As part of efforts to provide greater flexibility for student workers and ensure West Virginia University remains competitive with external employers, WVU recently increased the number of hours most students may work from 20 hours a week to 28 hours a week.
This update applies to all hourly student positions. This change does not apply to graduate student assistantships; however, it does include graduate students working at an hourly role.
Further, the University is planning to implement several other enhancements aimed at simplifying the hiring process for both student workers and their supervisors.
In the coming months, WVU plans to transition all job postings for student worker positions to Handshake, which is the top job search platform designed specifically for college students.
WVU Career Services has been using the Handshake platform for more than three years, and all WVU students already have an active Handshake account.
In addition to increasing the University’s reach among potential candidates, Handshake will ensure greater consistency in job descriptions, hourly wages and hiring practices. Handshake also will help WVU remain compliant with federal hiring guidelines and ensure Federal Work Study dollars are used when funding positions prior to expending institutional funds.
We will share more information beginning this spring and expect the policy and system changes to be in place by June for the fall 2022 hiring cycle.
In the meantime, visit the Career Services Center website for more information and additional resources. Contact WVU Shared Services at 304-293-6006 or SharedServices@mail.wvu.edu with any questions. You also may contact WVU Tax Services at 304-293-3379 ext. 3 or Tax@mail.wvu.edu.
* Note: The increase by WVU in the work hours permitted per week by student employees does not change the number of hours nearly all foreign national students in a F-1 and J-1 Visa status are permitted to work. Except in extremely limited circumstances, F-1 and J-1 student Visa holders are limited to 20 hours per week when classes are in session under Federal regulations (8 CFR 214.2(f)(9) and 22 CFR 62.23(g)(2)(iii)), respectively. As such, these students are limited to 20 hours per week regardless of University policy as exceeding 20 hours per week is considered a violation of their visa status. Foreign National student employees who have questions on the number of hours they are permitted to work each week should contact WVU Shared Services or WVU Tax Services to discuss their specific situation.