The U.S. Department of Education has granted waivers on federal aid rules to 190 colleges and universities, allowing more students from low-income families to get work-study jobs related to their majors in the private sector.
Federal Work-study (FWS) is a program for students to earn money to pay for their tuition and housing through part-time on-campus and sometimes off-campus jobs that are not necessarily connected to a student’s interests or major. More than 3,000 institutions across the country provided over 600,000 students with FWS opportunities, the Department said in a press release. But less than 0.01 percent involved off-campus employment with private-sector employers.