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Division of Academic and Student Affairs 
Office of Undergraduate Research

Federal Work-Study Research Assistant Program

The OUR Federal Work-Study Research Assistant program (OUR FWS RA) provides RAs to PIs at no cost to departments or colleges. Funding for the position is provided by the OUR and the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid.

The OUR also provides PEP Award RA positions and OUR RA positions to students at no cost to departments/colleges. Reach out to the OUR to learn more.

Faculty / PIs who are conducting research and who are in need of undergraduate research assistant(s) are encouraged to complete the mentor interest form using the link below.

Key Information

  1. The key requirement for the program is financial need. Students who apply to the program must be eligible for and have a federal work-study award as part of their financial aid package.
  2. The OUR FWS RA program recruits undergraduate students over the summer for fall and/or academic year FWS RA positions. A smaller recruitment is held in late fall for spring positions that may open.
  3. PI’s are encouraged to create a job description for the OUR to post in the spring but may use our general job description if they would like.
  4. Positions are filled in early August – Verification of student’s FWS eligibility is unavailable until 2-3 weeks prior to the start of the fall semester start date. It may take a few weeks to finish the reviewing and pairing process.
  5. PI’s will be able to review student applications, including resumes, and may select the student(s) to interview in-person or over zoom.
  6. FWS is not available during the summer semesters and students will not be covered by this program over the summer. This is a University policy and out of the control of the OUR.
  7. There are times that there aren’t any applications for a particular PI position. In turn, there are times when the OUR does not have a PI in an area of interest to the student.
  8. Being an FWS RA is a job and students are hired as temporary bi-weekly employees. The OUR will process all HR transactions.
OUR-FWS RA Mentor Handbook

OUR-FWS General Job Description

  1. PI’s will be required to approve their RA’s time using WolfTime in the My Pack Portal. It is suggested that this is done weekly.
  2. Students may work a maximum of 20 hours per week.
  3. Students are paid at a rate of $14 per hour for students new to the program or $15 per hour for returning program participants. (This is non-negotiable and mentors should not adjust pay.)
  4. ALL students in the program will be set up to have their last day of work occur prior to May 1st.
  5. In addition to working as an RA, students are asked to complete a professional development activity each semester, are expected to present their research work at the spring symposium, and are asked to provide an assessment survey (final report) of the program at the end of their employment