I have seen small mentions of this issue nationwide. Schools around the country say they will get significantly fewer work-study dollars starting this fall, meaning a lot of students will not have campus jobs. This issue is playing out nationwide.
KPLU-FM in Washington reported:
The story quoted John Klacik, director of student financial assistance for the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board: “The only way to prevent the cuts it is to ask businesses to pay more for student employees. Typically, the state has subsidized between 65 and 80-percent of work study wages.”
The Reading (Pa.) Eagle reported on a local community college that says a number of low-income students depend on work study to provide jobs.
“The Reading Area Community College trustees,” the Eagle reported, “have learned that the annual state/federal allocation for the college’s work-study program has been cut by $160,000 for 2010-11.”
In Johnson City, Tenn., federal work-study funding has been cut in half. The Johnson City Press reported:
“A change in philosophy has reduced funding for federal work study positions at East Tennessee State University by half this upcoming school year, meaning less jobs will be available to provide reliable part-time work for students.”
The story went on to explain that at one school, work-study funds have dropped from $1.5 million to $828,431:
” ‘It didn’t matter as much to a lot of schools because a lot of schools don’t use federal work study money, or don’t use it that much,’ ETSU Financial Aid Director Margaret Miller said.
“ETSU is not like that, though, with 726 students participating in the program during 2009-10. Last year, ETSU students in the program earned about $1,100 each semester and worked about 10 hours per week at a campus department. The jobs are spread throughout the campus.
” ‘And the advantage, of course, for the students has always been their federal work study job works around their school,’ Miller said.”
The paper said that the work-study funds are being replaced by Pell grants, which are outright awards that aren’t tied to work. In other words, rather than giving students an opportunity to hold a job and earn money, they will just get outright grants.