Publication of Federal Register Notice Inviting Federal Work-Study Participating Postsecondary Educational Institutions to Participate in the Federal Work-Study Experiment Under the Experimental Sites Initiative

Author
Federal Student Aid
Subject
Publication of Federal Register Notice Inviting Federal Work-Study Participating Postsecondary Educational Institutions to Participate in the Federal Work-Study Experiment Under the Experimental Sites Initiative

Today we are releasing a pre-publication copy of the Federal Register notice that invites postsecondary educational institutions participating in the Federal Work Study program to apply to participate in the Federal Work Study experiment under the Experimental Sites Initiative (ESI). The official version of this document is the document published in the Federal Register. This document has been sent to the Office of the Federal Register but has not yet been scheduled for publication.

This experiment will provide participating postsecondary institutions with waivers of statutory and regulatory provisions to test how changes to the Federal Work Study program will increase partnerships between institutions and industry, improve student retention and completion, reduce student debt levels, and yield strong post-graduation employment outcomes.

Under this experiment, participating institutions will be granted waivers to remove limits on the portion of an institution’s FWS funds that may support students employed by private-sector companies, increase the number of hours per week an FWS student who is enrolled in a work-based learning program may work, reduce the share of wages that must be covered by private-sector employers, and allow institutions to pay low-income students for work experiences required by their program of study.

As noted in the attached pre-publication copy of the Federal Register notice, letters of interest from institutions interested in participating in the experiment must be submitted to the Department, following the procedures outlined in the notice, no later than 45 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register in order for the institution to ensure consideration for participation in the experiment.

We thank you for your interest in the Experimental Sites Initiative.