work-study

[wurk-stuhd-ee]

noun

1. a type of financial aid in which students are hired for part-time jobs, usually by their college, and often for work on campus.

   I was lucky enough to be a research assistant for work-study, unlike my roommate who had to work in the cafeteria.

adjective

1. of or relating to such a job associated with a college or university.

work-study

noun

1. an examination of ways of finding the most efficient method of doing a job, esp in terms of time and effort

Word History and Origins

Origin of work-study¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

“Mother, your little child has grown so tall. Yet still I run to your arms when I fall,” wrote Bipin Joshi, the first member of his family to seek work outside Nepal, tending orange and lemon groves on a work-study agricultural program near Israel’s border with Gaza.

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In high school, he rode the bus four hours a day — from Watsonville to San José and back again — to attend a college prep academy on a work-study scholarship.

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In the military city of San Diego, where thousands of former and current service members go to college, student veterans at Miramar College this year waited months to hear about VA work-study contracts, which previously had been approved within days.

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At California State University campuses, 107,000 students have taken out $861 million in federal student loans and thousands of others receive supplemental grants and federal work-study awards.

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The figure includes college loans, work-study funds and grants.

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