Every year, eligible students have the opportunity to become part of the Federal Work-Study Program. Work-study jobs are on-campus and help students pay for educational expenses.

According to the university's financial aid website, the program is federally-funded and is available to undergraduate students who demonstrate financial need, which is determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). 

Andrea Hein, a senior speech-language pathology and strategic communication double major, has had work-study since her first year.

Hein worked as a desk assistant in Colby, Samuelson and Carter halls and started working at the University Recreation Center in May. She said she thinks the program is helpful to students who want a job on campus, but was disappointed by the lack of work-study positions advertised on FrogJobs.

“Overall, I think it’s a really good program,” Hein said. “I have looked on FrogJobs for work-study jobs in the past, but I didn’t really see anything at times when I looked.”

Chase Teague, a senior music education major, used work-study his first year at the university. He worked at the University Recreation Center but found that keeping up with his job and demanding school schedule was too difficult.

“As a music major, my major requires almost all of my time, so I just couldn’t juggle both of them and give as much as I needed to for the job,” he said.

Both Hein and Teague said work study's minimum wage pay was not ideal and could be difficult at times, but both were grateful to have an on-campus job.

Caitlin Koch, also a music education major, had a work-study job as the TCU Band librarian since her sophomore year. She said the university should make the program more visible, especially to first-year students.

“I think [the program] could be a little bit better advertised because I didn’t really know what it was when I was a freshman,” Koch said. “I knew you could work in the office somehow, but I wasn’t exactly sure what to do about it or anything.”

The financial aid office was unavailable for comment. 

To learn more about the Federal Work-Study Program, students can log on to the financial aid website at www.financialaid.tcu.edu or send an email to [email protected].