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Federal Work Study (FWS) Allocation Request Criteria

All requests will be subject to a formal review and will be evaluated against one or more of the following criteria:

1. Departmental Spending History: The Financial Aid Staff will review requests for increased allocations based partly on the past spending history of the department. If a department is spending their entire allocation it may be seen as a need for increase. However, if the allocation is not being spent there could be a decrease for the next year. If you have extenuating circumstances as to why you are not using your allocation please indicate this in your request for additional funding.
2. Community Service: SUNY Canton must use at least 7% of its total FWS allocation to employ students in community service jobs. Community Service jobs are determined by reviewing whether a position primarily benefits the community at large versus just the college community. Community service must, by definition, be open and accessible, designed to improve the quality of life or address the needs of residents of the community at large. Examples of these services include, but are not limited to: literacy training, public safety, support services for students with disabilities, and emergency preparedness and response. There are many areas that can be considered for community service.
3. Departmental Need: The department must provide a justification of why they need a new or increased FWS allocation. Many departments depend on FWS students for the continued daily operations of their offices and can provide empirical data to support that request. For example: many offices keep daily tallies of phone calls and student traffic and as a result can document a need for more students to provide office support while staff are busy with customer service.
4. Benefit to the Student: The department must provide evidence of positive gain that the student will receive by working in their department. For example: a faculty member could provide justification for receiving an FWS allocation for a student to work on a major research project that will provide them field experience within their major.
5. Recruitment/Retention: If the new or increased allocation will assist with recruitment of new students or retention of students that are currently enrolled it will be given additional consideration.

Please note that none of the above criteria will be examined in isolation; however, a department must have justification for at least one of the above criteria to request a new or increased FWS allocation. In addition it is important to note that we do not receive increased FWS funding from the federal government and therefore new and increased allocations will result in decreases in other departments. We want to try to be as fair as possible to everyone when reviewing allocation requests. Thank you for your cooperation!!

All submitted requests will receive equal review by a committee comprised of Financial Aid Staff. Departments will be notified of their 2023-24 allocations by the end of the Spring 2023 semester.

Please contact Vicky Ashley in the Student Service Center at ashleyv@canton.edu if you have questions or concerns.