions:

• You may submit one application per academic term for each student
• You may only hire one student for each project
• Positions must be on-campus
• Approval is for one term only
• A project approved for a given term will not be postponed to another term, meaning you cannot transfer funds from one term to another
• You must reapply annually for funding
• Submitting a request for funding does not guarantee funding
  
• You may no longer use CREW utilizing work study operating accounts nor CREW accounts. Subsidies for work study will be reimbursed to your operating account after the project has been completed
• You may not submit NOHCE or CREW forms for hiring work study students prior to verifying the student’s eligibility or prior to project approval. A completed confirmation of hire form is mandatory

Timeline for Work Study Employment

Each term is eligible for a maximum of 200 hours. 

Summer Term:

Earliest start date: May 1
Latest end date: August 31

Fall Term:

Earliest start date: September 1
Latest end date: December 31

Winter Term:

Earliest start date: January 4
Latest end date: April 30

Verifying student eligibility

It is your responsibility to verify your student's eligibility, based on their registration status at the time you assess their application. Their status might change at the time of hiring or during the period of employment.

It's a good idea to verify your student(s) eligibility periodically. Should your student  withdrawal from one or more courses (with a DNE on the transcript) they lose their full-time student status; they will no longer be eligible for the work-study and you will lose the subsidy.

About funding sources

Work-study funding comes from three sources:

1. Concordia University
2. Aide financière aux études
3. Direction des affaires étudiantes et de la coopération. 

You can only hire a student who has been approved to work under the type of funding you applied for:

• Concordia funding to hire a student with "C" work-study authorization
• Quebec funding to hire a student with "Q" work-study authorization
• International funding to hire a student with "I" work-study authorization. 

Please be advised that we will not be able to change the funding source to match the students you wish to hire. 

Once your work-study application is approved, your position will appear on the work-study jobs page according to these timelines: 

• Summer: April 1 to mid-July
• Fall: August 1 to mid-October
• Winter: December 1 to mid-February

The job will show as vacant until you email the work-study administrator to let them know that you have hired a student to fill the position.

You have three weeks from the start date of the position to fill it and send all the required paperwork to the work-study program. Your funding will be cancelled if you are are unable to fill the position within the three-week period.

1. Log into your work-study program account. (If you're having problems, make sure your browser has cookies enabled.) If you cannot remember your password you can click Forgot your password on the main page. You can also create an account if you don't have one yet. Under Create a new account, choose a username and password.
2. Click Continue to go to the User Information screen. Follow the prompts to enter or update your personal information, then verify the info you entered.
3. Next, click on view projects for the relevant academic year. In the next screen, choose enter a new project. If you cannot find your department name, please contact the work-study administrator to have it added. Remember to enter your Unity account number (internal order number) to facilitate journal fund transfers.
4. Follow the prompts to outline the parameters of the position.
5. Once all the information is entered, click Submit and you will have one last chance to verify that your project information is accurate before it is sent to the work-study administrator.

Terminology to keep in mind

• Hiring department: The name of your department
• Project supervisor: The name of the person responsible for supervising the project. This could be the grant holder or the signing authority for the account associated with the project
• Project contact: The name of the person whose contact information should appear on the job posting and who will communicate with the work-study funding administrator.
• Job title: The name of the position being posted for work-study
• Signing authority for time sheets: The name of the person who will sign the time sheet or notice of hire for payroll purposes
• Account number: The account you will use to pay the student and where the work-study subsidy will be credited. 

After you've applied

Project Numbers

• We will issue you a project number as soon as you click Submit project application on the User Options page.
• You can see your project number in the listing on the View project information page, selected from the Options menu. You can edit your project from the project summary screen. Just click Edit project.
• Please note: You can receive up to three project numbers in advance of entering project information. This is by design to prevent users from losing their priority due to technical problems.
• Once you have a project number, you can go back to the User Options page and select Submit project application again. You can work on up to three projects at a time. 

Project status 

You can see the status of each project under View project information.

• Pending means your project is waiting for approval.
• Approved means your project has been approved for funding.

Need help with applying? 

If you need to make changes to your project and it is locked, please contact the Financial Aid and Awards Office. You can write to us at wsemployers@concordia.ca.