Revised Work Study Article

Students Greatly Affected by Cutbacks in Work Study

By Jolie Peters

New York, Ny-- Students at The New School have had an extremely difficult time getting jobs through the work study program due to cutbacks in money allocated for work study which occurred at the beginning of this fiscal aid year thanks to cuts made in the congressional budget package. 

  

From the start of the 2011/12 school year rumors have been surfacing around the school, because it was becoming increasingly hard to find jobs, that the work study program had been cut entirely. 

“Though I applied to many places I only received replies from two places,”  said Diana Araujo, a student at The New School who was unable to find a job through work study. “I was told that someone had already been hired for an office assistant position and an interview was arranged for a Spanish tutoring position, but I was not hired.”

The program still exists. However, due to a decrease in money provided for the program which comes from the federal government’s budget package, the job opportunities have greatly decreased. 

According to Elliot Anderson, the assistant director of financial aid at The New school, the jobs offered through work study ran out about a month ago. Because the money from the federal government decreased, The New School gave out less money to each department and therefore the departments had less job openings because they couldn’t afford to pay the same amount of people. 

It was much easier to get jobs through work study in the past few years because of the work study act which was passed in 2009 by congress.  Universities in the United States were given more fiscal aid by the government for campus based programs. These programs include work study, perkins loans, and the Federal opportunity grant which are all forms of financial aid. Although the money was allocated in 2009 some schools, including The New School, chose to split the aid in half and use some for the 2010/11 school year. The universities always have the same base amount of money for campus based programs. They are sometimes given another amount on top of that base which is determined yearly by the congressional budget package and is subject to fluctuation. The Work Study Act gave out money to universities to use on top of that base amount. This which allowed for more job opportunities in 2009/2010 school years. That money has run out, and The New School is now back to only having the base amount of money for the campus based programs. 

Anderson explained that in the beginning of October the financial aid offices will be reassessing their aid. Those who have yet to use their work study aid will have their aid terminated. Then, the office will see who is still interested in working under the work study program. 

“Students who are still interested in jobs will be given more money, and then it will be up to them to start their job search,” said Anderson.

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) does have a hand in determining how much universities will get for work study programs. A student’s FAFSA profile determines the financial need of the student, which allows the schools to determine their eligibility for work study. Also, by looking at FAFSA profiles, FAFSA is able to determining the financial need of a student body as a whole. They can then allocate more money for programs, such as work study, to schools who have a large body of students in need. 

Jane Glickman, a spokesperson for FAFSA explained that if the specific university is not given more money because their student body as a whole does not reflect a great deal of need for financial aid, but specific students still need financial help, the universities are able to offer another campus based program or loan. FAFSA gives 70% of the money for these campus based programs, and the school is responsible for the other 30%.

“When the government passes a lower budget, we do everything we can to work with the school and accommodate the students in need” said Glickman.

Every year the students at The New School who were offered work study the year prior are automatically eligible for following years. The new students are offered based on their need. However, the jobs are on a first come first serve basis. If a new student applies to a job before a returning student and is given the position, the returning student will have to look elsewhere. 

Olivia Scalise, a sophomore at The New School, was offered money through the work study program last year and was able to find a job quickly. This year she was not able to, and the financial aid offices told her to look elsewhere for a job.

“The benefit of working through the schools work study program is the jobs are sensitive to the students needs,” said Scalise.

Students can check back on Collegecentral.com/newschool at the beginning of next semester to see the new job opportunities that may have opened up.