Student Employment
Once you have received a job offer from your hiring supervisor, all first time student employees must submit a Student Status Advice and complete hiring paperwork (i-9, W-4, Direct Deposit, and DE-4 forms in addition to identification documents required for the I-9) to be processed for their on-campus job before they are allowed to begin working. You will need to submit these forms to Student Employment in the Financial Aid Office at F201 in person, and wait to begin working until you have received an email stating you have been approved.
Once you have completed the student section of the Student Status Advice, you will be emailed instructions with next steps regarding which additional hiring documents must be submitted. If you have any questions about the processing steps, please visit the employment eligibility/processing steps page.
* Students who have worked at CalArts previously will have their original hiring paperwork saved but may be asked to submit updated or reverified documents.
Students may work a maximum of three on-campus jobs a semester. If working in multiple roles, you must inform your supervisors of other positions when being hired for a new job. Those who are employed in a Federal Work-Study position of five hours or less per week may be approved for a second or third concurrent Federal Work-Study position in another department, as long as all hiring supervisors are aware and approve. Requests for concurrent employment must be approved through the Student Employment Office.
Yes! International or foreign born students who are enrolled at least part-time in a degree-seeking program (undergraduate or graduate) may work on campus. International students have to apply for an on-campus job first, and will begin the process to obtain a social security card upon hiring. All students are required to provide proof of their eligibility to work in the US, and international students must apply for a social security card prior to working. Download this instruction sheet.
International students are not allowed to begin working until the required hiring forms are submitted and your position is processed. You must receive a position confirmation approval email before you are allowed to start working.
The difference between FWS and CWS are as follows:
Federal Work-Study (FWS): Government-funded
The FWS program is considered need-based employment. Before you have been hired, the Student Employment Office will determine if you qualify for FWS funding. In order to be considered, you must:
If awarded FWS, you may earn wages up to the amount listed on your financial aid award. You should not include your Work-Study awarded amount when estimating the balance of your university bill. The bill is due before the semester begins and your Work-Study funds are earned over the course of the semester. The average student award for Federal Work-Study ranges from $1,500-$3,000 and is dependent upon the student’s financial need.
Campus Work-Study (CWS): University-funded
The CWS program is not considered need-based employment. In order to be considered, you must:
During the fall and spring semesters, most students work approximately 10-15 hours, though student workers are allowed to work a maximum of 25 hours per week. During university breaks (winter, spring, and summer), you are allowed to work a maximum of 40 hours per week. International students are limited to 20 hours per week due to visa limitations.
* If you are working in a Federal Work-Study position and you earned the max amount of wages listed on your financial aid award for the semester, you may be asked to resign from your role until the next semester unless additional funding is available.
Your work schedule will be coordinated with your supervisor each semester, and will vary based on your academic class schedule. You may not miss classes in order to work unless your class is canceled.
Student wage rates at CalArts are set to start at the current California minimum wage, but you do have the opportunity to earn more depending on the job.
Your earnings will be paid to you directly in the form of biweekly paychecks that are deposited directly to your personal bank account or given as a paycheck. You must be authorized to begin working by the Student Employment Office before you can log your hours and receive a paycheck. Student worker timesheets will appear on your HubTime profile a couple days after approval.
Students are typically paid a specific wage for each hour they work, and their overall earnings/income gained for each pay period depends on how frequent they work throughout a week.
If you have any questions about your paycheck or direct deposit setup, please contact the Payroll Office their email payroll@calarts.edu.
Returning students may work over the summer. In order to be eligible for summer employment, all undergraduate and graduate students must be a continuing student at CalArts. Incoming undergraduate and graduate students are not eligible for summer employment.
* As a reminder, students who worked on campus during spring semester and intend to register for fall semester do not need to register for summer to hold a student employment position.
When you are hired for an on-campus position, you become a member of a team that depends on you. While individual departments will have different expectations, you should expect to:
If a student employee works at least 3.5 hours in a day, they are entitled to a rest break (this is paid and not documented on the time card). An employee must be provided a rest break of at least 10 consecutive minutes for every four hours worked.
If an employee works five hours in a day, they are entitled to a meal break of, at minimum, 30 minutes (This is not paid and should be documented on the time card). The employee and employer can agree to waive this meal period provided they do not work more than six hours in the workday. Students must be given a 30 minute meal period no later than the start of the fifth hour of work. A second meal period of no less than 30 minutes is required if an employee works more than 10 hours per day, except that if the total hours worked is no more than 12 hours, the second meal period may be waived by mutual consent of the employer and employee only if the first meal period was not waived.
Student workers do qualify to receive sick pay, which accumulates each pay cycle and can typically be used for a variety of reasons at the department’s discretion. Student employees will earn one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked to a maximum accrual of 24 hours. Up to 24 hours of that sick leave carries over to the next calendar year. Accrued hours are viewable on HubTime in the Leave Plan Summary.
Incoming students are only eligible to beginning working on campus during the first semester for which they are officially enrolled (i.e if they begin in fall, the first semester they can work on campus is fall).
Students who have graduated in the spring are no longer considered enrolled at the Institute following the last day of the spring semester (unless continuing onto a graduate program in the following fall); therefore, they are not able to work as a student worker. They can be hired on as part-time staff through HR if their role is needed and the office has the budget.