FWS Community Service Waiver Deadline

Institutions participating in the Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program are advised that the community service expenditure waiver deadline is April 30, 2004 for the 2004-2005 award year. The Department of Education will notify institutions by July 16, 2004 as to whether or not the waiver has been approved.

All institutions participating in the FWS program are required to expend at least 7% of their total federal FWS allocation to compensate students employed in community service positions. In meeting this requirement, at least one community service student must be employed as a reading tutor or in a family literacy project. Institutions may apply for waivers of one or both of these requirements if they show that meeting these requirements would cause a hardship to students. It is important to note that a burden to institutions in complying with the community service provision and/or the reading tutor provision is not a basis for applying for a waiver.

Detailed instructions for applying for a FWS community service expenditure waiver, including examples of why waivers have been granted in the past, are available on the IFAP website at http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/CB0405.html. Additional information may be found in the Federal Student Aid Handbook in Volume 6 under the federal Work-Study section. The FSA Handbook is available online in the IFAP library at http://ifap.ed.gov/library/current.htm.

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