Nineteen-year-old Brittany Watson started her workday Wednesday at noon.
Filing … filing … and filing some more.
It can be a tedious job in IPFW’s Office of Financial Aid, but Watson is happy to do it. As one of the university’s work-study students, she gets paid to work about 12 hours a week.
As off-campus jobs have dried up and funding streams have fluctuated, jobs such as Watson’s are in higher demand, according to local university officials.
Both public and private colleges and universities are feeling the pressure to provide on-campus employment as outside employers cut jobs.
The Federal Work-Study Program provides money to about 3,400 postsecondary institutions nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Schools have substantial flexibility in how the funds are distributed, but students must have financial need to qualify and schools must pay at least the federal minimum wage.
The total federal grant money decreased in 2006 and has remained fairly steady since, except last year, when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act pumped an additional $200 million into the program, according to Department of Education data.
Trine University in Angola creates more than 900 work-study positions, each about $2,000.
About 200 of those receive money from federal work-study grants, and the rest are financed by the university, said Scott Goplin, vice president for enrollment management.
The university considers work-study a crucial piece of its financial-aid landscape, and students with on-campus jobs often funnel the money back to the university, Goplin said.
This year has been challenging because the university is burning through work-study funds faster because of the increase last summer to the federal minimum wage, which has also made hiring more costly for off-campus employers.
“In this economy, those jobs off-campus are simply not available the way they used to be,” he said.
Some universities have seen cuts to their total grants, but IPFW’s has been maintained, said Judy Cramer, the university’s director of financial aid.
But the stimulus money meant IPFW’s work-study dollars last year increased by about one-third. Students – including Watson, who worked 20 hours a week last year – saw more hours available.
This year, Cramer said, the office has had to reduce the total hours students can work to be able to employ the same number of students.
And that’s important because the program is seeing more interest than ever since off-campus jobs aren’t available in the quantity they used to be, Cramer said.
Indeed, that’s what drove Watson, a sophomore studying elementary education, to seek an on-campus job. She’d been working weekends at a pizza parlor near her home in North Manchester, but the restaurant closed.
A summer job found her painting propane tanks eight hours a day for $10 an hour.
But it wasn’t a long-term job, and campus employers tend to be more understanding of the rigors of academic life.
“That’s what I love about the work-study job,” Watson said. “You make your own schedule.”
Watson’s work-study paycheck is directly deposited into a checking account, where she divides it into separate funds for emergencies, school and expenses.
That kind of responsibility isn’t always commonplace among college students. IPFW’s Cramer said when living with parents, teenagers often take for granted they’ll wake up every morning, walk into the bathroom and find toothpaste.
Once they get to college, they’re buying their own toothpaste, Cramer said. And paying for an oil change. And the occasional dinner out.
It adds up, which is why work-study is an important program, she said.
“I think this is the best way to keep money in the students’ pockets from week to week,” Cramer said. “It’s not magic any more once they’re on their own.”
