Interested in doing your Federal Work Study (FWSP) out in the community, in service to others? Great! Community work study can be a great way to get to know the Tampa Bay area, build friendships, hone a resume, and do something meaningful. Here are the steps that you will need to take to begin and complete community work study:

1. Do you qualify for work study? If yes, find out what your award amount (salary limit) is and move on to question 2. If no or you aren't sure, give the financial aid office a call at x8334 to see if you qualify.
2. Have you filled out a student employment form? The Service-Learning Office needs the top four boxes (Name, SSN, Student ID #, and Signature) filled out by you. Also, put your salary limit (FWSP award) in the right box too. Return to the Service-Learning Office when you are done. This form makes you an employee of the Office of Service-Learning doing community service and makes Brian your work supervisor.
3. Drop by the Career Services office in Lindsey Hall (around the corner from the pub) to fill out an I-9. This will only take about 2 minutes to do. Be sure to bring two kinds of ID. Check out the "List of Acceptable Documents" online to see what kind of ID you need to bring.
4. Do you know where you want to do your community service? There are tons of places where you can work—the spouse abuse shelter, animal shelters, local nature preserves, public schools, local churches, museums, research labs—all kinds of sites. Not sure where you want to work? See Brian, Audrey or KR in the Service-Learning office to find a good placement that will meet your schedule and needs.
5. Call the agency or agencies where you are interested in doing your community work study. Let them know that you are doing work study and want to volunteer for them. Let them know that Eckerd College will pay your salary while they get the benefit of your work. Find out what kind of place it is. What kind of work would you do? What hours are best for them? Does that work with your class schedule? Is help needed on weekends? What ideas do you have for them? Is there something you'd like to do or try and will they let you do that? What kind of orientation is needed? How long does it take to get there from the college? And so on. If it all sounds good to you, come into the office and grab a Volunteer Agreement Form.
6. Call the agency and set up a time when you can meet with the agency, be sure to bring the Volunteer Agreement Form with you. Get the agency's info (such as address and phone number) on the form and also the name and title of the person who will supervise you most often at the agency (this is usually the volunteer coordinator but could be a particular teacher, for example, if you are working at a public school). You and that person will decide on a job title and work description together. Be creative, administrative assistant sounds much better on a résumé than paper filer. It doesn't have to be real detailed, just whatever works for the both of you. Have the agency representative sign it, you sign it, and then return to the Service-Learning office for Brian's signature.
7. Do you need a "long form" filled out at your job site? If no, skip to the next step. A long form is needed if you are the first Eckerd student ever to work at that off campus location. You will probably not need to worry about this form. However, if the Service-Learning Director (Brian) has told you that a certain agency needs to fill one out, be sure to have them do so when you get your volunteer agreement form filled out. This form establishes a relationship between the college and the agency. We agree to pay you; the agency agrees to let you volunteer there. Return to Brian when completed.
8. Whew! Now that you have done all that paperwork you are ready to start your volunteer work and enjoy it! You can work as many hours a week as you want but you cannot exceed your FWSP award. If you do, you will not get paid for those hours and your work will be true, unpaid volunteerism!!! It is your responsibility to keep track of your hours but Brian will also try to help keep an eye on where you are. Time spent driving to and from your work site does not count as hours unless permission has been given by the Director of Service-Learning. Any time spent on site or doing work for the agency counts though so be sure to record it on your timesheet. If you are interested in organizing your fellow students to spend a day volunteering at your agency, you can count the time it takes to do that and publicize it on campus as well.
9. Get your timesheet approved every two weeks by your supervisor. They will have to sign off on your hours. You will then record those hours online on https://ecweb.eckerd.edu. Send your signed timesheet to Service-Learning either through campus mail or just drop it off in the office. We will then approve your hours online. You will want to make several copies of your timesheet we only supply it once.
10. Eckerd only does direct deposit, be sure to fill out a form with the business office at the same time you submit your first timesheet.