Advance Payment of the Federal Agency Share of Student Salaries to Colleges Administering the College Work-Study Program

The Secretary of Human Resources for the State of North Carolina, inquired as to whether the prohibition against advance of public funds precludes a federal agency which employs students under the College Work-Study Program from advancing the employer's 20-percent share of the students' salaries to their colleges. The state program is called the Plan Assuring College Education. These advance payments appear to fall within the prohibition. Exceptions to the prohibition are not available for this situation. Federal regulations might be changed to allow payment of the grant share of salaries pending receipt of the employer's share, where the employer is a federal agency.