Eastern offers its students two employment programs. One is the federal work study program which provides part time jobs to students who have financial need as determined by the Application for Federal Student Aid. This program is federally funded. The other is the EKU institutional work program. EKU provides funds to employ students who want to work on-campus but do not qualify for the federal work study.

Both of these programs employ students on a part-time basis paying federal minimum wage. Students are paid every two weeks for the hours that they have worked. Their job schedule is built around their class schedule. A variety of jobs are available including typing, filing, farm work, food service, resident hall assistants, tutorial work, as well as community service type jobs.