Overview: eligibility, hours, rates
Free Tuition Program for Fall 2025
UMass Dartmouth is proud to announce a transformative initiative, the UMass Dartmouth Deal, which will provide free tuition and mandatory fees to high-need, in-state undergraduate students. Read more to see if you qualify.
Types of employment & eligibility
Students awarded Federal Work-Study (FWS) for the full academic year may opt to only use the portion of the award for the spring semester. To defer your FWS until the spring semester, complete the Federal Work Study Deferment Form (PDF) and submit it to the Student Service Center by the due date listed on the form. Failure to submit a deferral request by the deadline will result in the cancellation of your entire FWS award.
Need-based student employment is available through UMass Dartmouth's participation in the Federal Work-Study (FWS) program administered by the U.S. Department of Education. To be eligible for Federal Work-Study program, you must:
- Be enrolled in a traditional undergraduate degree program
- Have filed a FAFSA by the March 1 priority deadline
- Meet the financial need criteria as defined by UMass Dartmouth
You may have more than one job on campus, but you may have only one Federal Work-Study job. Federal Work-Study is not applied towards your tuition bill.
Positions may be on-campus or off-campus. Federal Work-Study-eligible students may work at off-campus agencies or organizations while working through the Community Based Work-Study Program (CBWS).
The deadline to submit Federal Work-Study hiring forms is October 1 for the fall semester, and March 1 for the spring semester.
There are also a limited number of non-work-study student employment opportunities offered by academic and non-academic departments for students who do not meet Federal Work-Study requirements. These are typically on-campus positions. You must be enrolled in a degree program.
Beyond the jobs administered by Student Employment, you can also search for part-time jobs posted by area employers in the Career Handshake.
Limits on hours to be worked
No student may work more than eight hours per day or twenty hours per week when school is in session for one or any combination of departments. There are no exceptions. The eight hours per day or twenty hour per week limit applies only during the academic year employment periods. The average student works four to six hours per week, depending on the requirements of the position.
Students employed through Federal Work-Study (FWS) are allowed to work more than one job, but only one job through FWS.
When school is not in session, students may work eight hours per day or forty hours per week (maximum).
Stipend-based positions: These positions are available to graduate students only and have hours associated with them, even though they are not based on hourly wages. A stipend is payment for work performed, and therefore must be viewed as part of the twenty hour limit for when school is in session.
Get started
- Use CORSAIR Jobs to search for jobs and contact supervisors.
- Once your hiring has been approved, you'll receive an alert from CORSAIR Jobs to complete the appropriate forms and bring them to the Student Employment Office. All forms must be handed in and processed together. You may not work until you receive notification from Payroll that your placement is complete.