The Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment is responsible for most elements of on-campus student employment during both the academic year and the summer. During the summer only, the Office of Human Resources is also involved, advertising positions and assisting supervisors in establishing wage rates.
If your aid award contains a work-study job, in late August you will be given access to a listing of available job openings on campus (see "Applying for Jobs" below). Earning the award amount cannot be guaranteed, however, as it is dependent on such variables as job availability, hours, and academic schedules.
To maximize the chances of securing the number of work hours needed to earn the amount listed in an aid award, work-study students should apply for jobs before the third week of classes, as they have first preference for jobs during that time. Beginning approximately the third week of classes, all students will be eligible to apply for any jobs that remain open at that point. (Jobs that open later in the semester will, similarly, be advertised first to work-study students and then to all students.) Although we cannot guarantee employment, interested students are almost always able to find job opportunities on campus during their time at Colgate, assuming they apply early and are flexible about where and when they're willing to work.
Because remuneration for jobs is paid directly to students on a bi-weekly basis, the work-study figure indicated in an award letter cannot be deducted from a student's university term bill when calculating the family's payment at the beginning of a semester. However, students who have a work-study award greater than the amount of their allowance for books, travel, and personal expenses may need to contribute the difference toward their billed expenses. In such cases a payroll deduction may be arranged with the Office of Student Accounts so that payments can be made automatically toward the amount owed.
Work-study awards will generally increase each year.
Most campus offices, departments, programs, and libraries employ students. Although students with work-study awards will receive priority in hiring for most on-campus jobs, students who do not have work-study awards may still find positions available.
Enrolled students interested in obtaining a job should log on to the
Colgate portal. Jobs can be found by looking for the "Student Employment" link under the "Quicklinks" in the left-hand sidebar. From there you can use the "Find A Job" link to search through postings and apply for jobs. Clicking on the "Apply for this job" link at the bottom of a job description will create an e-mail application, which can be sent directly to the supervisor. Supervisors will contact you if they wish to interview or hire you. If you have not heard anything about your application status within a week or two, you may contact the supervisor via e-mail to re-express interest in the job and to inquire when a hiring decision may be made.
An I-9 form (used to determine work eligibility) must be on file with the Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment before a student may begin working. The form must be completed in person, and specific forms of identification must be presented: acceptable forms of identification include, but are not limited to, a passport OR a combination of a Colgate ID or driver's license AND Social Security card or birth certificate. (Students are free to submit any acceptable document, a complete list of which can be found on page 5 of the I-9 form.)
All documents must be originals and unexpired. Additionally, providing documents either that have no expiration date or that expire after your expected date of graduation may help you avoid having to either submit new ID documents or re-verify your employment authorization while enrolled at Colgate.
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W-4 form (used to determine withholding allowances for tax purposes) should also be submitted, because all wages -- including Federal Work-Study -- are taxable earnings.
Student wage rates are set according to the particular requirements of the position, as well as the number of years the student has held that particular position at Colgate. No merit pay can be offered, but students remaining in their positions will receive a modest pay increase in each successive year.
Students submit a record of their work hours to their supervisors on a regular basis, according to pre-established
Student Payroll Deadlines. Failure to do so will result in wages unpaid. Students are paid bi-weekly, either by check sent to a student's on-campus mailbox or by direct deposit to a student's bank account. Direct deposit allows a student to receive his or her pay most quickly and may be set up by completing and submitting to the Office of Accounting and Control a
Direct Deposit Authorization Form. For further information about direct deposit, please contact the
Office of Accounting and Control.
The Office of Financial Aid sets Colgate students up for employment in the summer as well as the academic year; but a student's
search for summer work will take place primarily through
other offices on campus. Colgate students interested in summer employment with the university may learn about work and research opportunities by consulting the academic departments or programs in which they have interest; the
Careers@Colgate site maintained by Human Resources (look specifically for positions with the word "summer" in the title); or, occasionally, the Student Employment section of the Colgate
portal. The
Center for Career Services can also provide information about finding -- and funding! --
summer internship opportunities.
For those Colgate students who will be working on campus during the summer, limited on-campus housing may also be available. For more information, please consult the
Summer Housing section of the Office of Residential Life website, which is updated each spring to provide accurate information for the coming summer.